Fishless Cycle for 60 Gallon Planted Tank

I am in the process of running a fishless cycle for a 60 gallon tank. The tank has driftwood and plants such as Annubias, Java Fern, and Vallisneria Spiralis. I am using Seachem Stability and Fishless Fuel as my ammonia source.

Since adding ammonia on Day 1, my readings for ammonia have been around 2-4 PPM for 8 days straight. I added more ammonia on day 3 or 4 dont remember which. But my nitrites are still at 0. Do I need to just still be patient and wait for Nitrites to show or should I be adding more ammonia to get a Nitrite reading? Thanks

 

I believe you should wait until the initial dose starts to go down. I've read if the ammonia levels are too high it can inhibit beneficial bacteria and make the cycle take longer.

 

Each day check if your ammonia is 2 leave it alone. If it drops to say 1 and 0 nitrites which is normal then bring ammonia up to 2. Soon ammonia will be 0 after a day but nitrates usability take a week or so longer.

 

I am in the process of running a fishless cycle for a 60 gallon tank. The tank has driftwood and plants such as Annubias, Java Fern, and Vallisneria Spiralis. I am using Seachem Stability and Fishless Fuel as my ammonia source.

Since adding ammonia on Day 1, my readings for ammonia have been around 2-4 PPM for 8 days straight. I added more ammonia on day 3 or 4 dont remember which. But my nitrites are still at 0. Do I need to just still be patient and wait for Nitrites to show or should I be adding more ammonia to get a Nitrite reading? Thanks

Firstly, measure nitrate to see if any may be produced. You may not see any because there are plants that may be taking it up, but no harm in trying to see.

Aside from that, what is the pH? Different species of nitrifiers (the 'beneficial bacteria') are adapted to different pH, and unfortunately a lot of the ones sold in bottled bac products are adapted to higher pH. If your pH is low, Stability may not be working.

Stability is also very hit and miss, some people report it to work great, others don't. It is alleged they don't contain nitrifiers, and this may be true given that a lot of issues are when one cycles with dosing ammonia.

 

I measured both yesterday and PH was around 7.6 and nitrate was 0 PPM, maybe a little higher than that but not much at all. I also haven't done any water changes.

My measures are below.

Day 1
Add Bacteria - Stability and Ammonia
Day 2
Ammonia at 1 PPM
Day 3
Ammonia at 1-2 PPM	Nitrite at 0.25 - 0.50 PPM
Day 4
Ammonia at 1-2 PPM	Nitrite at 0 PPM
Day 5
Ammonia at 1-2 PPM	Nitrite at 0 PPM
Day 6
Ammonia at 2-3 PPM	Nitrite at 0 PPM
Day 7
Ammonia at 5-8 PPM	Nitrite at 0 PPM
Day 8
Ammonia at 2 PPM	Nitrite at 0 PPM
Day 9
Ammonia at 2-3 PPM	Nitrite at 0 PPM
Day 10
Ammonia at 2 PPM	Nitrite at 0 PPM

 

I measured both yesterday and PH was around 7.6 and nitrate was 0 PPM, maybe a little higher than that but not much at all. I also haven't done any water changes.

My measures are below.

Day 1
Add Bacteria - Stability and Ammonia
Day 2
Ammonia at 1 PPM
Day 3
Ammonia at 1-2 PPM	Nitrite at 0.25 - 0.50 PPM
Day 4
Ammonia at 1-2 PPM	Nitrite at 0 PPM
Day 5
Ammonia at 1-2 PPM	Nitrite at 0 PPM
Day 6
Ammonia at 2-3 PPM	Nitrite at 0 PPM
Day 7
Ammonia at 5-8 PPM	Nitrite at 0 PPM
Day 8
Ammonia at 2 PPM	Nitrite at 0 PPM
Day 9
Ammonia at 2-3 PPM	Nitrite at 0 PPM
Day 10
Ammonia at 2 PPM	Nitrite at 0 PPM

Yeah sounds like Stability is not working, and not surprising.

Do you have access to established biomedia? From another tank or from the store? You can add that to your filter. Otherwise you can try another bottled bac product, something that has a much higher success chance like Tetra SafeStart or FritzZyme 7 (or better yet, its more concentrated variant, FritzZyme TurboStart 700). Well, tbh I would only recommend Fritz if there is a choice, I'd not prefer to play around with TSS.

As for cycling, it's not a great idea to constantly dose ammonia. You should only re-dose when both ammonia and nitrite reads zero.

This is the instructions you'd want to follow:

Ammonia-dosing cycling:
1. Dose 1ppm ammonia (or either 2 or 4ppm if you feel like it).
2. Add nitrifiers (established biomedia, bottled bac, etc.).
3. Check ammonia + nitrite every 24h.
4. If both ammonia + nitrite read 0 within 24h after re-dosing ammonia, tank is cycled. Otherwise re-dose ammonia and repeat (3).

Any questions, feel free to ask!

 

Thank you for the information above. very helpful

I have a 10 gallon planted betta tank. I did put a bag of substate from that tank into the 60 for about a week. Maybe i was a bit inpatient but i wasnt getting any results so i took it out yesterday.

what would i add to the canister filter in the 60 gallon from the 10 gallon HOB filter?

