fishless cycle, am I going in the right direction?

J

Just5398

AC Members
Mar 13, 2007
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I'm doing a fishless cycle on a 20 gallon tank. This is what's been going on...

Ammonia day 1 = .5
4 = 8 added ammonia ( a little too much probably :) )
6 = 4
7 = 8
8 = 4
9 thru 12 = 4
13 after water change of 4 gallons = 2
Nitrite Day 1 thru 8 = 0
9 thru 11 = .1
12 = .25
13 after 4 gal. water change 0

NitrAte Day 1 = 20
4 = 0
6 thru 8 = 20
9 thru 13 = 5

I thought I was supposed to do a water change once I saw nitrItes appearing, is that right?
I've been adding Stability to kick this thing into gear.


Thank you for your help once again!!!!
 
nickmcmechan said:
Can you tell me what you are using for your Ammonia, if anything. Or are you adding some bacteria supplement?

Not entriely necessary to do water changes during fishless cycle, IMO.

I'm not sure you've had your Nitrite spike yet....
Click to expand...


correct..no water changes needed in a fishless cycle.
as for stability..not sure...I have used it when a cycle got stuck ..and it appeared to help.

I would monitor the system for now keep adding ammonia.
 
nickmcmechan said:
Can you tell me what you are using for your Ammonia, if anything. Or are you adding some bacteria supplement?

Not entriely necessary to do water changes during fishless cycle, IMO.

I'm not sure you've had your Nitrite spike yet....
Click to expand...

I'm using clear ammonia AND a bacteria supplement called Stability by Seachem.
 
nickmcmechan said:
I'm not sure you've had your Nitrite spike yet....
Click to expand...

I only added the ammonia in the very beginning and it's averaging 4 with an API test kit. Nirtites showed up at day 9 but in a TINY amount. Nitrates have been there all along.
I don't think it;s spiked yet either but I think now I've really messed things up by doing that water change. Thankfully it's only water and time and no fish lives at stake!
 
nickmcmechan said:
...IMO/IMe Nitrite will spike somewhere around 5ppm in a lot of cases...
Click to expand...
It is hard to gauge nitrites over 5ppm because test kits such as API max out there - but I had nitrites over 15ppm :eek: - which I measured by diluting the sample 1:10, and multiplying the result by 10.

From your log, seems like you did not really get that going yet :huh:
 
Tested NitrItes again this morning and they went from 0 yesterday back to .25 today. So they're there I think.

The waiting is the hardest part!!!
 
The waiting is horrible, horrible, horrible............but well worth it when you stock..........

Yes, depends on the test kit to see where your Nitirites are, but in any case look for the spike and wait until it falls off to zero, then wait again a few days....quite possible to get a second smaller spike a few days later...this happened to me so I was glad I held off for a few days before starting to introduce fish
 
Okay, my nitrItes have been testing at 5 for the last two days. I kicked the ammonia back up to 2. I know I'm heading for the drop shortly so I want to be prepared. Once the ammonia and nitrites drop to 0 for a few days, 3?, I'm cycled?
How do I keep the cycle if there are no fish?
How long can the bacteria live without being fed the ammonia from the fish waste and such?
And Lastly, I need to do a 90% water change on the day I add the fish?

Thanks so much for your help again!!! Soon I hope to be able to contribute more than I take from the group!
 
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