Redox600

Hey y'all!
I have recently started cycling a 55G tank using the 'Add and Wait' method described in the Fishless Cycle sticky. I added enough ammonia to get up to 5 PPM, and that was 7 days ago. I took a reading today and ammonia is now sitting at 1 ppm. I added a piece of filter from my cycled 10G tank into my 55G filter to try and speed things p a bit. How long should it take before I see 0 ppm?
Thanks.

Shawnie

congrats on the fishless cycle!!!!!!

unfortunately, no one has a set time frame..but you are doing everything great...just remember in between stages so the bacteria forming have something to eat...a lil flake food once a day is easy ...goodluck!!

COBettaCouple

It varies, but I found that raising the heater to maximum (remember to turn it back after cycling) and running aeration in the tank helped the cycling process.

Adding some good bacteria from the 10g tank should provide a boost, but watching the ammonia and nitrites is the only way to get an idea of how far into the cycle you are.

fishbum

That's great!What kind of ammonia did you add?Remember you need to keep feeding the bacteria or the cycle will crash.Because you borrowed some bacteria from another tank,the cycle should not take long.I have added fish 3 days after starting a new tank.I got the ammonia in there with fish food one day,transfered the filter media the next day,and added 1 fish on the 3rd day.Good luck with your new tank!What kind of fish are you planning on keeping?

Angela_96

Right now I have a 58g in a fishless cycle as well, last weekend when I cleaned the canister filter out I put some filter media in mine from an establised tank. So far in the coarse of a week my ammonia and nitrite spiked, yesterday the ammonia was at -0- and the nitrite was 2ppm its comming down slowly, I will check the levels again today andif my nitrites are lower I will check the nitrates.

It hasn't took long since I put that media in there, the other way was taking way to long for what I needed, (I was throwing food in there). I am needing this tank soon so I can order some new species of cichlids.

pepetj

Redox600. My experience so far ranges with tanks between 5.5 to 29gal.
I used another variant for fishless-cycling (adding daily Xdrops os Ammonia solution until 5ppm is attained, then add that amount daily until Ammonia levels go down in 12hrs -nitrites are present at that moment; at that point change to adding halfX drops daily until Nitrite spikes and fades; all the time with plants in the tank) and the timeframe has been 11 to 13 days.
I started fishless-cycle in a 145gal (two hours ago) and have no idea of how long it will take (that's a big tank, at least for me).

Good luck! It pays to go fishless-cycling!

Pepe
Santo Domingo

Blub

What do you plan on stocking with?

Redox600

I used "Goldex Household Ammonnia, with no fragrances or phosphates". But I think I screwed up because I wasn't putting food or anything into the tank daily to keep the ammonia levels up. I tested again this morning and its still at about 1 ppm so I think I stalled or crashed the cycle.

I think my next course of action will be to add more ammonia and get the levels up again, and make sure I add food on a daily basis to the tank. I did use a piece of filter from my Penguin 100, but I'm thinking that since I change that filter every 2 weeks that maybe there wasn't a sufficient amount of bacteria on it to kick start this cycle.

I still don't know what I'm going to stock with. I was going to put my Gups and Cory from my 10G into this new tank, but since that tank is being treated for 2 cases of fin rot, I think I will start completely fresh with the 55G.

Any suggestions?

Blub

Post something in the Aquarium stocking suggestions board! I'll look out for your post.

Redox600

Sorry, I meant more suggestions as to whether I'm doing the right thing with my tank cycling. But I will post in the stocking section because I do have some questions... cheers!

Blub

Personally, I'd just forget you failed to cycle and start over!

jdhef

I cycled with Danios (didn't know about fishless at the time). It took about 2-1/2 weeks for the ammonia levels to drop to zero. Then about 2-1/2 weeks for the nitites to drop to zero for a grand total of about 5 weeks plus or minus.

I like to say about cycling that once you are absolutley positive that the phase of the cycle you are in is not going to finish...three days later it will finally cycle.

sirdarksol

There shouldn't be any need to add fish food as long as you keep adding ammonia (though there's no reason you can't mix tactics).

jdhef

From what I've read the only downside to adding fish food, is that fish food releases phosphates as it decomposes, which is fertilizer for algae

sirdarksol

That's pretty much it.

Blub

It can also be a plant fert.