 

Thank you for the information above. very helpful

I have a 10 gallon planted betta tank. I did put a bag of substate from that tank into the 60 for about a week. Maybe i was a bit inpatient but i wasnt getting any results so i took it out yesterday.

what would i add to the canister filter in the 60 gallon from the 10 gallon HOB filter?

Just a bit of the biomedia.

 

Thank you for the information above. very helpful

I have a 10 gallon planted betta tank. I did put a bag of substate from that tank into the 60 for about a week. Maybe i was a bit inpatient but i wasnt getting any results so i took it out yesterday.

what would i add to the canister filter in the 60 gallon from the 10 gallon HOB filter?

Seeding can be confusing. Taking substrate from a 10 and adding it to a 60 won't do anything. Must be the same tank size or larger, heavily stocked. Add a 60G media bag to a 10 and it works well, add a 10G media bag to a 60 and the effects are miniscule to non existent. And I agree, sounds like Stability isn't working which isn't surprising. I keep it on hand but it's not a main additive I use. Key word, on hand.

 

Hello again,

Over the weekend i picked up Fritz Turbostart 700 and the past 2 days i have tested, still no nitrites. my ammonia has been around 2-3 PPM and my Nitrates went up to around 15-20 PPM and the next day went back down to 5-10 PPM without any water changes.

Should i do a partial water change to see if ammonia will go down?

 

Hello again,

Over the weekend i picked up Fritz Turbostart 700 and the past 2 days i have tested, still no nitrites. my ammonia has been around 2-3 PPM and my Nitrates went up to around 15-20 PPM and the next day went back down to 5-10 PPM without any water changes.

Should i do a partial water change to see if ammonia will go down?

That you got nitrate is a good sign, at least indicates nitrification may be going on. You don't always get nitrite readings, especially when using a bottled bac product. Sometimes any ammonia converted to nitrite is immediately converted to nitrate.

With that said, seeing such higher nitrate without a significant decrease in ammonia is odd. 3ppm ammonia converts to 11ppm nitrate, so if the nitrate reading was true, then chances are it should have been 0ppm ammonia at the same time.

What test kit are you using to measure your parameters? Any chance we can get a picture of your measurements?

 

I forgot to mention I added very little ammonia yesterday and I don’t think I should have because I probably stalled the cycle maybe? That’s why I was wondering if I should do a water change to bring that down. I’m using API master test kit

 

I forgot to mention I added very little ammonia yesterday and I don’t think I should have because I probably stalled the cycle maybe? That’s why I was wondering if I should do a water change to bring that down. I’m using API master test kit

In the picture the colors appear lighter than what they really are

 

I forgot to mention I added very little ammonia yesterday and I don’t think I should have because I probably stalled the cycle maybe? That’s why I was wondering if I should do a water change to bring that down. I’m using API master test kit

Your ammonia level is fine.

Sorry if I missed this, but have you tested your source water for nitrates? Are you testing nitrates exactly according to the instructions and reading the results at the 5 minute mark?

 

Your ammonia level is fine.

Sorry if I missed this, but have you tested your source water for nitrates? Are you testing nitrates exactly according to the instructions?

I just tested and it looks like no more than 5 PPM

 

I just tested and it looks like no more than 5 PPM

Which could explain the nitrates shown in your post #12 above?

Did you see the part of my post above about reading the nitrate test exactly at the 5 minute mark? I asked about this because you said in one of your posts that nitrates were around 15 or 20 at one point?

Are you able to post a picture of your tank?

 

Yes I check all my tests at the 5 minute mark. My tank is below

 

Yes I check all my tests at the 5 minute mark. My tank is below

Nice tank!

I could be wrong, but I don’t think your tank is heavily planted enough to account for the changes in nitrates mentioned in your posts above. But that’s not necessarily important at this point.

If I read your original post correctly, you’ve only been cycling this tank for about 8 - 11 days or so. Bottled bacteria, no matter the brand, can be a hit or a miss in my experience. A full cycle can take between 4 and 6 weeks.

If this was my tank, I’d let it be for a few days, test again and post the results here. When you test nitrates, remember to consider the nitrates in your source water.

Again, sorry if I missed this, but what is the pH level of your source and tank water? And what is the water temperature of the tank?

 

Thank you!

Temp = 85
Tank water Ph level and source water ph level is about the same at around 7.6 - 7.8 with the source water being a bit higher. Honestly with this test kit it’s difficult to determine the ph.

 

Your pH and water temperature are fine for getting your tank cycled. You could lower the temp a few degrees and you’d still be fine.

What kind of fish do you plan on keeping?

 

Your pH and water temperature are fine for getting your tank cycled. You could lower the temp a few degrees and you’d still be fine.

What kind of fish do you plan on keeping?


open to any feedback on that stocking as I have read A LOT of reviews

I’m going with a school of roseline sharks. They’re too nice looking to pass up. And then a school of serpae tetras and a red tail shark being introduced last. May replace the tetras with a different school of fish not sure yet.

open to any feedback with that stock as I have read A LOT of reviews online about it