Fishless tank cycle

[JimL]

I'm doing a fishless cycle on my new 75 gal. first time for me. I must admit it was a lot easier and faster than I thought it would be. I started off adding 40 ml of ammonia daily, it'sbeen 8 days, now that my Nitrites have spiked I've cut back to 20 ml. Looking at that rate the tank will be fully cycled in just a few more days.
Trouble is, I won't be able to get my new discus until the first of June. My question is, "can I keep feeding the tank Ammonia until then and then do 80% WC and then add the fish?"
Jim

[Eddie]

I'm doing a fishless cycle on my new 75 gal. first time for me. I must admit it was a lot easier and faster than I thought it would be. I started off adding 40 ml of ammonia daily, it'sbeen 8 days, now that my Nitrites have spiked I've cut back to 20 ml. Looking at that rate the tank will be fully cycled in just a few more days.
Trouble is, I won't be able to get my new discus until the first of June. My question is, "can I keep feeding the tank Ammonia until then and then do 80% WC and then add the fish?"
Jim

You sure can Jim, that is definitely what you need to do. I'll try to find the thread that talks about how much to add as a daily maintenance dose.

Be back in a second,

Eddie

[Eddie]

Here you go Jim, its a good thread about keeping an empty tank cycled. ;)

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?t=70296

Eddie

[JimL]

Eddie;

Thanks. It seemed logical, that continuing adding ammonia would keep the bio load heavy and ready for fish when the time comes.

Jim

[silent_thunder]

I'm doing a fishless cycle on my new 75 gal. first time for me. I must admit it was a lot easier and faster than I thought it would be. I started off adding 40 ml of ammonia daily, it'sbeen 8 days, now that my Nitrites have spiked I've cut back to 20 ml. Looking at that rate the tank will be fully cycled in just a few more days.
Trouble is, I won't be able to get my new discus until the first of June. My question is, "can I keep feeding the tank Ammonia until then and then do 80% WC and then add the fish?"
Jim


I am attempting a fishless cycle as well but its not going along as well as I expected it to...

What was your nitrite reading when it *spiked*?

Thanks

D

[Roxanne]

...cycled in around 8 days?...I don't think so...40ml of ammonia in a 75 gallon is hardly a load...

What have your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, ph readings been ?


Daniel, there's nothing wrong with yours, you're just Mr Impatient:)

[JimL]

I started off by adding ammonia untill my testing read 4.0 ppm, which turned out to be 40 ml. So I added 40 ml daily until my Nitrite spiked at 2.0 ppm. I've cut back on adding ammonia to 20 ml daily.
My current prams are Ammonia 2.0 ppm, Nitrite 1.0 ppm, Nitrate 20 ppm, ph 7.4 Temp 86

[Roxanne]

If 2ppm is the highest your nitrites have been, I wouldn't count on it being ready as soon as you think, but you have time anyway for it to finish before your fish are arriving...

If it were me Jim, I'd stop adding ammonia and test to see when current ammonia readings return to "0"...as that is a better indicator of where you are at in the cycle..when ammonia drops to 0 and nitrite and nitrate readings are 0....add your ammonia to 4ppm again and if the ammonia is 0 in 24 hours, you're done.

Roxanne

[silent_thunder]

...cycled in around 8 days?...I don't think so...40ml of ammonia in a 75 gallon is hardly a load...

What have your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, ph readings been ?


Daniel, there's nothing wrong with yours, you're just Mr Impatient:)


Ya got that right...oh but Doris I TRY so hard!

[JimL]

If 2ppm is the highest your nitrites have been, I wouldn't count on it being ready as soon as you think

Roxanne, you were right! My Nitrite spiked off the chart.
It's done now, I do a test at 0900 and prams are 0, 0, 40, ph 7.6
I add 20ml ammonia at 0915, and at noon I get 2.0, 0.25, 40, ph 7.6
at 2100 I get, 0.25, 1.0, 50, ph 7.6
at 0900 I get, 0, 0, 50, ph 7.6

I'm going to continue to add 20ml ammonia at 0915 and watch how things go.
I'm planing to have a heavy Bio Load in the tank (6 discus, 12 glowlight tetras, gold nugget pleco, some rasboras (sp?) and a few more I can't think of ATM

So anyway, thanks for your help it turns out I won't be able to get fish till August so I still have time to see where things go.

Jim

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n192/Loknor/fish5-15-09002.jpg

[Roxanne]

That's great Jim ;)....Tank's looking good, glad it's all happening for you. August huh? Oh well, good things are worth waiting for I guess. Let us know if you have a problem, and don't forget to show us a picture when you get your discus.

Roxanne

PS: You won't need to change that water until just before your fish go into it:)