roo Posted October 21, 2004 Share Posted October 21, 2004 Hi all, I am currently undertaking fishless cycling, I have been puting amonia into the tank for about 4 days, I now have nitrates. All the info I read states that you need to continue until you get a nitrate spike, then reduce the amount of amonia till the nitrate reads 0. Whats constiutes a spike? At the moment NO3 reads 12.5 is this a spike? yesterday it read nothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ash Posted October 21, 2004 Share Posted October 21, 2004 you need to contunue until there is NO ammonia, NO nitrite and a hefty nitrate reading, do a big waterchange to lower the nitrate and away you go. What are your NH3/4 and NO2 readings? I'd say an NO3 of 12.5 is only a tad above desirable anyway, 20+ I'd think of as a spike. If the NH3/4 & NO2 readings are 0, then she's cycled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roo Posted October 28, 2004 Author Share Posted October 28, 2004 I am guessing I am kind of in the middle of the cycle process, Although I am a little confused, I have nitrites off the scale and nitrates at about 15, and no ammonia. The strange thing is that no matter how much ammonia I put in it seems to disappear really quickly ( a matter of hours) I get an initial reading but then nothing. Where I am confused is that this has been going on for about a week. Nitrites dont seem to be coming down. Is this normal? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
graceless Posted October 28, 2004 Share Posted October 28, 2004 I am guessing I am kind of in the middle of the cycle process, Although I am a little confused, I have nitrites off the scale and nitrates at about 15, and no ammonia. The strange thing is that no matter how much ammonia I put in it seems to disappear really quickly ( a matter of hours) I get an initial reading but then nothing. Where I am confused is that this has been going on for about a week. Nitrites dont seem to be coming down. Is this normal? That's really good then. it means you have a big and strong colony of ammonia fixing bacteria (the guys that convert ammonia to nitrItes). if your nitrItes are starting to come down too, it means that their bacteria colony is growing up too. i know it seems obvious, and sorry if i offend, but DO NOT add any more ammonia once there is a single fish in the tank. BIG TROUBLE if you do (ie dead fish). I loved this method - i use it to cycle all my tanks. it's relatively fast (i used bacteria booster packs as well) and allows for a much greater initial load. i reckon once it's done you can almost fill it with fish! Good luck, and keep us posted. Grace edit - i should have just stuck to the chemical symbols, not names! just corrected my I's and A's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ducksta Posted October 28, 2004 Share Posted October 28, 2004 ammonia gets transformed to nitrIte by 'one' kind of bacteria, which in turn gets transformed into nitrAte by a 'second' bacerial colony. The only way nitrAte will be reduced is through absobsion by plants or water changes. So essentially the process is getting there - something is converting the ammonia, and eventually the 'second' bacteria colony will be large and stable enough to remove all your nitrIte. You will then need to do some water changes to get your nitrAte level down to a habitable level (ie. 5 or below) before you begin adding fish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ducksta Posted October 28, 2004 Share Posted October 28, 2004 ps. actually grace if you have a good bacterial colony and you were to add ammonia to a tank containing fish, it should be consumed by the bacteria before it has too much effect on any fish. Naturally if your talking about a litre of pure ammonia thats a different story, but in small doses the theory is sound. I have actually heard of people feeding their bacteria while a tank is not heavily stocked in order for it to be fully ready a large introduction of new fish. Alternately, apparently it is a cheaper way of providing nitrate for planted tanks via the bacterial process than using nitrate as a fertiliser Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roo Posted October 28, 2004 Author Share Posted October 28, 2004 thanks for that, My main concern was that the Nitrite's seem to be stablising not reducing :-) But I guess I will wait and see how it works out in the next week or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ducksta Posted October 28, 2004 Share Posted October 28, 2004 if your nitrates are increasing, then the 'second' colony is definately present. just give it time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
