New 135 gallon is cycling like a champ!

[fishtankbabe 198]

This isn't a problem or a question, I'm just excited and you guys are the only ones who would understand, lol. I started cycling my 135 gallon tank on Wednesday night (09/26/12), with an established filter pad from a friend. I added 2 ppm of ammonia to the tank. Yesterday the ammonia was still at 2 ppm, and I was afraid all the bacteria on the filter pad might have died from being out of a filter for 3 days (it was in a container of water from their tank). And also my power was out for 9 hours yesterday. So last night I added some "Cycle" to the tank, because hey why not. Just got these results!

:nana :nana :nana

[dnalex 13,633]

Nice!

At least according to my readings of the recent literature on these microorganism, it will take a little bit of time for them to rev up, even when you took them from a cycled filter. It looks like it's going extremely well, though!

and I hope it is finished soon!

What's going in the 135?

[fishtankbabe 198]

Nice!

At least according to my readings of the recent literature on these microorganism, it will take a little bit of time for them to rev up, even when you took them from a cycled filter. It looks like it's going extremely well, though!

and I hope it is finished soon!

What's going in the 135?

Thanks Alex! I was grinning like a crazy person when I saw the nitrite tube turn purple after like 30 seconds, lol. This will be a tank for fancies. My plan is to eventually move my two current goldies into the 135 (and get more obviously, lol), and then have 2 bubble eyes in the 29 gallon.

I do have some questions though now that I think about it, lol. This is just running with the AC 110 right now, I haven't set up my Fluval FX5 yet. I could make that my project for tomorrow I guess. How much and how often do I need to add ammonia to the tank?

[dnalex 13,633]

Oooh. Fantastic plan. I can't wait to see it when it's done.

Because we don't know where you are with the cycling, I would check daily or every other day. When ammonia goes to 0, add more to maintain it at 1ppm until done

[fishtankbabe 198]

Oooh. Fantastic plan. I can't wait to see it when it's done.

Because we don't know where you are with the cycling, I would check daily or every other day. When ammonia goes to 0, add more to maintain it at 1ppm until done

Ok. It had gone down from 2.0 to 1.0 today. I will keep checking it daily. Once the cycle is finished, how much ammonia should I continue to "feed" it? It could be a while before I get any fish in there.

[dnalex 13,633]

1 ppm ammonia is the norm, because this trains your cycle to be able to process this much ammonia within 24 hours. This is especially helpful if you have tap ammonia.

[jessicalee 7]

1 ppm ammonia is the norm, because this trains your cycle to be able to process this much ammonia within 24 hours. This is especially helpful if you have tap ammonia.

Hi Dnalex! Can I ask why you are only suggesting to cycle this tank to 1ppm ammonia especially on a goldfish tank? Many people have ammonia levels higher than this in their tap water and I do not think this level is sufficient to happily fishless cycle a goldfish tank. Perhaps for a single goldfish or some minnows, it would be sufficient if the tap water has no form of ammonia. My suggestion would be 4ppm.

[BryCola 10]

Fine, rub it in! My aquarium is on WEEK FIVE, and still NOTHING! Glad you're having success though.

[fishtankbabe 198]

Fine, rub it in! My aquarium is on WEEK FIVE, and still NOTHING! Glad you're having success though.

Lol, I'm sorry! I cheated big time by using established filter media from a friend's tank.

[koko 14,335]

1 ppm ammonia is the norm, because this trains your cycle to be able to process this much ammonia within 24 hours. This is especially helpful if you have tap ammonia.

Hi Dnalex! Can I ask why you are only suggesting to cycle this tank to 1ppm ammonia especially on a goldfish tank? Many people have ammonia levels higher than this in their tap water and I do not think this level is sufficient to happily fishless cycle a goldfish tank. Perhaps for a single goldfish or some minnows, it would be sufficient if the tap water has no form of ammonia. My suggestion would be 4ppm.

the reason is we dont want the nitrites to go above 5ppm. if the do it will stall the cycle... so and steady is the way

[dnalex 13,633]

1 ppm ammonia is the norm, because this trains your cycle to be able to process this much ammonia within 24 hours. This is especially helpful if you have tap ammonia.

Hi Dnalex! Can I ask why you are only suggesting to cycle this tank to 1ppm ammonia especially on a goldfish tank? Many people have ammonia levels higher than this in their tap water and I do not think this level is sufficient to happily fishless cycle a goldfish tank. Perhaps for a single goldfish or some minnows, it would be sufficient if the tap water has no form of ammonia. My suggestion would be 4ppm.

Jessica,

We also fishlessly cycle at 4 ppm, but once the nitrite peak is attained, we lower this down to 1-2ppm ammonia. As you know. Ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) are stimulated to expansion by ammonia, while nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB) are inhibited by high concentrations of ammonia.

