First time cycle new tank

[Bino]

Hello,

This is my first tank (small 10 gal) and I started a fishless cycle 6 days ago using fish food to get it going.

The Ammonia leves are up to 4 and I got my first Nitrite reading up to .25.

So do I keep feeding the tank fish food at this point? If so, the same amount or do I back off abit?

Appreciate the help.

[sharn]

id keep feeding the same, who cares if it gets a little gunky, you still need the same amount of food for the bacteria to feed on. just do a nice water change before fish are added and it should be fine

[Luke*]

Yes I agree with Sharn also. Big 90% WC once you get nitrate.

[sharn]

ill have to disagree with ya on that one Lukey :lol:

once your ammonia and nitrite read 0 and you have a reading of nitrates do a w/c around 30-50%, you can slowly start adding your fish then if you like but do make sure its slowly. a tank might be cycled but the bacteria still has to work itself up to handle the bio load, if you dump a whole heap of fish in you may experience a spike or 'mini cycle' while it catches up. also if your nitrates arent under 40ppm after the water change its probably best to do another in a few days and see what the reading is then. doing such a large water change after the cycle has just finished may disrupt the very end cycle and could (it might not but it could and thatd slow ya down) cause a mini one. you wana wait till the colonies are well established before you go doing large ones IMO

[Luke*]

'fraid I'll have to disagree with you sharney... best to do a big water change to remove any residual ammonia or nitrite as well as the detritus that's built up, the good stuff is now in the filter. Best to add fish slowly, but you can add more and just do more water changes to help the filter. http://www.simplydiscus.com/forum/showt ... 426&page=2

[Caryl]

Have a look at this site. It talks about fishless cycling at the bottom of the page then links to a step by step report from a man who kept records as his tank cycled

http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/cycling2.htm

[Bino]

Thanks for the replies and links. Cant wait for this to be over with so I can get some fish!

[Bino]

I'm confused.

The ammonia went down to zero 4 days ago. The nitrites just hit zero today. I was expecting the nitrate levels to be pretty high but its droped way down. It had gotten up to around 80 but now its around 10. I havent done anything to the tank except feed it fish food.

I was planning to do a water change today but I'm not sure now.

Aside from a water change, what can cause the Nitrate levels to drop?

And is it ok to get a fish yet?

[Tsarmina]

do you have plants in the tank??

[Bino]

Nothing in there but some rocks and gravel and some plastic plants. They have been in there all along.

[suphew]

Are you testing for nitrite (NO2) or nitrate (NO3)? Nitrate is the final product and what you need to remove via water changes. If your nitrite is the one that is low, your cycle is well under way (which it should be now) and you can think about starting to slowly add fish.

[Bino]

Its the Nitrate levels that is confusing me. I thought the only way for those levels to go down was after a water change but I havent done that yet.

As of yesterday both ammonia and Nitrite levels are at zero where i think it should be at this point. I'll test again when I get home from work today.

Maybe I messed up in the testing? I tested it twice just to make sure. But maybe I messed up the previous test where Nitrate was over 80?

Who knows, if the ammonia and nitrite are still at zero and the nitrate is high enough to do a water change I'll just do that tonight and maybe get a fish or two tomorrow or wesnesday.

[sharn]

if both ammonia and nitrate are at 0 then its theoretically cycled. nitrate is the end product so a w/c will reduce them and 80ppm is normal for a tank thats just finished the cycle. slowly add your fish in so you dont get a 'mini cycle'

[bOi]

sorry to hijack but i thought this mite be related.

lets say you just got a new aquarium, tank B.. filter/sump all set going. And you already have another tank A going. Now, since the fishes from tank A are are going to be in tank B, can I use the water from the water changes I make on tank A to help cycle tank B by pouring it into tank B? Would this be a good idea?

I usually do the normal "fishless" cycle on a new tank. Hope this make sense :roll:

[Caryl]

If possible boi I would be running the new filter on the old tank to cycle it that way, or use half the filter media in the old filter in the new one. I would also use half the water from the exisiting tank in the new one. Although there is not much of the good bacteria in the water itself, it will be the pH, temp etc the fish are used to.

Once the fish are moved from the old tank, will it still have fish in it or will it be empty? If empty, just shift the whole filter unit to the new tank (if possible) and then it is already cycled.