Fishless Cycle Now What?

Boohoo

Boohoo

AC Members
Feb 22, 2005
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Bridgewater,Nova Scotia
Here is what I have done so far
Day 1 Wednesday Put 2 sponges in filter box and one fake plant in tank from
an established tank. Added 10 ml ammonia. Tested water 2 hours later Ammonia around 5ppm. Nitrite 0ppm.
Day 2 Thursday Tested water Ammonia around 5ppm. Nitrite 0ppm.
Day 3 Friday Tested water Ammonia a little less than 5ppm. Nitrite 0.3ppm.
Water temperature is at 80
Now I am a little unsure of what level I should be targeting for ammonia. As it drops do I keep trying to bring it up to 5ppm?
 
Boohoo said:
Here is what I have done so far
Day 1 Wednesday Put 2 sponges in filter box and one fake plant in tank from
an established tank. Added 10 ml ammonia. Tested water 2 hours later Ammonia around 5ppm. Nitrite 0ppm.
Day 2 Thursday Tested water Ammonia around 5ppm. Nitrite 0ppm.
Day 3 Friday Tested water Ammonia a little less than 5ppm. Nitrite 0.3ppm.
Water temperature is at 80
Now I am a little unsure of what level I should be targeting for ammonia. As it drops do I keep trying to bring it up to 5ppm?
Click to expand...
Yes, that's correct. You test it daily, bring it back up to 5 ppm and then test the next day. More media means a quicker cycle, so if your established tanks have anythnig to spare (gravel tied up in a nylon, even), go for it.
 
Thank you. But after just finishing fishy cycling two 10g, I look forward to doing it this way. Sure seems like alot less work than doing those big water changes everyday. BTW I didn't lose any fish doing my fishy cycle so I guess all the water changes were well worht it.
 
Boohoo said:
Thank you. But after just finishing fishy cycling two 10g, I look forward to doing it this way. Sure seems like alot less work than doing those big water changes everyday. BTW I didn't lose any fish doing my fishy cycle so I guess all the water changes were well worht it.
Click to expand...
Heh, I can so relate. After my BIO-Spira didn't work as well as one would've hoped... well, fishy cycles with full bioloads suck out loud.
 
I have been asking around the LFS's and as far as I understand BIO-SPIRA isn't available here yet. But they tell me it is on the way. I can only imagine the difficulties when you add a full load of fish and the product fails. I guess all of a sudden you are forced to do a fishy cycle... and we all know that ain't no fun!
 
Update: Today is day 5. Yesterday I had to add 2ml of ammonia and today I had to add 3ml of ammonia to bring it up to 5ppm. I checked nitrites and my test kit only reads to 3.3, they were way beyond that. Then just for the heck of it I checked nitrates and they were way off the chart. My test kit goes to 110ppm. Are my nitrates supposed to be this high at this point? :confused:
 
New Update:Today is day 13. Yesterday I had 0 ammonia so I added 20ml and brought it back to 5ppm. Today I have 0 Ammonia again. Do I still add the same amount and keep it at 5ppm or do I try to keep it between 2-3ppm. Nitrites are way off the chart and so are nitrates. PH 7.0 Temp.80%
 
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