A 7 Day Cycle Complete...almost!

Thank you to Thunder_o_b....I had to try it and finally had the time to cycle my 10 gallon for my puffer. I could have done an instant cycle but wanted to experiment. Here is how it played out:

Day 1:
Ammonia 8.0+ (added 1 Tablespoon ammonia)
pH: 8+

Day 2:
Ammonia: Mrning: 8.0 Eve: 4.0
Nitrite: Eve: 2.0+

Day 3:
Ammonia .25
Nitrite 2.0
Nitrate 80 ppm
Added 1 teaspoon ammonia after tests

Day 4:
Ammonia 0 - .25
Nitrite .5 - .25
Nitrate 80 ppm
Day 5: NO TESTS- life happens

Day 6:
Ammonia 0-.25
Nitrite 0 - .25
Nitrate 40-80 ppm
pH 8

Day 7:
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 40-20 ppm

I kept the tank at 85-86F and my source water is naturally high pH because it’s well water (lots of minerals) so I didn’t mess with the pH.

I will be planting it this week and stocking it with my pea puffers very soon.

 

That's not a cycled system yet. the nitrates are still too high. Your going to want a level 20-10. I could still see some die off of bb in the future leading to ammonia spikes.

 

Yea I’m aware of the nitrates being a tad high but wanted to share results so far. Title is a little misleading but the point is a cycle can be done faster than traditional methods.
Won’t be stocking fish until nitrates below 20. My guess is if I get time to test water tonight, my nitrates will be 20 or less

***updated title***

 

How come the nitrates are dropping ?
I'd expect them to raise during the cycle.

 

It’s a dirted tank and my source water has about 10-20ppm nitrate. I’m assuming I started with a pretty high amount of nitrate due to some of the soil nutrients escaping, and as the cycle progressed and nitrifying bacteria established, nitrates dropped. In fact I know I started with some nitrates because when I did a traditional cycle about a year ago on a 20 gallon, I had nitrate readings at the start.
There is also some driftwood in the tank with fungus growing, which may be enough at the moment to provide enough ammonia as the fungus is essentially eating (decaying) the carbohydrates in the wood. Therefore the nitrogen cycle is in full effect.

 

It’s a dirted tank and my source water has about 10-20ppm nitrate. I’m assuming I started with a pretty high amount of nitrate due to some of the soil nutrients escaping, and as the cycle progressed and nitrifying bacteria established, nitrates dropped. In fact I know I started with some nitrates because when I did a traditional cycle about a year ago on a 20 gallon, I had nitrate readings at the start.
There is also some driftwood in the tank with fungus growing, which may be enough at the moment to provide enough ammonia as the fungus is essentially eating (decaying) the carbohydrates in the wood. Therefore the nitrogen cycle is in full effect.

Only strange thing is nitrates are the endproduct of the nitrogyncycle.
They only get lower by waterchanges, use by plants or denitrification.
An established cycle "produces" nitrates instead of "breaking them down"

That's why I am curious how they dropped.

 

DoubleDutch...I really don’t know why nitrates dropped. Without a proper control, experimental design and analysis, I can only offer a hypothesis. I do know the nitrogen cycle is more complicated than it is understood to be.
I’ve read research stating that fungI plays a role in the denitrification process but is largely understudied.
Additionally, I collected riverbed sand, there could be additional processes involved here too. But what I do know is this type of aquarium cycling is replicable and Thunder_o_b has outlined the specific steps.

 

Very true and there will definitely (some) denitrification take place (in substrate) but 7 days is such a short period if time.

Anxious to know how things go on.

DoubleDutch...I really don’t know why nitrates dropped. Without a proper control, experimental design and analysis, I can only offer a hypothesis. I do know the nitrogen cycle is more complicated than it is understood to be.
I’ve read research stating that fungI plays a role in the denitrification process but is largely understudied.
Additionally, I collected riverbed sand, there could be additional processes involved here too. But what I do know is this type of aquarium cycling is replicable and Thunder_o_b has outlined the specific steps.

 

I will keep posting updates. I enjoy experimenting and the scientific process...probably why I work in the field of biology lol.

 

Update...

Day 7 evening
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 40+

Day 8 morning
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 40 - 20 (dropping slightly)
pH 8.0

So I jumped the gun a little. Not quite cycled.

 

Update (few days behind reporting this):

Day 8 (about 10 pond snails added for puffer food and couple anubias added. Temperature dialed down to mid 70’s)
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 20+

Day 9 Morning
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 20

Day 10
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10-20
Added ammonia (1 tsp) that tested at 2 ppm.

Day 11 morning
Ammonia .25-0 (hint of yelllowish green)
Nitrite 0 (maybe a hint of bluish purple)
Nitrate 10-20

Day 11 late eve
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10

 

 

Pea puffer biotope in progress. Getting a plant list together to consist of Pamba River plants and that geographical area in general.
10 gallon
Aquaclear 20
Soil capped with river sand collected locally
Driftwood and rocks collected locally