Tank Nitrogen Cycling Question

[asifgy]

So, this is my 11th Day is my fishless cycle, my ammonia is at .25ppm from 5ppm and my nitrites is spiked at 4ppm. After reading that nitrogenous bactieria start dying after as soon as a few hours without ammonia or nitrites, leads to my question. At which point do I start adding my Discus??

Thanks is advance.

[Jennie]

when ammo read 0, nitrites 0. you are not done cycling yet

[Dudley Eirich]

You need to add more ammonia to get it back to the 5 ppm level. Eventually the nitrite levels will start to drop as well. Once you add ammonia to the 5 ppm level and both ammonia and nitrite levels are at zero 24 h later, you are ready to add some discus to the tank. You will want to do a 100% water change prior to adding the fish.

[DonMD]

It took me 5 weeks before my 125 gallon tank fully cycled. I was adding small amounts of ammonia (MiracleGro) daily to keep feeding the bacterial colonies. After 24 hours my ammonia readings would be zero, and once my nitrites spiked, they came down fast to zero. I did a 40% water change every 2-3 days. Good luck.

[asifgy]

Thanks for the advice guys, I add 5ppm of Ammonia, can't wait to re-test tomorrow.

[SNap0283]

When i fishless cycled my tank i went 5 days in between adding ammonia. if you add 5ppm a day its going to spike your nitrites to 30-50-200ppm since they are not being broken down yet. Im sure at some point it becomes too toxic for them to even form, but i dont know how much it would take for that to happen. so rather than needed to change water daily i just cut back on the ammonia i was adding. Once the tank was able to breakdown the 5ppm ammonia in 24hrs even if i waited another 5 days before adding more, it was still able to break down the 5ppm within 24hrs. Just some advice to save a bit of work with water changes while the tank cycles.

[Frankr409]

It took me 5 weeks before my 125 gallon tank fully cycled. I was adding small amounts of ammonia (MiracleGro) daily to keep feeding the bacterial colonies. After 24 hours my ammonia readings would be zero, and once my nitrites spiked, they came down fast to zero. I did a 40% water change every 2-3 days. Good luck.

Ace hardware sells pure Ammonia, without add-ins. Use it, and only it if you are going to do a fishless cycle.

I use a lot of Miraclegro in my gardens and it is widely known that the product contains trace amounts of heavy elements like cadmium, arsenic, lead, zinc, cobalt, as well as other undesireable elements like phosphate and mercury.

Not sure who recommended this for seeding a tank, but that individual hasn't got a clue.

Come to think of it, it would be much better just to piss in your discus tank than use Scott's Miracle grow.

[DonMD]

Not sure who recommended this for seeding a tank, but that individual hasn't got a clue.

I got the idea from brewmaster, a moderator and owner of this forum. It worked fine for me. Since I changed all the water before adding fish, no problems.

[Dudley Eirich]

I've got to agree with Don (and Brewmaster). I think Miracle grow is fine to do a fishless cycle with. You just need to do a 100% water change and wipe down the tank well. If I were using ammonia from Ace Hardware, I would do the same. I'm pretty sure that commercial ammonia is not totally pure and free from contaminants, so I would clean well as a precaution.

[Frankr409]

I got the idea from brewmaster, a moderator and owner of this forum. It worked fine for me. Since I changed all the water before adding fish, no problems.

Wow...