55 Gallon Tank Fishless Cycle - Ruined?

Good Afternoon all,

I hope today is going well for you!

First let me give you all a run down, I have been doing a fishless cycle since the 1st May as I've read a lot of pros and cons to using fish in cycle and decided to go with the fishless method. I've researched loads and I think this is where I've gone wrong.

Originally, I was using this guide:

Ammonia Instructions when Cycling with TSS+ or other Bacterial Starter | Aquarium Nitrogen Cycle Forum | 251982

I've created this whole overwhelming process in my head and I think its now time to ask the professionals so here I am and hoping someone could help me.

So, I started with the correct dosing of Dr Tims Ammonia, the ammonia went up and then the nitrites took over. After the Ammonia went to 2ppm I put in 2ml of Ammonia each day as I heard not to starve the nitrites. Over the next few days my Nitrites where well over 5ppm so I did a 50% water change to try get the nitrites down (and nearly got divorced in the process - I flooded the Livingroom, hose went all over the tv, sky, router, computer, Wii and sound bar - as you can see I'm in desperate need of help)

So, my test recently I had:

2.0ppm Ammonia
5ppm+ Nitrites
5.0ppm Nitrates
7.6ppm PH

My main questions are:

• Do I keep feeding Ammonia if I have high nitrites? Am I meant to feed Ammonia through the whole process?
• I'm aware this might be the 'Nitrite Spike' but is this normal to have low Ammonia and lowish Nitrate?
• Will my wife divorce me if I keep flooding the livingroom?

Additionally, I have tested my tapwater and the nitrite is absent from my tapwater I want to say thank you for reading my post, I'm sure you all get tons of posts regarding fishless cycle, I wouldn't be asking if I wasn't desperate. I appreciate your time.

Thanks,

Dan

 

Folks that fill their tank straight from the faucet just add the dechlorinator to the tank first. Thankfully it works quick enough to almost instantly remove the chlorine. You have been doing it right. We that use buckets add it to each bucket. Either way works.

I wouldn't want to get carried away with the gravel vac right now. we don't want to disturb the bacteria any more than needed until it has time to get firmly established. Have you considered getting a nerite snail or two to help you out with the brown algae? Folks claim they do a really good job at cleaning it up.

Hello

Oh okay thank you! I'll do that

I have added a few nitrite snails in there but not really seeing much of a difference. I do have some sechem excel but being Dyslexic I'm struggling to work out the initial dose
Mattgirl,

Sorry I have made a mistake. I've been using 2ml Ammonia

 

Hello

Oh okay thank you! I'll do that

I have added a few nitrite snails in there but not really seeing much of a difference. I do have some sechem excel but being Dyslexic I'm struggling to work out the initial dose
Mattgirl,

Sorry I have made a mistake. I've been using 2ml Ammonia

I too have Excel but to be honest I've not seen where it helps much if at all. hopefully your snails will get to work and help you out.

Gotcha, not a problem at all. Just add the same amount you have been adding and all should be fine. Since your cycle appears to be done you should only need to do it one more time before you get your fish.

 

I too have Excel but to be honest I've not seen where it helps much if at all. hopefully your snails will get to work and help you out.

Gotcha, not a problem at all. Just add the same amount you have been adding and all should be fine. Since your cycle appears to be done you should only need to do it one more time before you get your fish.

Oh really?? Did you struggle to work out the initial dose? I don't understand why the first dose is huge compared to the daily dosage.

So say if I got the fish on Sunday, should I do another ammonia injection tomorrow? Or its okay now?

Thank you for all of everyones support in this.

 

Oh really?? Did you struggle to work out the initial dose? I don't understand why the first dose is huge compared to the daily dosage.

So say if I got the fish on Sunday, should I do another ammonia injection tomorrow? Or its okay now?

Thank you for all of everyones support in this.

