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is my cycle over?

2K views 24 replies 8 participants last post by  discuspaul 
#1 · (Edited)
its been about a month since i started fishless cycling, lately i have been adding about 1/3 to 1/2 cap of ammonia a day to keep it between 1ppm and 4ppm.
my tank has shown high nitrites, and nitrates at ~5ppm over the past two weeks or so. i just tested my nitrates again tonight and they were >150ppm.
so i have ammonia=1 nitrites>5 and nitrates>150

should i let my tank sit and wait until i have no ammonia or nitrites and low nitrates, or should i do a large water change and go from there?



thanks
 
#3 ·
#1. Make sure you've seeded the tank with a good colony of bacteria from an old filter from an established tank.
#2. I'd do a few water changes to get the nitrites / nitrates down a little bit
#3. I would add a heater (if you don't have one already) and warm the tank up to 80 deg F or so. That will really speed up the bacteria metabolism / growth rate
 
#8 ·
sorry for the confusion, i wasnt expecting to put any fish in this week, i knew i still had some time left.

i just did a very large WC but do not have time to test the params. i will when i get home from work.

so am i correct in thinking that i should NOT add any more ammonia?
(just dont want my bacteria to starve after a month of work! lol)


yes, i have a heater in there :cool:
 
#9 ·
What size is your tank & what brand & model number is your filter?

PJ, adding established filter media will cut the cycling time to a fraction of what it would normally take.

Bud, do you have an air stone in that tank? If not, add one.
 
#12 ·
Nitrifying bacteria do not like ammonia or nitrite over 5 ppm, but do not seem to care about nitrate.

They require carbonates, they use that as a source of carbon. If the KH can be held stable as low as 3 degrees is fine, but a lot higher works, too. If it keeps dropping (for example, I have substrate that keeps removing the carbonates) keep adding carbonates.

Once a day (not more often) add enough ammonia to read 3 ppm.

When the bacteria can remove the ammonia within 24 hours and nitrites also read 0 ppm the cycle is done.

If you are still not ready for fish keep on feeding the bacteria.

Water changes are optional, but when you are ready for fish you will need to do a really large water change to get the nitrates way down.
 
#14 ·
WOW, your Nitrates must have been over 300ppm if that's even possible.

Do you have any plants in quarantine you could feed that nitrate filled tank water to?


  • What kind of substrate are you using?
  • What size tank?
  • What filter are you using?
 
#21 ·
When I speed cycled my 10G, I didn't CHANGE the water. I only started with about 5-6G and kept adding dirty water from the betta tanks.

I pumped up the heat to the 80's but the tank was ACTUALLY 98 degrees for 4-5 days.


Bud, do you have anything that will absorb the nitrates?

I'm not crazy about the filter you're using. I typically use the HOB style filters. In tank ones are troublesome to maintain.
 
#22 ·
sorry i never answered your question form your first post on this thread, yes i have an air stone and i did throw it in the tank.

i don't think i have anything that will absorb the nitrates...what could?
and i really dont like the filter either, but its all i have....for now!
 
#23 ·
Do water changes to keep the nitrites under 5 ppm.

When you feed too much ammonia the first population of bacteria turn it into too much nitrite faster than the second population can get rid of it. That is why you aim for 3 ppm max on the ammonia. That much generally will not make the nitrite spike too high.
 
#24 ·
okay. so it will be complete when:
i dose 3ppm of ammonia, and in 24 hours i get readings of 0 ammonia 0 nitrites and any amount of nitrates. then do a wc to get rid of excess nitrates. then its ready?

but isnt it bad to have 0 ammonia, because then some of my nitrifying bacteria would die off?
 
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