Redox600

Grrrr!
So its been 5 days since I put another 5ppm dose of ammonia in my tank, and its only gone down to 2ppm. I have the temp up to 84-86 to try and help out. I wish I had access to Bio-Spira cause this is like some form of torture for an impatient guy like me!!

I feel like I'm doing something wrong, cause this seems to be taking too long.
But patience is a virtue... right??

Lucy

I don't understand.........cycle by adding fish and pure ammonia? Wouldn't that kill the fish, for sure?

Hang in there Redox600. At least you don't have the water changes you would if you had fish.

pepetj

Redoxx600: It's good to go fishless-cycling!

You must add Xdrops of Ammonia solution to reach 5ppm DAILY.
In a few days, you will see that ammonia readings drop to half, then to zero in 12hours.
At that point you start looking for nitrites, when nitrites spike (off charts) you add half Xdrops DAILY. Keep doing that and even it feels like forever, the nitrite spike will fade down; at that point nitrates begin to rise. Keep adding DAILY half Xdrops of ammonia until you read ammonia zero, nitrites zero, nitrates up (>40ppm); perform a total water change with treated tap water, and you are ready to go.

I have cycled all my tanks (3 are set, 4th in its seventh day -day 4 of nitrite spike, the filter of the 5th is getting seeded as I wait for the stand -painting it a different color)

Pepe
Santo Domingo

Redox600

That's interesting Pepe, that's not how I read the "Add and Wait" method from this thread:

Ammonia instructions for a fishless cycle

The way I under stood it was to add enough ammonia to get to 5ppm, then wait until it drops backs down to 0, then get the ammonia level back up to 4ppm and continue this cycle until the nitrites go off the chart. Eventually I will get enough bacteria that the ammonia will go from 4ppm back to 0 ppm in under 12 hours.

Maybe I'm reading it wrong, it wouldn't be the first time!! :P

Redox600

Well its been 13 days since I added enough Ammonia to get to 5ppm, and I'm still only down to 1ppm of Ammonia, and 0ppm of nitrites. I have added live plants and raised the temp to 84 F to try and help the cycle. This is quite frustrating. GRRRR!
I am wondering what the heck I'm doing wrong?!?

I'm at the point where I think I may either:
a) Do as Pepe said earlier in this thread, and add ammonia daily,
or
b) Do a cycle with fish, which I don't want to do.

Anyone else ever have this issue with a fishless cycle?

Alessa

I had... until yesterday. My nitrites were off chart, my ammonia was 0, and there were no nitrates present, which was driving me crazy....

I tried something... (I read it online) i read that when there is too much concentration of a ceratin chemical compound (ammonia, nitrite) a lot of bacteria want to reproduce at once, and eat up most of the available oxygen so they end up dying and the cycle is stuck.

...so, my nitrites were off chart and I did a 50% water change. Then, the next day nitrates started rising.

it seems that when nitrite is off chart, it is harder to get out the spike.

Lucy

B shouldn't be an option at all.

Pepe's right about the ammonia method, I would follow his advice.

jdhef

Like Lucy said, I would follow Pepe's advice he is a master of tank cycling. Also, I don't think that 13 days is necessarily to long to be going without seeing nitrites. I cycled with Danios and it took about 20 days before I saw any nitrites.

But I do agree that when cycling, it's like time is measured in dog years or something. One day seems like 7 days cycling. But once your cycled and start adding fish you'll kinda forget how frustrating it was getting there.

Redox600

Ok folks, some progress!!

I finally have dropped my ammonia down to 0.25 ppm and my nitrates went up to 2 ppm. It took 23 days from me first putting in ammonia to get where it is, but it feels good!!

So as of today I have:
Ammonia 0.25ppm
Nitrite 2ppm
nitrate 5ppm

WOOOO!!!

Devon

Yay!! Celebrate!!

jdhef

You're probably half way there! It seems like it took forever for my nitrites to drop to zero, but it was really more like 18-22 days.

Hang in there!

Redox600

Update:
Ammonia now drops to zero in 24 hours from 5ppm.
My nitrites go immediately purple (API master test kit) indicating over 5ppm.
My nitrates are 10ppm.
I am happy.

Question: how much ammonia should I be adding now that nitrites are very high? Same as before (to get to 5ppm) or half that (to get to 2.5ppm)?

Lucy

Hey, you're getting there, good job!

If I'm not mistaken, you should be cutting in half.

It won't be long now.