I think the daily dose is supposed to be a maintenance dose. It has been quite a while since I used it so don't really remember. I fel sure I just followed the directions on the bottle. I am thinking the after water change dose was about 25ml for my 55 gallon tank.

To be perfectly honest I don't think another dose of ammonia is necessary if fish are going to be added Sunday. If something comes up and fish can't be added go ahead and add the original amount every other day until the day before fish are added.

 

I think the daily dose is supposed to be a maintenance dose. It has been quite a while since I used it so don't really remember. I fel sure I just followed the directions on the bottle. I am thinking the after water change dose was about 25ml for my 55 gallon tank.

To be perfectly honest I don't think another dose of ammonia is necessary if fish are going to be added Sunday. If something comes up and fish can't be added go ahead and add the original amount every other day until the day before fish are added.

Thanks Mattgirl. The ammonia I added earlier has made around 2ppm. Should be good for fish on Sunday

 

Thanks Mattgirl. The ammonia I added earlier has made around 2ppm. Should be good for fish on Sunday

It should be. Run the ammonia test just before heading out to get the fish to make sure it is back down to zero.

 

It should be. Run the ammonia test just before heading out to get the fish to make sure it is back down to zero.

Will do! Thanks again

 

Morning all,

So the tank now has two kribensis, a pleco and some Rasbora's.

I noticed this morning some white fungus on the bottom, but I'm guessing this is due to left over food? I need to learn to feed a bit less then I am. However, is this normal?

 

Yes food will rot as it grows a white fungus.
We all feed to much even when we try not to. A plastic turkey baster from the two dollar shop is a handy tool. You can vacuum it out with a hose as soon as possible. Never hurts to do a clean up of old food with an extra water change of even a small amount. You still probably should not be disturbing the gravel as your cycle is so new.

 

Yes food will rot as it grows a white fungus.
We all feed to much even when we try not to. A plastic turkey baster from the two dollar shop is a handy tool. You can vacuum it out with a hose as soon as possible. Never hurts to do a clean up of old food with an extra water change of even a small amount. You still probably should not be disturbing the gravel as your cycle is so new.

Thanks for the response, how long should I leave it before disturbing the gravel??

 

Thanks for the response, how long should I leave it before disturbing the gravel??

Try to get the left over food out after a few hours. If you are seeing quite a bit you may need to cut way back on the amount you are feeding. You can hover over the gravel now. Just don't do any deep cleaning. As Flyfisha mentioned, every fish keeper needs a turkey baster. It comes in handy for lots of things such as sucking up fungused or leftover food. It even works for filling your test tubes although I use a syringe for that little chore

You may want to consider adding a clean up crew to this tank. Some Plecos do a pretty good job but only if they are fond of the food you are feeding the other fish. I don't think anything works better than a school of corys. I never have to worry about leftover food but then I have way more corys in my tank than most folks ever have. Since I can't get an accurate head count I just guess at least 25 of the cute little vacuum cleaners in my 55 gallon tank.

I know a lot of folks frown on corys and gravel but if your gravel is small and smooth I don't think it hurts corys barbels. Up until about 3 years ago I had gravel in all my tanks and have always had healthy corys with no barbel damage. Now that I have sand I do occasionally see a bit of damage. Maybe the pool filter sand I have in there has sharp edges and when they do a nose dive into it it causes slight damage.

 

Try to get the left over food out after a few hours. If you are seeing quite a bit you may need to cut way back on the amount you are feeding. You can hover over the gravel now. Just don't do any deep cleaning. As Flyfisha mentioned, every fish keeper needs a turkey baster. It comes in handy for lots of things such as sucking up fungused or leftover food. It even works for filling your test tubes although I use a syringe for that little chore

You may want to consider adding a clean up crew to this tank. Some Plecos do a pretty good job but only if they are fond of the food you are feeding the other fish. I don't think anything works better than a school of corys. I never have to worry about leftover food but then I have way more corys in my tank than most folks ever have. Since I can't get an accurate head count I just guess at least 25 of the cute little vacuum cleaners in my 55 gallon tank.

