Fishless cycle Day 29 - Complete!

[georgef]

Day 27:
Nitrites had been pegged since day 17. Nitrates lept to nearly 40 ppm on day 26, but nitrite was still > 5 ppm. Changed ~30% of the water and measured again.

Ammonia - 0 ppm
Nitrite - >5 ppm
Nitrate - 20 ppm

Day 28:
Added NH3...
Ammonia - 3 ppm
Nitrite - ~4 ppm
Nitrate - ~20-25 ppm

Day 29:
Ammonia - 0 ppm
Nitrites - 0 ppm
Nitrates - ~25 - 30 ppm

Four weeks and one day to completely cycle a 55 without seeding from another tank. :) I'm going to add 5 ppm NH3 tonight and see if the biofilter can process the whole thing in 24 hrs or less. I feel pretty confident that the tank can handle a full fish load right away.

Hello, Mike Wells? Expect a call from me this week... ;D ;D ;D

[Ralph]

Congratulations George! That last week is alway tough, it just goes on and on. I remember testing the water twice a day on my tank, like that was going to speed up the process.
Let everybody know what fish you end up with, I'm sure Mike will do well by you.

[Ardan]

Hi,
Be sure to keep feeding the bacteria until the fish are in, or else the bacteria will die of starvation.

hth
Ardan

[gary1218]

When there's no fish in the tank I keep pumping in the ammonia to keep the filters going. I keep increasing the ammonia on the assupmtion that the more ammonia the more bacteria will be built up in the filter to handle it. The day before I'm going to put fish in the tank I do a 100% water to get rid of the nitrAtes.

GARY

[ronrca]

Im happy for you George! ;D ;) Glad it worked out!