i have been fishless cycling my 125g for only 9 days. i have tried every cheat in the book and now wonder if i should put fish in or not.
i have the temps between 82-84 degrees.
i started with 50%used emperor cartridges. also chucked in frozen bait shrimp. about day 5 i thru in 2 gallons of water from gravel siphoning another tank. had nice ammonia consumption and a nitrite spike around day 7. now on day 9 my nitrites have gone down to zero. i tested nitrates and got between 50 and 100. but they could have come from the dirty water i put in right?
i asked my lfs who understands the nitrogen cycle and she thought it was too soon. that maybe it was a nitrite spike but not the nitrite rise and fall signifying the cycling process has occurred thru-out the whole tank. i dont keep good records so i really didnt see it rise. nitrite was barely on scale on the 6th, off scale high on the 7th, and about .50 on the 8th. and zero again on the 9th.
could i have the good bacterium in the emperor filters but not in the gravel? how much longer should i go to play it safe?
i was maybe thinking 80%water change and then put in the stock with biospira. seems to be well tested on the fishgeeks website forum. scared of gambling with my puffer though.
i have the temps between 82-84 degrees.
i started with 50%used emperor cartridges. also chucked in frozen bait shrimp. about day 5 i thru in 2 gallons of water from gravel siphoning another tank. had nice ammonia consumption and a nitrite spike around day 7. now on day 9 my nitrites have gone down to zero. i tested nitrates and got between 50 and 100. but they could have come from the dirty water i put in right?
i asked my lfs who understands the nitrogen cycle and she thought it was too soon. that maybe it was a nitrite spike but not the nitrite rise and fall signifying the cycling process has occurred thru-out the whole tank. i dont keep good records so i really didnt see it rise. nitrite was barely on scale on the 6th, off scale high on the 7th, and about .50 on the 8th. and zero again on the 9th.
could i have the good bacterium in the emperor filters but not in the gravel? how much longer should i go to play it safe?
i was maybe thinking 80%water change and then put in the stock with biospira. seems to be well tested on the fishgeeks website forum. scared of gambling with my puffer though.