Ok thanks! that clarifies that a lot for me. now what about plants? While you are cycling the tank can plants be in the tank or should u wait until after it cycles like with the fish?
Fishless Cycling
- Thread starter zennzzo
- Start date
I would think one of the most important notes to a cycling a new tank is 'warm 85 degree water'.
Why? A pond that never sees 80 will still cycle fine. Most of my tanks never see 80 and are cycled. Do higher temps cause it to happen quicker?
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Started the "fishless cycle" on 9/20. I did cheat a little by adding a sponge from my well established tank filter to the new filter.
Here's the numbers..
This is a half aquatic, half "dry" tank with only 10 gallons of water.
9/20
NH3/NH4+ (ammonia)= 0
PH= 8.4
N02 (nitrite)= 0
N03 (nitrate)= 0
Added 5 drops pure Ammonia
9/21
NH3/4+ = 0.50
N02= 0
N03= 0
PH = still 8.4
Added 5 drops ammonia
9/22
NH3/4+ = 0.25
N02 = 0-0.25 (just showing color change)
N03 = 0
PH = this sucks... Added wood to tank
9/23 AM
NH3/4+ = 0
N02 = 0.50
N03 = 0
PH =well, It will settle eventually...
added 3 drops ammonia
9/23 PM
NH3/4+ = 0
N02 = 0.50
N03 =0
PH = cut up wood to gain surface area, ordered Fluval peat pellets...
added 3 drops ammonia...
The addition of old established media to the new filter seems to be having a positive result. Now if I can just get the PH to balance out...
Here's the numbers..
This is a half aquatic, half "dry" tank with only 10 gallons of water.
9/20
NH3/NH4+ (ammonia)= 0
PH= 8.4
N02 (nitrite)= 0
N03 (nitrate)= 0
Added 5 drops pure Ammonia
9/21
NH3/4+ = 0.50
N02= 0
N03= 0
PH = still 8.4
Added 5 drops ammonia
9/22
NH3/4+ = 0.25
N02 = 0-0.25 (just showing color change)
N03 = 0
PH = this sucks... Added wood to tank
9/23 AM
NH3/4+ = 0
N02 = 0.50
N03 = 0
PH =well, It will settle eventually...
added 3 drops ammonia
9/23 PM
NH3/4+ = 0
N02 = 0.50
N03 =0
PH = cut up wood to gain surface area, ordered Fluval peat pellets...
added 3 drops ammonia...
The addition of old established media to the new filter seems to be having a positive result. Now if I can just get the PH to balance out...
How about if I will only use my 75gallon sump to do the cycle before I connect it to 150gallon tank which I dont have yet. Is it possible to grow beneficial bacteria into my medias using only my sump?
Can I drop "bacteria bottle"? and feed it with "amonia bottle".- if I can, should I add the 150gallon+75sump in the drop per gallon?
Can I drop "bacteria bottle"? and feed it with "amonia bottle".- if I can, should I add the 150gallon+75sump in the drop per gallon?
So this is my first go with a fishless cycle. I have been adding 30 drops of ammonia to my 60 gallon tank for 8 days now. Temp 86°. My ammonia readings are between 2-4ppm. No nitrite readings yet. Should ammonia be higher? Is this ok? Should I be showing some nitrites yet? Using amiracle wet dry filter w. Around 5 gallons of bioballs. Deep blue triton 4 pump w. 5' head. So turning about 700 gph? Any help is appreciated
Nope. Too much ammonia will inhibit BB growth. You want around 3 ppm, which is where you are.
If you are starting from scratch (no mature media or bottled BB), this will take patience. The BB are ubiquitous, but they take a while to colonize sterile tanks and to begin growing. And it varies by temperature and pH, so there aren't any hard and fast rules.
Low pH (below 7) can really slow the process, while low temps (under 70) can do the same, compared to optimal.
A few weeks (4-6) isn't unreasonable from scratch before nitrate readings show up.
In the meantime, do not rinse the media in tap water, do not shake the media hard or rub it, do not add tap water to the tank (without chlorine) and give it a while.
If you are in a rush, go to a LFS (hopefully one you have or can do business with) and ask them to give you or sell you a small chunk of mature media from a tank and place that in your filter. (Or get same from a friend in exchange for a cold beer.)
If you are starting from scratch (no mature media or bottled BB), this will take patience. The BB are ubiquitous, but they take a while to colonize sterile tanks and to begin growing. And it varies by temperature and pH, so there aren't any hard and fast rules.
Low pH (below 7) can really slow the process, while low temps (under 70) can do the same, compared to optimal.
A few weeks (4-6) isn't unreasonable from scratch before nitrate readings show up.
In the meantime, do not rinse the media in tap water, do not shake the media hard or rub it, do not add tap water to the tank (without chlorine) and give it a while.
If you are in a rush, go to a LFS (hopefully one you have or can do business with) and ask them to give you or sell you a small chunk of mature media from a tank and place that in your filter. (Or get same from a friend in exchange for a cold beer.)
So my nitrites have been spiked for weeks, off the charts. They do not seem to be coming down at all. Ammonia is near zero. 40 ppm nitrates.. what is going on
I should also add that this tank was upgraded to a 150 4 weeks ago..new sump (rs 300) all new setup but kept all the bio balls out of the old sump and added over 100 pot scrubbers
A few things.
Your nitrites must be coming down if you have nitrates, since the former is the source of the latter. If you are reading at various times in the day, it will be going down.
Also, moving media and changing tanks will lose some unknown amount of BB. Some amount resides in the tank itself, while moving media will cause some BB to be dislodged from friction.
Full cycling is 4-8 weeks, but the tank change may kick that out a little. You're close, just not quite there. but be sure to take your nitrite readings 4+ hours or so after you add the ammonia.
Also what is your pH? Low pH (below 6.5) can make the process go longer.
