fishless cycle, using fish food?

moonstream

moonstream

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Nov 5, 2007
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Jayne
so, I have a breeder net in my tank that I've been putting fish food into to try and get an ammonia spike. I was thinking 'feed' the tank 2-3 pinches of food every day until ammonia is gone, since I have some old probably nasty food I need to get rid of.

the tank is a soon-to-be planted (tomorrow or monday) 29g with 2 aquaclear filters as filtration. I'll be starting my testing tomorrow.

I know that pure ammonia would probably work best, but I can never find any, so I'm going with this. also, when is nitrate considered aceptable? its been a long time since I've had to cycle a FW tank, and am so used to waiting till the nitrate is 0 before adding things, but that doesnt happen in a FW tank, right? thanks for any help, three and a half years worth of FW cycling knowledge seems to have went down the drain in about two year's of SW cycling knowledge! :lipssealedsmilie:
 
If it's going to be planted, it'll throw off your cycle. The plants will consume all spectrums of the nitrification process, you'll likely end up with no detectable ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate. Addition of plants would be considered a silent cycle, that does not require waiting, or the need for the nitrification bacteria.
 
shawnhu said:
If it's going to be planted, it'll throw off your cycle. The plants will consume all spectrums of the nitrification process, you'll likely end up with no detectable ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate. Addition of plants would be considered a silent cycle, that does not require waiting, or the need for the nitrification bacteria.
Click to expand...

It depends too much on how much ammonia is produced vs. the amount of plants. Not all cycles with plants can be considered "silent" cycles...
 
hmm... thanks. yes, I definetly know that they ammonia and nitrite need to be 0 before I add fish. :D

I'm going to be planting it as heavily as possible with the money I have, so there should be plenty of plants.

would it be a bad idea to bring home a single fish (was thinking something like a male platy or something) to help give me some readings? I would closely monitor the readings to keep them as low as I can... daily water changes as possible...
 
so, I ended up bringing home 3 red eye swordtails (1m/2f). they have a buy 2 get one free deal, a trio was 10 bux, otherwise I woulda just gotten one.

I also brought a bunch of fast growing plants home, and if I see a spike in param's I plan to get a few more. time for aquascaping, and I'll be posting a build as well. I'm hoping for a silent cycle now, 1/2 the gravel was from an established tank, as were the two rocks, so...
 
thanks! these three are already amusing, and PRETTY against the green backdrop of the plants! they're already exploring their new tank, and the male is mouthing everything he comes into contact with! not seeing regret about this descision in the near future! :) that is, until they start breeding... :D
 
shawnhu said:
If it's going to be planted, it'll throw off your cycle. The plants will consume all spectrums of the nitrification process, you'll likely end up with no detectable ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate. Addition of plants would be considered a silent cycle, that does not require waiting, or the need for the nitrification bacteria.
Click to expand...
It's funny as I used plants during my so-far successful cycle. A moderately planted aquarium with a fishless cycle. I manged to see all the parameters spike and I think the plants prospered in the process. Even after the introduction of plants, I noticed a slight rise in ammonia levels.
After 3 weeks my ammonia spiked at 6 ppm, then nitrites spiked @ 7ppm and nitrates are on the rise. Presently ammonia <0.25, nitrite = 0.5ppm, and nitrates around 40ppm. I'd say within a few days the cycle should be well and truly finished and now I can start adding fish slowly. Before the famous water change of >50%, I think the decaying plant matter will feed the cycle ammonia but just as a recourse, have some shrimp pellets floating inside the filter.
 
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