Need Advice on my Fishless Cycle

[espitzer]

Hi.

I am trying the fishless cycling of a couple of 55 gallon tanks for the first time. I read through the information on this site on how to do this and I'm using the revised method of getting the ammonia to approx. 5 ppm right away and then waiting for the nitrite to spike.

Well, I'm finding some odd/interesting thigs. Both tanks are setup exactly the same way- 2 hydrosponge V filters, 1 Penguin 300 in each, both at approx. 82 degrees. I added BioSpira to both (about 1 1/2 onces to each tank, based on the directions on the bottle).

I've been adding 3 capfuls of the ammonia I purchased (made sure it was clear and no suds). The reading when I added that amount is at the upper level of my test kit (Wardley), which may be part of the problem (I may have been putting too much ammonia in).

In any case, I tested the water today and in 1 tank the Nitrite level (also Wardley test) is off the charts, while in the other tank, it is non-existent.

So, in the tank with high Nitrite I did about a 50% water change and got the ammonia down to about 2 ppm and the Nitrite down to .25 ppm (low readings on both).

My questions are: 1) Should I reduce the amount of ammonia I'm putting in both tanks, making sure it is not going off the charts; 2) why would one tank have nitrite readings off the scale and the other have none?

Thanks for your help.

Eric

[Carol_Roberts]

You need one more test kit to know the answer.

Test the zero nitrIte tank for nitrAtes. If the answer is zero the good bacteria isn't to the point where it converts ammonia to nitrIte. If it shows a reading for nitrAtes the filters in that tank are fully cycled.

In any event switch about half the media from one tank to the other and they could be on an equal footing . . . .

[espitzer]

Carol,

I took your advice and switched one of my hydrosponges to the tank that wasn't cycling and it is now producing nitrites and some nitrate.

So, in the tank that was cycling already, I'm getting an ammonia reading of about 1 ppm, nitrite off the scale, and nitrate of about 20 ppm. In the tank that is now cycling also, the ammonia is staying off the scale, nitrite is off the scale, and nitrate is about 10 ppm.

In the good cycling tank, I'm just trying to keep the ammonia level up so the bacteria don't die, so I'm putting in about 1/2 of what I was to begin with.

In the tank that's a bit behind, I'm concerned about continuing to add ammonia, since it is staying off the charts. What do you recommend for this tank?

Thanks for your help.

[Carol_Roberts]

In the tank that is showing 20 ppm nitrAte I would do a 90% water change. then add enough ammonia to show 4 - 5 ppm. Test all three values after 24 hours. It will hopefully show ammonia and nitrIte zero and a small nitrAte reading. If it still shows nitrIte continue feeding a small amount of ammonia and retest in a few days.

In the other tank you added a sponge filter and now it is converting ammonia. You might want to take the sponge off the filter housing and cram it in the hang on the back filter to jump start it. If the ammonia is over 5 ppm in this tank simply do a water change to bring it back to 4 - 5 ppm

Same with really high nitrItes.

[espitzer]

Carol,

Just wanted you to know I'm still plugging away at the fishless cycle. I'm still waiting for the nitrite levels to go down. I've done 90% water changes in my tanks, which reduced the nitrites in 1 to .25 ppm, but the other is still showing off the charts, believe it or not. How long should it take for the Nitrite consuming bacteria to take hold?

Thanks again.

Eric

[Carol_Roberts]

It took me five weeks. Once you get nitrAtes in one tank you can mix and match the filters media