fishbum

How often or at all should you do water changes in a tank without out fish versus a tank with fish during cycling? I'm still trying to cycle 2 tanks, its been just over two weeks now, and started off with one fish in each.One tank had high ammonia levels ,while the other didnt have any, so I put both fish into the tank with out any ammonia.
So now the tank with both the fish has started showing ammonia levels , although low, .25ppm or lower(I know still to high for fish),the tank that is now fishless,is still higher,around 1ppm
So should I still do any water changes in the fishless tank?And how often,if at all?
The tank that now has both fish , I change 15% every day in hopes of keeping them alive.
Also, i put both fish into the same tank 5 days ago,and have still been doing water changes in both.

Gunnie

I wouldn't do any water changes on the tank without fish. Eventually, you're gonna need an ammonia source in that fishless tank though. It's also probably gonna take a long time to cycle that way. Read up on the fishless cycle again. To speed things up, get some clear ammonia that contains no additives like detergents or scents, and add enough drops to get that fishless tank up to 4 or 5 on your ammonia test. Keep doing this daily until your reading is at zero for the ammonia the next day, along with zero nitrites. You should also have nitrates at that time. Once your tank is cycled, do a major water change to get the nitrates down, and add your fish.

fishbum

Now I'm really confussed.When I first set up the tanks I didn't do any water tests on either until about 4 or 5 days after I set them up.They have both shown basically them same levels on nitrate and nitrite since I started testing.Nitrates in both tanks has been between 10 and 40ppm, this has gone up and down.Down one day, up the next,then down again.Nitrites have stayed steady in both tanks at .25ppm the whole time Ive been testing.The Ammonia has never been above 1ppm.So if the Ammonia should get to 4 or 5ppm ,before droping, what should the Nitrite level be at before it starts to drop.

Before finding this site I always thought you were supposed to start off with fish.Now I know different.I have a friend with an established quarintine tank who will take the fish I have , so should I give them away for the time being,and start adding ammonia?Would this start the cycling all over? After 17 days has the cycle even started? IM SOOO CONFUSSED!

fishbum

One last thing (i hope this is the last thing)I have read,then re-read then read again, the beginners guide ,and the nitrogen articles. I think why I'm getting so confused is because I haven't really seen anything on what the levels are when they spike , other that that they should be 0ppm when the cycle is complete.So I guess I thought if I was getting any readings at all this was O.K. As long as they eventually ended up at 0ppm. Thanks to all who are willing to offer some advice.

sgould

There is no one answer to that. Ammonia and nitrite do not always max out at the same level for every cycle. It just depends on how much is being produced, and how quickly. For purposes of cycling, it is probably more useful to note the trend...is your level going up, staying level, or going down? Increasing levels mean you are very early in your cycle and have a long ways to go...you have no where near enough bacteria built up in your tank to process the waste being produced. Steady levels indicate your bacteria is beginning to catch up with waste production, but are still not numerous enough to fully handle everything. Declining levels indicate your bacteria colony has grown to the size needed to process the waste being produced in your tank...your cycle is nearing its end.

fishbum

Thanks Sean and Gunnie, both of your answers have helped.I think being patient is the hardest thing in doing this!

Xtreme_B

Hi Spencer,being patient really is the hardest thing believe me.I'm on week 5 now with cycling my 55g tank.The first3 weeks I was feeding with fish food and not much happend.Then I got 1 raw jumbo shrimp and put it in and within 2 days had Ammonia and Nitrites.My Ammonia spiked at 8.0 and is now dropping,which doesn't mean yours will to I guess from what I'm reading.My Nitrites are still at 5.0 and Nitrates at 10ppm.From my experience and this is my first time fishless the shrimp seems to work the fastest.It seems though that it takes longer for the levels to go down,then it did going up.I hope this helps a little.

Susanne

fishbum

Thanks Susanne, I adopted out the fish I had in the tanks and put in jumbo shrimp, both the ammonia and nitrites and now rising rapidly.
One question though....Should you keep the shrimp in for the entire cycle?I'm thinking you should , but wanted to know someone eleses opinion who has used shrimp.

Butterfly

Yes keep the shrimp in for the who;e cycle. The ammonia from that rotting shrimp is whats gonna feed the beneficial bacteria that is growing.
Carol