Cycling Started

[buballo]

Hi All,
I have commenced the cycling process for my new 55G tank. I live in Australia and due to the lack of ammonia supply in any of our stores I have decided to attempt the fishless cycle with the use of a raw prawn. I have chucked it in a stocking and am basically trying to follow rbishops sticky (btw thanks to rbishop for spending the time making the cycle process much MORE UNDERSTANDING).

The only question I have is the topping up of ammonia. In rbishops thread he explained the use of pure ammonia drops and adding to this to maintain ammonia at a particular level. Do I do the same with the prawn? If one prawn is not enough to achieve the initial 5ppm do I keep adding? And when nitrites form do I remove some of the prawn to lower the ammonia level?

It may sound silly, I just dont want to stuff this up. Thanks

 

[Rbishop]

Thanks for the comments!

Don't let the ammonia get to high. If it starts going over 6 or 7 ppm, do small water changes to drag it down.

Add small chunks of shrimp to help hold around the 3 ppm mark. Kind of hard to judge. I still hold at three even when nitrites show up.

Do you have any FW tanks that you can get some established media from? friends? LFS?

 

[buballo]

I should be thanking you more often rbshop. You always seem to be forthcoming in helping many people in dilemna on this forum.

I have added a full prawn minus the head. I do have friend with an established tank but I dont want the risk of contaminating mine as they dont maintain it weekly on every 4 to 6 weeks. I dont trust any or our LFS as they all try to sell me products each time I ask the question of fishless cycling.

So I will make sure I keep the ammonia under 6 ppm to start. If it goes over I have some in the freezer I will remove the current one and add small pieces. I t may take a wek onger in the end but time is something I have and I really dont want to kill any fish.

I will keep you posted and ask you to bail e out if I run into any problems.

Once again, I really appreciate your help. I think you have responded to every post I have made. Thanks

 

[ct-death]

Time is on your side. With that, using another tanks medium will greatly accelerate this process (my LFS sells sponges for $8) and if you wait more than a 4-5 weeks after introducing any media from another tank the time delay and ammonia spikes will kill off anything parasitic, bacterial, etc.

The main risk would be algae I would think, but with no nitrAtes (plant food) the risk here I feel is minimal, but again, the only way to be 100% certain is to do it the 'ol-fashion way! Algae is simply inevitable(sp?).

As for the cycle itself, when your nitrItes start to spike your ammonia is going to be consumed and cycled over at an alarming rate. Keeping up with this will be your biggest issue.

Please keep us posted, I am very interested to see how this plays out in the real world, what's the hickups, etc. Great experiment!

P.S.
rBishop, and all of the Moderators deserve a lot more kudos than they receive... Great forum!!!

 

[Nolapete]

I agree with ct. Any parasites wouldn't survive without a host.

 

[buballo]

Thanks for the input.
I will give it 3 - 5 days to see what happens with the ammonia and if nitrites start to form (maybe). Then I will see which course of action I will take.

As of this morning (sydney time) 12 hours later, no Ammonia was detected. Will check again tonight.

As I am a newbie to all this I will need your help in this proceedure. I will keep u posted in any change or procedure I take. But I think for now I will keep going with my headless prawn. I am really hoping I detect some ammonia by tomorrow morning. I have the temp of the tank at around 28 degress.

BTW, I have a fair bit of condensate forming on my tank lids from the underside, is there any way of stopping that?

 

[Aphotic Phoenix]

It will take a little time for the ammonia to start to build up since you pretty much have to wait for the shrimp to start decomposing! Keep checking it daily. ^^

Condensation is normal, and as it drips back down into the tank helps keep all your water from evaporating out.

 

[Rbishop]

Waiting for your updates!

 

[Mgamer20o0]

not using ammonia is a little harder and a little more work but the ends that matter. just keep checking it. you will find the balance soon.

 

[buballo]

24 hours have gone and nothing yet. The prawn still looks good. I better see something in the morning.