55 Gallon Fishless Cycle - Confused

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Noverourheads

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Jul 11, 2010
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Hi everyone,

I've been cycling a 55 gallon tank, using the fishless cycling method with pure ammonia. It's been approximately 4 weeks since I started.

I dosed the tank to get the ammonia level at 5ppm and waited, (and waited and waited...) until it began to drop. When it reached 1ppm I tested the Nitrites and they were off the chart. I redosed the ammonia to bring it to 3ppm and continue feeding the established bacteria.

The nitrate remained off the charts for 2 weeks. When I started to see a slight decline in Nitrites I tested the Nitrates and got a reading of about 20ppm. This went on for a week.

Yesterday I tested the Nitrites and they were at 2ppm (approx) but the Nitrates had spike to off the chart levels. We went to our local family owned fish store and NiteOut II was recommended to speed up the process. I added the NiteOut II last night according to the directs and this morning I have ammonia at 0ppm, Nitrite at 0ppm and Nitrates off the charts.

Is it possible that the NiteOut assisted the cycle so quickly or do you think it's more likely that the tank was already at the final stages of the cycle?

I'm going to do a 75% water change today. Dose the ammonia back to 3ppm and check Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate tomorrow. Am I correct in thinking that the readings should be Ammonia - 0ppm, Nitrite - 0ppm and Nitrate >20ppm in 12 hours?

I'm using an eheim pro II canister filter without a carbon pad. Should I add the carbon insert after the 75% water change to be sure there are no chemicals that could harm my Blood Parrots?

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Christy
 
Never used the NiteOut....but if your tank is eating 1-3 ppm ammonia in 24 hrs and a liquid test kit reads 0/0 on ammonia/nitrites and increasingammonia..you are there...
 
NiteOut II is Microbe-Lift's bacteria in a bottle product. It's not as good as a product like Dr. Tim's One And Only but it does have some of the correct bacteria and since your fishless cycling process was so far along, it did finish it faster but yours may have finished in another day or two anyhow, on it's own since you saw the NitrItes spike and NitrAtes were already being created.

Once that happens, you're pretty much home free.

On a side note, as long as you don't have a pH crash, which often happens near the end of some folks fishless cycling, which will cause a fishless cycle to stall if the baseline water is not properly buffered. Doing a partial water change will usually get the stalled cycle to start moving forward again.
 
I hate to be a party pooper but I would dose that tank back to at least 3 ppm of ammonia daily for a few days and make sure it is not just a coincidence that you got a double zero. I have seen the too many tanks that got a one time double zero and went right back to behaving like a partially cycled tank.
 
Ah, I think you might be right. I did a 75% water change yesterday. Redosed to 3ppm of ammonia and checked the reading level this morning.

Ammonia .50 ppm
Nitrite .50 ppm
Nitrate 80 ppm

I think it's almost there, but not just yet. I'll check it again tomorrow and redose to 3ppm until I have consistent 0ppm on Ammonia and Nitrite for several days. I was surprised that the 75% water change didn't reduce the Nitrate levels down to lower than 80 ppm though.
 
Thank you all for the great advice! I preformed two additional water changes and brought the Nitrate down to between 10-20. It's a little difficult to determine the actual amount with the Master Kit I have, since the colors are so similar. My Blood Parrots were moved from the 14 gallon to the new 55 gallon tank yesterday and they seem delighted with their new upgrade.

I'm already considering purchasing a 150-190 tank. My significant other is going to have a fit if I buy another tank. Is there a support group or intervention specialist for aquarium addiction?

Thanks again,
Chrissy
 
I don't know why some people want to go thru a hassle when there's Seachem Stability. You put in fish and you dose Stability. That's it. I've set up 5 tanks with Stability and it works every time.
 
From SeaChem's site...
Stability® will rapidly and safely establish the aquarium biofilter in freshwater and marine systems.... Stability® is formulated specifically for the aquarium and contains a synergistic blend of aerobic, anaerobic, and facultative bacteria which facilitate the breakdown of waste organics, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate
Click to expand...

Some, possibly all, of the nitrifying bacteria that complete the nitrogen cycle in saltwater are different than the bacteria needed in freshwater.

The nitrifying bacteria that we need to cycle a tank are strictly aerobic.

Neither the website nor their MSDS sheet specifically states that the product contains nitrosomonas, nitrospira and nitrosospira bacteria which are the three proven bacteria strains that perform the nitrogen cycle in freshwater.

From SeaChem's forums about their products and a "fishless cycle using Stability" http://www.seachem.com/support/forums/archive/index.php/t-3748.html One of SeaChem's tech people replied
Your tank may not completely cycle in exactly 7 days. Some people may be able to cycle a tank in several days, while it takes others a week or maybe even a couple of weeks
Click to expand...
This is proof that Stability does NOT instantly cycle a tank.

The only products that I know of that have the proper bacteria, based on Dr. Tim Hovenac's research, are his own products, http://www.DrTimsAquatics.com which is based on his invention of Bio-Spira, only improved... and Tetra's SafeStart which is also based on Bio-Spira since Spectrum Brands bought out Marineland and co-owns the patent on Bio-Spira, along with Dr. Tim so they both have their own products... personally, I'd trust Dr. Tim's product over Tetra's but to each his own.
 
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If we put our filter sponge in a bucket of water, sealed it and let it sit for a few weeks, wouldn't most of our bacteria die, since it needs moving water?
 
Jannika said:
If we put our filter sponge in a bucket of water, sealed it and let it sit for a few weeks, wouldn't most of our bacteria die, since it needs moving water?
Click to expand...

Yes... and it wouldn't take a few weeks. It starts happening very quickly. The N-bacteria on the outer edges would last the longest as long as there is enough O2 in the water but once the O2 level drops too low, they will also die off and the dead bacteria and other detritus/mulm in the sponge will turn the water and sponge into a nasty soured funk. During Hurricane Katrina, I wasn't able to keep pouring water through my canister filters as often as I would have liked and eventually relied on only the HOB's and after a day or two, the water in the canisters was completely funkified (yes, that's a word! lol).

Nowadays, I even go as far as emptying the water in my canister filters if the power goes out for more than an hour and then clean the sponges in a bucket of removed tank water and float them in the tank until the power comes back on. While the power is out, either run a battery air stone in the tank with the bubbles and water coming up onto the filter media or pour cups of water back into the tank to frequently create surface agitation to keep the O2 levels up in the water.
 
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