graceless Posted October 28, 2004 Share Posted October 28, 2004 ps. actually grace if you have a good bacterial colony and you were to add ammonia to a tank containing fish, it should be consumed by the bacteria before it has too much effect on any fish. Naturally if your talking about a litre of pure ammonia thats a different story, but in small doses the theory is sound. I have actually heard of people feeding their bacteria while a tank is not heavily stocked in order for it to be fully ready a large introduction of new fish. Alternately, apparently it is a cheaper way of providing nitrate for planted tanks via the bacterial process than using nitrate as a fertiliser oh my god, really? i had a fully cycled (well i thought it was) tank that i put a SAE in just to make sure. he was good for 4 hours, and then i thought yeah i should feed the bacteria. added a capful (so like 10mLs max) to the tank, and had a floating SAE within 10 mins. probably just unlucky tho Grace Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roo Posted November 8, 2004 Author Share Posted November 8, 2004 Ok I think I now have a cycled tanked, I have zero nitrites, zero ammonia and zero nitrates. Is it strange to have zero nitrates?, as I haven't done a water change and all the reading I have done, says that nitrates should be high and that a water change will be necessary to reduce them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishly Posted November 8, 2004 Share Posted November 8, 2004 Sorry to jump in guys, but what brand of ammonia you used to cycle the tank? is it cloudy ammonia? Where did you buy them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roo Posted November 8, 2004 Author Share Posted November 8, 2004 I used the home brand cloudy ammonia from Coles ($1.47 for about 750 mls.... I still have about 700mls left), I wasn't sure if this type would be ok, but my girlfriend is a bit of a scientist and said it would be fine. It has worked a treat. everything went as according to the readings I have done. ( except for the fact that Nitrates are zero, without a water change or anything) The one thing I noticed was that Nitrites and Nitrates all hovered high for a while then just plumeted quite quickly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subgirl Posted November 8, 2004 Share Posted November 8, 2004 i had a fully cycled (well i thought it was) tank that i put a SAE in just to make sure. he was good for 4 hours, and then i thought yeah i should feed the bacteria. added a capful (so like 10mLs max) to the tank, and had a floating SAE within 10 mins. probably just unlucky tho Grace ..... Feed the bacteria ??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishly Posted November 9, 2004 Share Posted November 9, 2004 Hi Roo, After the tank fully cycled, please keep us posted. I would be very interested in knowing that we can use cloudy ammonia instead of clear ammonia. Good luck with the cycling. Regards, Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scienceman Posted November 9, 2004 Share Posted November 9, 2004 Hi, Is fishless cycling recommended for a newby or should I do what my fish shop recommends and add fish slowly over a few weeks or do what others have suggested and put a few cheap gold fish in (for how long?) Cheers, Scienceman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlakeyBoyR Posted November 9, 2004 Share Posted November 9, 2004 Every tank I've ever cycled I've used run-of-the-mill goldfish. Some people don't like this method but I stand-by it. It's always worked for me and I've never had a problem Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subgirl Posted November 9, 2004 Share Posted November 9, 2004 A small amount of dead fish meat/prawn will also do a fine job. I don't like puting chemicals in my tanks... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CThompson Posted November 10, 2004 Share Posted November 10, 2004 The only way nitrAte will be reduced is through absobsion by plants or water changes Not true . Ammonia to nitrite to nitrate is done by aerobic bacteria Nitrate is also broken down but by anaerobic bacteria. If you set you tank up with an anaerobic section (plumbed canister with slow flow rate for example), you can also reduce or eliminate (?) nitrates. Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ducksta Posted November 10, 2004 Share Posted November 10, 2004 I've been sprung - your absolutely right Craig Even just a plenum box in the corner is efficient and yes it can totally remove all traces of nitrate. However this is really only confusing the matter further for newbs cycling their first tank, which I assume would have been my reasoning for ignoring it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roo Posted November 10, 2004 Author Share Posted November 10, 2004 Seeing how I have one medium size anubius and two smallish jave ferns in the tank ( forgot to mention that) would this explain the zero nitrates? So then the tank is cycled then, yehaaa, now for the fish. ( although will have to wait till after christmas seeing as I am going away.) I will be spending the next few weeks learning about the different types of africans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roo Posted November 10, 2004 Author Share Posted November 10, 2004 Just a quick thanks to everyone that helped and posted replies. It is much appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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