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Fishless Cycle Using Fish Food, Please Advice...

2K views 5 replies 6 participants last post by  Diana 
#1 ·
Hello everyone,

I'm new here and new as fish keeper.
First of all i want to say sorry for my english, I'm from Poland and my english is just so so

i started doing fishless cycle 5 days ago (12/12/2014) for my new tank (it's 200L, 100cm*40cm*50cm, for it there is external filter JBL e901 (900L/H), heater 300W, white LED light 90cm 27.4W and UV sta. 9W) using fish food because i couldn't find pure ammonia
Anyway after 3 days (15/12/2014) i did test to find NH3 at 2.0, NO2 <0.3 and NO3 0. Today (17/12/2014) i did another test to find NH3 at 0.5, NO2 <0.3 and NO3 0. of course i was adding fish food every 12 hours, yesterday i started do add more but that's what i got today

i can't read any progress, i didn't see ammonia high still, and i started to type here after i saw that ammonia is going low when it should go high.

FYI: i got temp. at 30c and air pump working 13 hours per day with lights off almost all the time. Inside the tank there is subscripts for plants, some gravels, stones and roots, without any plants, and:
PH 8
KH 7
GH 11
CO2 2.1

Any advice? is that normal?:help:
 
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#3 ·
1. Ammonia dropping and nitrites rising is the next step of cycling. Expect reducing ammonia levels to 0 in next week with nitrite going sky high.
2. Week 2 expect nitrite to start dropping and nitrate to rise.
3. Do 30% or so water change when Ammonia and Nitrites are 0 and Nitrate is over 20

Keep feeding tank daily.
Patience! It takes 2-3 weeks until all is 0 and you can begin stocking.
 
#6 ·
I see you list a 9 w UV sterilizer. You might want to turn this off.
While it is still growing there may be beneficial microorganisms in the water.

I think it is on track.
The food is decomposing and showing up as variable levels of ammonia.
The ammonia removing bacteria are getting going, and this is making the ammonia level drop.
The trace of nitrite is good, too.
 
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