Fishless cycle and nitrites

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Vagabond

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Mar 19, 2003
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Salt Lake City, UT
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Hello, I'm new here, and am in the middle of a fishless cycle on a 10 gallon tank. I'm already enjoying my aquarium, (I already want to get a 30+ gal. tank) and I dont even have any fish yet.

Here's my question. I'm doing a fishless cycle, and things are going okay. I'm to the point where I can burn through 3-4ppm of ammonia in 24 hours, and am dosing with ammonia daily now. My nitrites have spiked, but dont seem to be coming down. How long does it usually take for the nitrites to drop off after you are consistently going though ammonia? I've tested for nitrates and they are at 6ppm presently. I'm about 2 1/2 weeks into the cycle. Here are some specs:

pH:7.2
Total Hardness: 120
Buffer: 120
no plants
Aquaclear mini power filter and an airstone.
I'm running the water temp at around 85F for the fishless cycle and will drop the temp once the cycle is finished and I'm ready for fish.

Am I just being impatient with the nitrites?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Vagabond
 
A lot of us have had the experience of the nitrite spike taking a bit longer to drop than the ammonia spike, if that gives you an idea.

Once nitrite starts dropping, it often does so pretty quickly.

Hang in there!

Jim
 
Thanks

Thanks for the reasurement that things are going along as they should. I guess I'm just anxious to get past the empty aquarium stage and actually get some fish in there.

I'll continue to be patient

Vagabond
 
It's hard to sit and watch an empty tank cycling, but it beats watching fish gasping at the surface (from ammonia poisoning) and netting dead fish.

What are you planning to put in the tank? Do you have your eye on some fish at the LFS?

Jim
 
If you can get some scrapings from an established tank, now that your ammonia is being quickly consumed and your nitrite consumers aren't being repressed by ammonia, you could be ready for "re-seeding."

The detritus that settles on the gravel of a mature tank would be ideal, if you could siphon some up, let it settle out, pour off the water, and dump the gunk into your new tank.

Got a pal with a fishtank?
 
Unfortunatley, I dont have any friends with freshwater aquariums, I do have a friend with some saltwater tanks, but that's a different bowl of soup I think. I think I'm just going to have to be patient.

I started the tank adding "Cycle" to hopefully get something going. I've been adding more once a week. Is this doing any good?

As far as fish go. I know I'm limited because of my tank size, but I'm looking at perhaps a few dwarf Gourami's and maybey some Zebra Danios. I've also looked at a small school of Tiger Barbs. How would Tiger Barbs and Dwarf Gourami's get along? I hear that Tiger Barbs can be "fin nippers".
 
Ah! You're using Cycle... you didn't tell us about that... My advice is pour the Cycle down the drain. Right now. Go do it. We'll wait.

All done? Good. Now, read on...

First of all, Cycle has a spotty record for helping, at best. Many of us consider it to be junk.

Second, using Cycle will make it hard to track what's going on during your fishless cycle. Cycle contains nitrates, so when your tests show the presence of nitrates, you won't know if it's from the develpment of your biofilter or from the Cycle you added.

Finally, some of us (including me) suspect that Cycle contains microorganisms that consume ammonia, but not the organisms that will eventually populate your tank and serve as a biofilter. If this is correct, adding Cycle will actually slow the development of the beneficial bacteria because the species in Cycle will compete for food.

There is a product called BioSpira (from Marineland) that may actually work. It's a refridgerated product and early reports look promising. Even without it, though, your tank will cycle. Patience is the key...

Jim
 
Cycle

Okay, no more Cycle.

Would it be beneficial to do a major water change to get some of that stuff out of the system? Or should I just leave things be and keep testing and adding ammonia daily.

Thanks for the advice, It sure helps to have someone out there with knowledge and who has been there before.

Vagabond
 
It's not essential that you change water, but I'd be tempted to. I'd change a lot of the water, say 90%, then refill (and dechlorinate!). I'd then want to dose to 4-5 ppm ammonia and see what readings I get the next day for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Those readings will tell you quite a bit about the status of your cycle.

Leaving the tank alone and dosing with ammonia as you've done is certainly OK, too. Just depends how much you want to play with things...

Jim

PS You get points for pitching the Cycle!
 
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