Fishless cycle (I feel retarded)

[Omega]

I thought I read that you only add ammonia in the begining. If your goal is to get it to 0 why would you hike it up again? does it counter act with the nirites?Thanks again...

No it doesn't counteract with the nitrites, don't worry.

The reason you add more to maintain the ammonia is because the nitrite bacteria take longer to grow than the ammonia bacteria so after the nitrites are produced, the ammonia bacteria might starve without having more ammonia added, while you wait for the nitrite bacteria to grow.

Hope that makes sense. :joe:

 

[musho3210]

have you tested your tap water, let your tap water be oxygenated by an air pump overnight then test it

 

[Just5398]

With consistent PWC's (25 to 50% depending on the level of Ammonia and Nitrite peaks) these levels will fall to 0 leaving you with ideally a 5.0 Nitrate reading.

I have to disagree with you, sorry! If you're doing a fishless cycle no water changes are necessary until you're ready to add your fish. You only need to do water changes when there are fish present to keep levels tolerable for them.
I used Stability by Seachem to help the cycle get started and I have to say I think it helped. Bio-Spira just wasn't available anywhere here.

I'm mid-way into a fishless cycle and have been asking alot of questions myself so I'm righ there with you!

Good Luck!!!

 

[Erikajo]

Omega is right - you need to keep the ammonia levels high so as to keep feeding the bacteria. If you let the ammonia drop to 0 for more than a day or so, the bacteria will die off and you'll be back at the beginning. Nitrites are the waste from the ammonia eating bacteria. Nitrite eating bacteria then come along and establish themselves (more slowly than ammonia - this stage often takes a couple of weeks) and produce nitrates. Nitrates are much less dangerous to fish than ammonia & nitrites, but must still be kept to relatively low levels and are controlled with water changes.

And I agree with Just5398. One of the advantages of doing a fishless cycle is that you do not need to do water changes, except for at the end when you are ready to add fish. This one large (needs to be around 75% or more) water change is to bring the nitrate levels down to a safer level. In fact in the beginning, you hardly need to do anything with fishless cycling other than monitoring the levels. For me, I added a dose of ammonia and did nothing for 2 weeks aside from water testing.

 

[catt410]

So here' s the scoop. I don't know why I don't want to mess with ammonia. So I went on the hunt for biospira (?) and of course wasn't going to happen. So I went to the lfs and bought Superbac and cycle. I ask the guy when I should test and he said in 2 weeks. Well I don't think I should wait that long. So the plan is to monitor the water and see what is happening in a couple of days.

I hope this works and isn't a waste of my time.....

Hopefully in a couple of weeks I will be asking what should i stock in this monster tank.

 

[Omega]

I hope this works and isn't a waste of my time.....

It is a waste of your time, and your money.

Your tank will NOT cycle whatsoever without an ammonia source.

You cannot grow ammonia and nitrite-converting bacteria without their food.

 

[catt410]

Well let me ask all of you this. If it is a must to add ammonia and there is no other supplement that will cycle a tank then why don't the lfs support and stock ammonia or some form?

I guess I will wait and check the water in a couple of days. I can't keep dumping stuff into the tank. I don't mind waiting for the tank to cycle I just don't want ammonia in my house, just call me quirky....

 

[Omega]

Well let me ask all of you this. If it is a must to add ammonia and there is no other supplement that will cycle a tank then why don't the lfs support and stock ammonia or some form?

They advocate fishy cycles so they can sell more fish. They also can't compete with hardware store prices. Ammonia is extremely cheap at regular stores. Having said that, I still they should sell ammonia. I know my future fish store will carry ammonia, even if I have to bottle it myself.

I guess I will wait and check the water in a couple of days. I can't keep dumping stuff into the tank. I don't mind waiting for the tank to cycle I just don't want ammonia in my house, just call me quirky....

Check the water for what? Your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels will remain at 0 until you add an ammonia source of some kind. That could even be a dead shrimp from the grocery store (but it will smell and be really gross.)

 

[Just5398]

I was under the impression that you could use a lot of fish food and let it rot to be your ammonia source.

 

[Omega]

I was under the impression that you could use a lot of fish food and let it rot to be your ammonia source.

You could also do that but it's real messy. Basically, you foul the water when it rots and it gets cloudy and smelly. I mean, I've tried the food method, the shrimp method, the fishy method, and the fishless method with bottled ammonia, and nothing compares to the bottled ammonia.