Resuming with fishless cycle
- Thread starter Fancypants
- Start date
Well, if in a 24 hour period, the ammonia returns to 0, and the nitrites are 0, then you have enough of each bacteria to handle new fish. If it doesn't drop to 0, well, keep feeding ammonia to the tank to get it up to 5 ppm until the bacteria have grown to the point where they can process all the ammonia in a day.
Leaving the tank for about a week may have killed off some of the bacteria, but I don't think it should take you all that long to get your bacteria back to where they should be.
Hope this helps.
Leaving the tank for about a week may have killed off some of the bacteria, but I don't think it should take you all that long to get your bacteria back to where they should be.
Hope this helps.
Well, the tank is now actively lowering the ammonia to zero on a daily basis, but it's still working on the nitrites... But it's getting there. Once they've reached zero, theoretically, should the tank be able to lower both the ammonia and nitrites to zero within 24 hours of adding 5 ppms of ammonia? I can't wait to complete my very firstest fishless cycle!
Ok, something's fishy with my nitrite test stuff. Says I need to wait 2 minutes for colour to develope. So after I add the 5 drops of this and 5 drops of that, the colour is a really vibrant purple, but then after the 2 mins it turns to a pale orange... Not supposed to be orange! Then I go and test my "established" tank and there's no colour initially, and after 2 mins... a vibrant purple! Apparently I have like 1.6 mg's of nitrites in my 3 month old tank... what?!?
Well... I tested the tap water and there was no colour developement. I test my "established" tank again, and it still shows about 0.3 mg's of Nitrites. Is this possible? I do regular water changes (25% every week) and it's been going for over 3 months now, with no new addition of fish for at least a month. The tests with the new tank still turn pale orange... could it be that there is so many nitrites that it's off the scale?!?! Geez.. Maybe I'll have to take the water into the LFS and get a second opinion?
I went through this hassle too my friend. I almost quit this hobby after a month of doing the fishless cycle. I wouldnt recommend anyone including an enemy doing a fishless cycle if you have an extra 20 bucks. Save yourself the headache- empty the water out and buy some bio-spira. I would pay 50 dollars for this stuff rather than going through another fishless cycle. Like I said if money isnt an option for around 20 bucks you can save yourself alot of bs.
Joe
By the way, Can anyone help me with telling me how to post pictures on here. Thank you
Joe
By the way, Can anyone help me with telling me how to post pictures on here. Thank you
I thought people on these forums had bio-spira shipped to canada from the states.http://www.fishstoretn.com/ Go to that website and you'll be able to have it shipped to you.
Joe
Joe
Fancypants, as your cycle got interrupted, it's possible you have too many nitrites in there. You could try a small water change (10%) and see what happens.
I honestly think fishless cycling is the easiest and cheapest way to cycle a tank. It also helps you understand the cycle better. I've done fishless cycles in a week or less with some seeding. I think I've cycled about 9 tanks, all for less than a dollar for all of them combined.
I honestly think fishless cycling is the easiest and cheapest way to cycle a tank. It also helps you understand the cycle better. I've done fishless cycles in a week or less with some seeding. I think I've cycled about 9 tanks, all for less than a dollar for all of them combined.
As I said if money isnt an issue, bio-spira is the way to go. If money is tight, yes Fishless cycle may be the only option. I went through 20 dollars in ibuprofen trying the fishless cycle so it was a horse a piece cost wise-lol
Joe
45 gallon
2 silver dollar
1 mean *** paradise fish
1 red tailed shark
1 albino shark
1 pleco
Joe
45 gallon
2 silver dollar
1 mean *** paradise fish
1 red tailed shark
1 albino shark
1 pleco
On the test water changing colors, try shaking the kit really well and then trying the test again. I remember that happening to mine, but with a tank that has 0 nitrites it was still bright blue like it was supposed to be. Maybe its also a reaction from having SO MANY nitrites. I agree with Lotus' advice, a week off of adding ammonia could have caused some of the bacteria that convert ammonia to nitrites to die off...but it didn't slow down the bacteria that convert nitrites to nitrate. I wouldn't worry about it. If your readings are all completely off the charte for nitrate and nitrite you might try a water change like Lotus suggested...but chances are good that you are pretty close to the end of your cycle so just have patience 