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fishless cycling a 658 litre tank


6ftaquaman

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Thanks sarah, hopefully I can get out there this weekend sometime but I will call you to make sure its all good first.

Your not the only one that is confused Paul! I expected the low nitrite reading to start with but I did not expect to see a Nitrate reading from the very first test but they have all been consistant readings from the very first day I started testing except for the day I added alittle more ammonia and accidentally took it up to 8ppm but a 50% water change did bring it down to 4ppm again. It was not at 8ppm for very long but I am wondering if that was enough to get the wrong type of bacteria growing in the tank or not which could be affecting the cycle.

With the Nitrate reading it is confusing me because it is neither the 0 colour on the chart (which I was assuming it would be to start with) nor the 5ppm colour and trust me I have looked at it from every possible angle and if I were to take a guess would say it is between 2-3ppm going by the colour I see.

I have not had a chance to take samples today yet, might post them later if I get a chance.

Edited by 6ftaquaman
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a slight change today

Day 19

Ammonia- 4ppm (colour still seems the same to me)

Nitrites- 0.50 (up from 0.25)

Nitrates- 10ppm (up from 5)

PH- 7.2 (added driftwood 2 days ago, has brough the PH down from 7.6)

I thought the nitrites would go up and then start to come down when the nitrates went up but seems they are going up together in my tank. I guess the next couple of tests over the weekend should shed some light on the situation.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Sound the trumpets.......Fish will be going in the tank this long weekend.

So basically it has taken 4 weeks for MY fishless cycle to complete (give or take a day or two). Things I have learnt from this process.......

No two tanks are the same so advice on cycling can and will vary each time. For instance in my tank there was no spike of ammonia, then nitrite, then nitrate. It happened more like the nitrites started to raise, then not long after the nitrate also started to raise (which makes sense to me as once the nitrite is starting to convert you should see nitrate starting to appear)As they grew higher the ammonia level started to drop. I was waiting for a spike that never eventuated.

I am now at the stage I am adding 1ppm of ammonia for the bacteria to feed on each day until I do my 95% water change and add fish this weekend.I decided the tank was cycled when I watched it convert 4ppm of ammonia into 0.25ppm over night (not even 24hrs)and then I started adding 1ppm of ammonia each day so the bacteria do not starve (I probably should have waited till it reached 0 but the thought of starving the bacteria prompted me to add it)

I have not got the nitrites down to 0 yet but I am not sure if that is because I am adding ammonia every day now or not. Hopefully the water change can rectify that. It was about 2ppm (nitrite) and has been coming down consistantly until I started to add ammonia daily.

Which fish and how many do you think I should start off with in the tank? I was thinking of stocking it first with bottom feeders followed by mid tank then upper tank but that is just a thought. I can see myself like a kid in a candy store this weekend, I will have 1 of those and 10 of those etc etc.... :P

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I was thinking of stocking it first with bottom feeders followed by mid tank then upper tank but that is just a thought. I can see myself like a kid in a candy store this weekend, I will have 1 of those and 10 of those etc etc.... :P

that sounds like a good idea, in my experience, it's best to put the most peaceful fish in first, which are usually bottom feeders like cories :D enjoy stocking!

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I tested my PH today and the colour it came up with is not even on the colour chart provided. I tested 3 times today thinking it was just one of those odd things that can happen from time to time but all 3 times I got the same result. I have no idea what my PH is now :confused: I also tried the high range ph test and it does not match any of those colours either!

So then I tested the water straight from the tap and that reading comes in at 7.8 but the tank water is still a mystery to me at the moment. The 95% water change will be happening tomorrow, hopefully that helps with the PH. If I were to guesstimate I would say the closest colour on the chart would be 6.0 but I do not think my PH is that low.

Might get some PH up & down when I am at the lfs just to be safe but knowing me I will be half way home when I remember it!

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  • 1 month later...

Bit of a late replier here! When I did my fishless cycles everything I read said NO CLOUDY AMMONIA. It's not pure and it's bad.

Don't know if it has anything to do with it not cycling because it still has ammonia in it, it just has other nasty stuff too!

I used prawns in mine and it took a couple of weeks but the tanks were only 40L.

I'd listen to everyone here and start to stock it. They're all pretty experienced. I trust them :)

Just make sure you clean your tank really really well to make sure all traces of that cloudy ammonia are competely gone.

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The cloudy ammonia is up for debate on wether it should be used or not. I did alot of research on it before using it and the general consensus was that the larger volume of water it was going into the more diluted and safer it would be. Another key thing was that the ammonia I used did not froth when the bottle was shaken meaning although it was not 100% pure it wasnt lethal like the ones that froth are (those ones should be avoided at all costs). Seems to have worked for me but I have read about horror stories where it has not worked.

Would I do a fishless cycle again? probably not, having a tank full of water with no fish in it for 6 weeks is frustrating. I think the best way to start a new tank is by adding hardy fish with daily water changes but considering I have a tank that holds 658 litres it wasnt possible for me to do that at the time so I tried the fishless cycle.

As for the PH I used a product called ph neutral that got it back to 7.0 and is stable now. Still not sure why I was getting those sorts of ph readings but all good now.

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Just my honest opinion.

Whenever I set up any new tank I rinse everything well. Fill and use prime. If no old filter material available to seed new filter I add bottle "good bacteria" stuff. Usually I don't have the bacteria stuff so I just add a few fish at first. Usually a catfish or two.

I then do weekly 1/3 water changes and slowly add fish over a month or two. Never add more than six small fish (schooling tetras ect) or one pair of larger fish. This is for say a 3ft and I have never really lost too many fish.

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It is not uncommon during the cycling period for your pH to suddenly crash. This causes a halt in the bacteria that converts ammonia to nitrite and stalls the cycling process. It's why it is important to monitor your pH along with your other levels during cycling.

Anything over 7 is ideal for establishing a healthy colony of beneficial bacteria.

I wonder if due to the scarcity of pure ammonia here, fishless cycling is not as common. I see it a lot more on overseas boards and it's sort of the expected thing to do in America at least, if you don't have any mature media to kick-start your cycle.

Some boards you would get run-off with pitchforks for cycling with fish-in *lol*

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I wonder if due to the scarcity of pure ammonia here, fishless cycling is not as common

Yes I think that is why. I almost gave up on the idea as I was going to hardware stores trying to find a source of ammonia to use. It was only by chance I spotted the cloudy ammonia sitting in the cleaning isle of my local supermarket so I decided to give it a go after research told me some people say it works, others say it does not.

The fact it is not an exact science and a step by step guide can be confusing as no two tanks are exactly the same would also have something to do with it I think.

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