Fishless Cycle nearly done for 55gal. What's the best way to transition to fish?

J

JCKey618

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Dec 28, 2010
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Hi all,

My fishless cycle, I think, is nearing its end. Nitrites are off the charts still but Nitrates are increasing just as fast, so it's just a matter of time....

That said, I want to make sure I get the whole water change/conditioning/fish thing correct, because I've heard that this part can potentially mess up the cycle. So, a few questions:

1) How much water do I change? Is it basically dependent on how much nitrates I have? Should I aim to get them down to 20ppm or under 20 (like 10)? This would be the difference between a 50% water change and a 75% one, so I thought it would be good to ask.

2) Chlorine! I have a 55gal, so setting out the water first isn't an option. I'm using one of those products which connects to the sink. What's the best method here to ensure the chlorine doesn't kill off my bacteria? And should I add enough conditioner to treat 55gal no matter how much I change or just to treat the amount of water I put in?

3) When to add fish? My thoughts are that the morning my cycle is over, I will do a water change, treat the water, and then go pick up my fish. Hopefully this will be enough time for the conditioner to do its work? Also, do people usually add fish same day or should I add some ammonia after the water change and do tests the next day to make sure the cycle is still in tact? And then add fish?

4) Is there a minimum amount of fish I should add? I've read things that say to still add fish gradually and others to say that a cycled tank is ready to handle the full bioload, so to add all your fish. If I do go the gradual route (which I might, just budget-wise), what's the minimum amount to make sure my new bacteria is getting enough 'food' to stay alive? Or does this really not matter that much, as long as I get some life in there?

Those are my main questions. My main fears are killing off the bacteria with the chlorine and adding fish too soon/waiting too long.

Thanks for any help.
 
See below...

JCKey618 said:
Hi all,

My fishless cycle, I think, is nearing its end. Nitrites are off the charts still but Nitrates are increasing just as fast, so it's just a matter of time....

That said, I want to make sure I get the whole water change/conditioning/fish thing correct, because I've heard that this part can potentially mess up the cycle. So, a few questions:

1) How much water do I change? Is it basically dependent on how much nitrates I have? Should I aim to get them down to 20ppm or under 20 (like 10)? This would be the difference between a 50% water change and a 75% one, so I thought it would be good to ask.

For me, I wait to I see 1-2 ppm ammonia be consumed in 24 hrs....then water change as necessary to get nitrates below 20 ppm.

2) Chlorine! I have a 55gal, so setting out the water first isn't an option. I'm using one of those products which connects to the sink. What's the best method here to ensure the chlorine doesn't kill off my bacteria? And should I add enough conditioner to treat 55gal no matter how much I change or just to treat the amount of water I put in?

Use Prime..it handles chlorine and chloramine..dose for the volume of the tank, not the volume of the water change.

3) When to add fish? My thoughts are that the morning my cycle is over, I will do a water change, treat the water, and then go pick up my fish. Hopefully this will be enough time for the conditioner to do its work? Also, do people usually add fish same day or should I add some ammonia after the water change and do tests the next day to make sure the cycle is still in tact? And then add fish?

The Prime will work quickly enough to not be an issue.

4) Is there a minimum amount of fish I should add? I've read things that say to still add fish gradually and others to say that a cycled tank is ready to handle the full bioload, so to add all your fish. If I do go the gradual route (which I might, just budget-wise), what's the minimum amount to make sure my new bacteria is getting enough 'food' to stay alive? Or does this really not matter that much, as long as I get some life in there?

A fishless cycle based on 4 or 5 ppm of ammonia will be more stocking than most will ever need. Chances are your stocking will not be enough to keep all the bacteria you just created alive. The biggest downfall of adding all your stock now is if one of them are diseased and the others are not.

Those are my main questions. My main fears are killing off the bacteria with the chlorine and adding fish too soon/waiting too long.

Thanks for any help.
Click to expand...
 
Ah, so if I have 100ppm of nitrates, I should probably aim for a 80-90% water change? Also, when going for a water change that great, is it better to do two smaller ones or does it not really matter? (Just thinking about the small window when 90% of my tank will be dry as I transition to reversing the water flow. That, and with 80-90% the filter will be off for a little bit).
 
JCKey618 said:
Ah, so if I have 100ppm of nitrates, I should probably aim for a 80-90% water change? Also, when going for a water change that great, is it better to do two smaller ones or does it not really matter? (Just thinking about the small window when 90% of my tank will be dry as I transition to reversing the water flow. That, and with 80-90% the filter will be off for a little bit).
Click to expand...

Do one big one - might as well get it all done at once. As RB said the important thing is that you are seeing 2 ppm ammonia dissipate to Nitrates over 24 hours, at which point you are water changing to get Nitrates below 20ppm, refilling, and add fish that day :clap:\

(The small window you describe has no impact. test nitrates following water change - 20ppm or below and you're good to go)

Regarding the aquaclear, you can use that, but I would recommend you get into Prime - it is cheaper in the long run when you look at how little you have to use.

I don't know if aquaclear takes care of chloramine and heavy metals - check the bottle - I wouldn't be comfortable using a conditioner that didn't.
 
I am not around the bottle, but I just looked it up. I got the Aquasafe Plus and online it says that that 'neutralizes chlorine, chloramines and heavy metals that are harmful to fish.'
 
It's basically the same thing, Prime is a bit more economical because you do not use as much but use what you have until it is gone. If you ever need some and cannot find Prime, Novaqua is also good and cost effective.
 
What test kits are you using for the nitrate and nitrite? The reason I am asking is that you wrote that the nitrates were climbing as fast as the nitrite.

The reason for this could be that the nitrate test kit is measuring nitrite also. Most nitrate tests reduce the nitrate to nitrite and then measure nitrite (they don't actually measure the nitrate ion). Say for instance you actually have 3 ppm nitrite and 5 ppm nitrate. Your nitrite test will measure 3 but your nitrate test will measure 8. To get the correct nitrate value you have to subtract the nitrite value from the nitrate value (8-3=5). Also most nitrate kits don't measure accurately when there is a lot of nitrite in the water. A lot being over 2 to 3 ppm.

I recommend you do I water change soon because if your nitrite are "off the chart" they are way too high for the nitrite-oxidizing bacteria and your cycle may stall and you may end up killing a large portion of your nitrifiers.
 
Even though I have API I was using a strip-test to monitor nitrites and nitrates because it's easier and I figured it would tell me what I need to know (when nitrites go to zero).

I just did the two tests with API and nitrites are off the charts and nitrates look between 10 and 20 ppm.

Does anyone else recommend a water change? I only ask because I thought nitrites being off the charts was a regular part of cycling? I am leaving for the weekend (having a neighbor dose the tank) so should I wait and see if there's any reading on nitrites when I get back or better to do a water change today?

Also, I don't know the ratio that ammonia turns to nitrite in terms of volume, but it seems that if it's close to 1:1 and you're dosing 3-5ppm of ammonia daily after the ammonia bacteria is strong enough to convert that daily, then you'd be getting an extra 3-5(ish) ppm of nitrite daily until your nitrite-->nitrate bacteria mature. And since my text only goes up to 5ppm for nitrites, it seems that it would just about always be off the charts, no (or, at least, off the charts again 2 days after a water change)?

This is just a thought and I'm interested in hearing people's opinions/experiences.
 
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