Fishless Cycle

[AquaticNerd]

How have the results been this past weekend? Got any good numbers to share?

I would agree that your pH is a bit concerning if you measured 6.2 and then measured 7.6. I would have to echo what Shan suggested above - with those results you'll want to test your GH and KH. If you have low buffering capacity, you'll want to remedy that before adding your fish. A pH crash with fish is a lot more stressful than a crash without fish.

[TonySimm]

Hey,

I have Dr. Tim's nitrifying bacteria coming today so I can really get started. I already have thec ammonia from Dr. Tim's so that should be all I needed.

I'm at work now and don't have the numbers on me but I had been getting 0 on the nitrate. I treated with ammonia once just to see and saw the nitrates rise a little so both ammonia and nitrates being at 0.25-0.5.

Thanks for asking.

[Patrick4802]

It can’t hurt but I didn’t think the nitrifying bacteria helped all that much. I’m 2 months into a fishless cycle and getting close to the end. The dr tims ammonia was a lot more useful than the bacteria.

[TonySimm]

Ohh ok awesome that's good to know thank you!

[TonySimm]

Ok so water update had some changes:

Every PH test has been consistently 7.6 on daily testing.

Today:

Nitrate 5.0ish
Ammonia: 0.25 plus
Nitrite: 1.0

I have on hand the Dr Tim's ammonia and nitrifying bacteria solution. Should I treat with either or let it go at this point?

[AquaticNerd]

You should continue dosing Ammonia every day to get it up to your target, whether that be 2, 3, or 4 ppm. You should continue doing so until you have completed your cycle. A complete cycle will take the full dose of ammonia and convert it completely to nitrate in 24 hours. Since you have >0.25ppm ammonia and 1ppm of nitrite, your cycle is not yet complete.

[TonySimm]

At what point do I start doing water changes or do I hold off until the fish are here?

[AquaticNerd]

You don't do water changes during a fishless cycle, which is why testing for nitrates is only important when you start seeing nitrites drop. Only after you have verified that the fishless cycle has completed do you need to do a water change. Personally, I would hold off on doing a water change until you know the fish are about to arrive.

When I did my fishless cycle, I waited until the morning of the day the fish were arriving. Since my water is aged and heated, it was all prepared to go to. Changed nearly 100% of the water and it was ready for fish.

[TonySimm]

Great thank you for the help!

[TonySimm]

Ok so hopefully one last question lol. Once the cycle is complete do I still need to dose daily with ammonia to keep the bacteria alive and going or once it's complete I can stop dosing?

I can add ammonia and test and it goes down pretty quick (12 hours) but it's definitely not completely cycled.

Thank you

[Shan_Evolved]

If there is a long wait time before adding the fish, you definitely want to keep dosing ammonia at least 2-3 times a week to keep the colonies happy.

My personally, I stopped dosing pure ammonia and just let cheap tetra flake food fall on a timer like if I had real fish in there. The flake food itself would produce ammonia I needed to get the bacteria to stay healthy.

In my experience, even if you do fishless cycle, the change in bioload will always affect your beneficial bacteria colonies. For the first 2-3 days I had a lot of bacteria/slime buildup in my tank as well as a smell, but it went away with water changes and wipe downs.

[AquaticNerd]

You should continue dosing ammonia every day, even after the cycle completed, up until the day before the fish arrive. As an example, if I'm fishless cycling a tank and my fish are scheduled to arrive March 30th, my last day of ammonia dosing is March 29th, with a large, close to 100%, water change with aged, treated water the morning the fish arrive.

You can also do as Shan has suggested and use an auto-feeder with fish food in it to produce ammonia. I like to keep my bacteria fed with the same amount of ammonia I was originally using, so I didn't use this method. I prefer knowing how much ammonia goes in every day - with fish food, I feel like it is not as exact. I never had issues with bacterial blooms cycling at 4ppm ammonia.

[TonySimm]

Awesome thank you all I appreciate the information!

[Patrick4802]

Quick question on when the cycle is done. Currently my tank will take 2ppm if ammonia and convert to 0 nitrites in 24-36 hrs. So I know I’m close but not quite there yet. When do I know I’m 100% done?

[TonySimm]

Im close to where you are Patrick. I dose up to 2-2.5 ppm every evening and test in the morning and my ammonia is 0.25 at that point. My nitrites are around 1 and nitrates are above 150. Aquaticnerd said they had a big nitrate reading like that so not concerned with that.