Fishless Cycle

[Shan_Evolved]

Damn those are some high nitrates. I would do a big water change and redoes ammonia and continue readings.

You aren't done until you convert all your ammonia into nitrate and have 0 ammo and NO2 within 24 hrs and then do it again after a big water change

[AquaticNerd]

Patrick - if your tank takes 2ppm of ammonia and converts it into nitrate in 24 hours, without any discernible level of nitrite, your cycle should be complete. If it's closer to the 36 hour mark, I'd continue dosing until it's able to get closer to 24 hours.

High nitrates is not an issue if you don't have fish. A large waterchange, say 100%, will take any level of nitrates to 0 (or whatever ppm is in your WC water).

[TonySimm]

Thank you for the correction on nitrates!

[Patrick4802]

Thanks for your help aquatic. I appreciate the advice.
I’m not planning on adding fish until 3/21 so I think I should be safe. I’m going to test my nitrates for fun tonight. My guess is they are well off the scale at this point in my cycle. I’m curious how fast the test turns red.

[AquaticNerd]

When I was testing towards the end of my cycle, it would pretty much turn red about 30 seconds after mixing the two reagents.

[TonySimm]

Does doing a water change hurt my cycle if I'm doing it right before I plan on treating with ammonia?

The high nitrates are causing some algae but I can manage it if it would set me back at all.

[AquaticNerd]

Algae shouldn't be a problem unless you have lights on the tank turned on or it is in a location where it gets sunlight.

If you are planning on doing a water change, do it before adding a new dose of ammonia. It will be fine if you do it this way.

[Patrick4802]

Quick question, my discus order will arrive in 8 days. How many days before they arrive can I stop feeding ammonia. I’m planning on doing a 100% water change but only have enough containers to age 75% of the water needed.
Thanks

[AquaticNerd]

I would not go longer than 12-ish hours without making sure the BB are fed.

In your situation, I would do a 75% WC two days before the fish arrive. After the WC, feed ammonia like you have been. Next day, another 75% water change. Feed ammonia enough to get to 1ppm around 18-24 hours before fish arrive. 4-6 hours before fish arrive, another 75% WC and stop dosing ammonia. If you're treating with prime, I added a little extra if there were any traces of ammonia after the final water change.

[Patrick4802]

Thanks jake. Appreciate the help

[dspeers]

Fully agree with Jakes pre-fish protocol. Do have one question. Most bacteria are ultimately inhibited/killed by their own waste products if the concentration gets high enough, i.e. brewers yeast dies at an alcohol concentration between 12-13%. Is there a Nitrate level that anyone has noted that begins to inhibit BB?

[AquaticNerd]

I haven't done any tests myself, but I haven't noticed any adverse effects from leaving my fish-less cycles and leaving them without WCs until ready for fish.

At least for brewing, you don't want that high alcohol concentration because alcohol tends to kill a lot of things (the reason why hand sanitizer and some sanitizing wipes are alcohol based). Might be a good experiment.

[peewee1]

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.

Question. If you are cycling the water for weeks on end and then completely change it with 100% change what was the purpose of cycling the water in the first place?

[Thingsarefun]

Question. If you are cycling the water for weeks on end and then completely change it with 100% change what was the purpose of cycling the water in the first place?

There will be tons of Nitrate build up from processing all the dosed Ammonia that need to be removed.