Also, during my time here, and looking at people's tap, the most I have ever seen is 1ppm ammonia. We've had quite a few people here cycle this way, and their robust cycle have handled goldfish more than fine.

[jessicalee 7]

1 ppm ammonia is the norm, because this trains your cycle to be able to process this much ammonia within 24 hours. This is especially helpful if you have tap ammonia.

Hi Dnalex! Can I ask why you are only suggesting to cycle this tank to 1ppm ammonia especially on a goldfish tank? Many people have ammonia levels higher than this in their tap water and I do not think this level is sufficient to happily fishless cycle a goldfish tank. Perhaps for a single goldfish or some minnows, it would be sufficient if the tap water has no form of ammonia. My suggestion would be 4ppm.

Jessica,

We also fishlessly cycle at 4 ppm, but once the nitrite peak is attained, we lower this down to 1-2ppm ammonia. As you know. Ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) are stimulated to expansion by ammonia, while nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB) are inhibited by high concentrations of ammonia.

Also, during my time here, and looking at people's tap, the most I have ever seen is 1ppm ammonia. We've had quite a few people here cycle this way, and their robust cycle have handled goldfish more than fine.

Thank you, I generally suggest the same thing (dropping the amm dose once nitrites start to peak) during a fishless cycle followed by gradually increasing the amm dose once nitrites are being fully processed. I was not sure where everyone stood on this topic. I have seen quite a few people that had ammonia levels in their tap of 1ppm or much higher (4+ppm) so this is something that needs to be taken into consideration when fishless cycling. While the EPA has mandates for public drinking water for levels of nitrites and nitrates, ammonia levels are not regulated and the use of chloramines is becoming much more common. Private well water supplies are not regulated either unless one is taking the initiative to test their wells on a regular basis.

[fishtankbabe 198]

Test readings today:

pH - 7.6 (going to add buffer)

Ammonia - 0.50

Nitrite - > 5.0

Nitrate - 10 - 20 ppm

So should I do a big water change since my nitrite readings are off the chart?

[koko 14,335]

Test readings today:

pH - 7.6 (going to add buffer)

Ammonia - 0.50

Nitrite - > 5.0

Nitrate - 10 - 20 ppm

So should I do a big water change since my nitrite readings are off the chart?

Yes please

[fishtankbabe 198]

Did a 75% water change yesterday. Here's my test results today:

pH - 7.8

Ammonia - 0.25 ppm

Nitrite - > 5 ppm

Nitrate - 5 - 10 ppm

The nitrite is the brightest purple imaginable. Honestly I don't know if I'm going to be able to fix this with water changes. My tap water has chloromines, and it tests at 1.00 ppm for ammonia. So me doing a WC just adds ammonia, which gets converted into more nitrites...

[jessicalee 7]

Honestly, I would do a 100% water change or two (temp match & condition) to drop your nitrites as low as possible and skip adding any ammonia because your tap is supplying it right now. Add a few pinches of crushed fish food for phosphates. Hang in there!

[dnalex 13,633]

When you do the WC, don't forget to add water conditioner

Looks like you are almost done

[fishtankbabe 198]

I won't forget to add water conditioner And I haven't added any ammonia since the initial dose last week. I hope it is almost done, it would be a relief to have at least one verifiably cycled tank in the house. Ok, one 100% WC coming up... lol.

Edited October 3, 2012 by fishtankbabe

[fishtankbabe 198]

100% WC yesterday. Today's test results:

pH - 7.8

Ammonia - 0.25

Nitrite - 0.00

Nitrate - slightly orange, but under 5 ppm

[dnalex 13,633]

Oooh. It looks like your nitrite processing bacteria are doing a great job, and the ammonia processors need a bit more to go.

I would very slowly add enough ammonia to make it 1ppm, and check it again tomorrow, and repeat the process until you can verify that your tank will process at least 1ppm ammonia in 24 hours.

[fishtankbabe 198]

Thursday's test results:

pH - 8.0

Ammonia - 0.25

Nitrite - 0.00

Nitrate - < 5ppm

Added about half a cap of ammonia to the tank.

Today's test results:

pH - 8.2 (I don't get how it's going up??)

Ammonia - 1.00

Nitrite - < 0.25

Nitrate - 5 ppm

[dnalex 13,633]

Ammonia is basic, so it might push the pH up a tad. Not only that, but I think 0.2 is somewhat within the range of test errors anyway, so everything looks good!

[fishtankbabe 198]

Today's test results:

pH - 8.1

Ammonia - 0.50

Nitrite - < 0.25

Nitrate - 5 - 10

[dnalex 13,633]

Looks pretty good!

I hope you'll be done soon!