Fishless cycle problems

[Stefanie]

OK,I had 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite for 2 days while still feeding the tank with ammonia.I've done 2 50-60% water changes successfully.Thanks to everyone.My tank would be in my basement right now collecting dust if it were'nt for the help.I still have a few more questions.The nitrate level is still maybe 80 ppm,so I know I have to change more water.Do I continue to add ammonia after each after each water change to keep from starving the bacteria? When should I quit adding ammonia so I can start adding fish.

55 gal.
-just
-water

I can only give advice by telling you what I did. When my fishless cycle was complete, I did a 90% waterchange (nearly complete drain) to get my nitrate levels down, just before I went to the fish store to buy my fish. For this brief period of time I did not worry about keeping my bacteria alive. It worked for me on 4 tanks, but I am not sure if this is "THE" method.

 

[TDWagner]

Yup, 90% water change (using conditioner) the day you get your fish or the day before. No ammonia should be added after this change. The bacteria will live for 48 hours or so before starving.

 

[jbobb1]

Thanks to all. I'm going to buy fish today. Wish me luck!

 

[Nippyfish]

Nippyfish,
It would be a good experiment to run, with a control tank for comparison. I think I know what Your results will be, But that does not mean They'll be what I expect. Experimentation with good numbers and Controls is one of the best Ways to Reinfirce or refute a Hypothesis/ Theory IMVHO it is never a bad thing to Question Mainstream "knowledge" and experiment with ideas. If you do run some tests please post them here or Somewhere for everyone to see.
Dave

I did send some questions over to the water treatment facilities that treat both the Massachusetts areas (where I cycled my tanks) and the DC, Maryland, Virginia areas (where I am now) and they both wrote me back. Of course, I’m home and their responses are at work. I will post them tomorrow.

To make a long story short… we were both right. Essentially, nitrifying bacteria live in the lines between the treatment facilities and our homes and thrive in places like dead ends and slower moving areas. Chloramines are fairly week and generally not enough to kill off the bacteria and even though they break down slower than chlorine they DO continuously break down. With each day more of the bonds separate freeing ammonia for the bacteria to feed on. They did say that high levels of chloramines might be enough to kill the nitrifying bacteria but couldn’t say how much that was. For this reason, I’d have to agree that it is probably best to advise people to condition their water while cycling. That way it doesn’t matter how much chloramine is present. It would be an interesting experiment. My water in MA was treated with 1.9 ppm of chloramine out of an allowable 4.0ppm. This was obviously not enough to harm the bacteria. (Hence no issues cycling). Here in D.C. we have 3.8ppm out of an allowable 4.0. It would be interesting to see if a tank would cycle here without the use of conditioners.

Anyway, like I said, I will post their responses tomorrow.

Thanks,
Christie

 

[TDWagner]

Thanks to all. I'm going to buy fish today. Wish me luck!

So, how'd it go?

 

[jbobb1]

So far so good! Zero ammonia as well as nitrite.I added the following
3 clown loaches
1 pleco
1 rope fish
2 gold gouramis
2 blue gourmias
1 blue lobster

I really appreciate all the help. My tank looks great!