mark_82 Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 I'm about to start a fishless cycle using ammonia. I'm going to borrow some seeded gravel and filter media from a friends tank. Before I do this, should I add some water ager to remove the chlorine as it can kill off the bacteria? Currently, I only have some prime, but I don't think I can use this because it converts the ammonia into a non-toxic form. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAL.16V Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 prime is fine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark_82 Posted July 9, 2007 Author Share Posted July 9, 2007 prime is fine Prime won't convert the ammonia? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spedwards Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 Prime binds the ammonia up to a non-toxic form for fish, but it's still OK for the cycle process as far as I understand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spedwards Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 Double post... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark_82 Posted July 9, 2007 Author Share Posted July 9, 2007 Thanks for the replies. Last night I added the ammonia until I got a reading of 5 and then added some prime. If I can't get some seeded media tonight, should I still put some ammonia in tonight or will this cause my ammonia to spike to a very high level? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark_82 Posted July 18, 2007 Author Share Posted July 18, 2007 The tank has been cycling for around 9 days now and ammonia is at around 8 ppm and nitrites 1 ppm. The ammonia levels seem to be too high, should I stop adding ammonia until it drops to 5 ppm? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colfish Posted July 18, 2007 Share Posted July 18, 2007 what filtration are you using? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark_82 Posted July 18, 2007 Author Share Posted July 18, 2007 what filtration are you using? Matrix style sump. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kilroy Posted July 18, 2007 Share Posted July 18, 2007 The tank has been cycling for around 9 days now and ammonia is at around 8 ppm and nitrites 1 ppm. The ammonia levels seem to be too high, should I stop adding ammonia until it drops to 5 ppm? Did you end up using seeded media? If so, you should have had not much more than a mini spike of ammonia followed by nitrite (depending on how much ammonia you are adding). If you are now registering nitrite, then ammonia should start to drop and nitrites will rise for a couple of days before both go down to zero. Then the tank will be cycled hopefully. I still prefer the old fashioned method of putting some hardy fish in there and feeding them as normal, but that's just me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark_82 Posted July 18, 2007 Author Share Posted July 18, 2007 I haven't had the chance to get the seeded media. I actually got a nitrite reading of 0.25 a couple of days after first adding ammonia. After I got the nitrite reading I have been using half the amount of ammonia that I used on the first day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kilroy Posted July 19, 2007 Share Posted July 19, 2007 I haven't had the chance to get the seeded media. I actually got a nitrite reading of 0.25 a couple of days after first adding ammonia. After I got the nitrite reading I have been using half the amount of ammonia that I used on the first day. without the seeded media it will take a lot longer, maybe up to 3-4 weeks. I highly recommend adding seeded media to speed the process right up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colfish Posted July 19, 2007 Share Posted July 19, 2007 what filtration are you using? Matrix style sump. good one!! do your mate a good turn and yourself a favour go clean his cannister for him. grab the dirty filter wool, give it a good rinse in some old tank water [just to clean it out a little] and put it in your sump. that will speed things up and give you a good natural cycle instead of a forced chemical start Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark_82 Posted August 3, 2007 Author Share Posted August 3, 2007 Tank has been cycling for almost a month now. Ammonia is at around 1-2ppm, nitrites 0ppm and nitrates 20ppm. Why is there still an ammonia reading when nitrites are now at 0? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark_82 Posted August 8, 2007 Author Share Posted August 8, 2007 Ammonia is at 3- 4 ppm and nitrites are 0 ppm. I thought ammonia would be at 0 since nitrites have gone down to zero and there are nitrates. Has the tank stopped cycling? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spedwards Posted August 8, 2007 Share Posted August 8, 2007 If your nitrites have gone up and down but the ammonia is still up then it seems like the cycle didn't kick off properly last round. There may not have been enough food to keep it going, did you stop feeding the tank once the nitrites appeared? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark_82 Posted August 8, 2007 Author Share Posted August 8, 2007 If your nitrites have gone up and down but the ammonia is still up then it seems like the cycle didn't kick off properly last round. There may not have been enough food to keep it going, did you stop feeding the tank once the nitrites appeared? I only stopped feeding the tank with ammonia for a couple of days as the ammonia levels were very high. When nitrites appeared I reduced the dosage of ammonia to half. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spedwards Posted August 8, 2007 Share Posted August 8, 2007 That could have been your problem, the system builds up based on the amount of food it's getting. Give it lots of food (within reason, too much ammonia is bad even during a cycle) and the bio-filter will build up to suit that, if you drop the food levels down the bio-filter will start to die back. What I suspect has happened is the ammonia eaters built up to suit you initial dose. About the time you noticed your high ammonia levels and stopped feeding the nitrite eaters would have been building up. They eventually got on board and started doing their job to suit the level of output from the ammonia eaters, you've then cut the ammonia back. The ammonia eaters would have have died back a bit when you stopped and then again when you gut the dose. Basically it's back at the start of the cycle process again... How high is high when you got the ammonia spike? The ammonia will get pretty high before things start turning around, but you've got to keep the food up else you're going to stall the process. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark_82 Posted August 11, 2007 Author Share Posted August 11, 2007 How high is high when you got the ammonia spike? Ammonia was at 8 ppm when I got the ammonia spike. Nothing has really changed, ammonia is still at 4 and no nitrites. I've added some gravel and filter wool from a mates tank and have increased the aeration. Has anyone had any results using Cycle or Stress Zyme to cycle a tank? I might buy a bottle tomorrow and add it to the filter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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