I know a lot of folks frown on corys and gravel but if your gravel is small and smooth I don't think it hurts corys barbels. Up until about 3 years ago I had gravel in all my tanks and have always had healthy corys with no barbel damage. Now that I have sand I do occasionally see a bit of damage. Maybe the pool filter sand I have in there has sharp edges and when they do a nose dive into it it causes slight damage.

Hello Mattgirl,

Thank you for the response

I purchased a gravel cleaner and a turkey baster which should arrive tomorrow! very good idea!!

Would I need to worry about the corys and the Pleco and the Kribensis as I believe they are territoral? 25?! holy **** that must be an awesome sight to see!

 

Hello Mattgirl,

Thank you for the response

I purchased a gravel cleaner and a turkey baster which should arrive tomorrow! very good idea!!

Would I need to worry about the corys and the Pleco and the Kribensis as I believe they are territoral? 25?! holy **** that must be an awesome sight to see!

Good job. I feel sure you will find all kinds of uses for your turkey baster. For at least another couple of months just hover over the top of the gravel with your gravel vac. After that it should be safe to start deep cleaning it.

I don't have Kribs so know nothing about them. Elbert lives in the tank with all the corys and they all get along just fine. I often see the corys trying to take food from him and even then he doesn't get upset with them. Corys are completely docile. Should the Kribs lay eggs the corys may try to eat them but other than that I don't think the corys would bother anyone. They just go along doing their own thing.

I do love my little corys I started out with 3 albino and 3 bronze December 2015. Sadly I lost my female albino a couple of years ago but the other 5 along with bunches of their offspring are healthy and, I have to think, happy. They are almost constantly laying eggs. I no longer collect and hatch them. I just scrape most of them off the glass to make them easier for everyone to eat. Miss Sneller, my mystery snail does a pretty go job of cleaning them off for me too. At least half of my corys are big females so a lot of eggs are laid.

 

Hey all,
Dandy88 I strongly suggest that if you decide on a bristle nose pleco you only get one. They have hundreds of offspring far to easily.

. Corydoras lay eats and then swim away that lets everyone including the parents eat the eggs. It takes human intervention to remove the eggs to get more than one or two survivors a year even in a densely planted tank full of moss ,leaf litter and hideouts for small corydoras.

I have no experience with Kribensis but see them as a dwarf cichlid that breeds easily and yes is territorial ever time they have eggs. All other species in the tank will have to learn to keep away from the Kribensis .

Having a handful of corydoras species myself I can say I like them a lot BUT . Corydoras are stupid when it comes to reading the body language of a female dwarf cichlid . They just don’t get the message. Time and time again they wander into the territory. They are egg eaters after all and may actually be aware that there is an easy meal. Corydoras are thick skinned and will likely get the eggs at night.

Anyone with Kribensis has fry to sell, why. Because they breed like rabbits.

I can see were this conversation is going Dandy88, you ending up with another tank. Sorry I don’t have an easy answer.
I will say one adult bristln nose of around 6 inches would pick up any uneaten food. They are armour plated and get the message to stay away.

It’s probably best to stay away from corydoras in the 29?

 

Hey all,
Dandy88 I strongly suggest that if you decide on a bristle nose pleco you only get one. They have hundreds of offspring far to easily.

. Corydoras lay eats and then swim away that lets everyone including the parents eat the eggs. It takes human intervention to remove the eggs to get more than one or two survivors a year even in a densely planted tank full of moss ,leaf litter and hideouts for small corydoras.

I have no experience with Kribensis but see them as a dwarf cichlid that breeds easily and yes is territorial ever time they have eggs. All other species in the tank will have to learn to keep away from the Kribensis .

Having a handful of corydoras species myself I can say I like them a lot BUT . Corydoras are stupid when it comes to reading the body language of a female dwarf cichlid . They just don’t get the message. Time and time again they wander into the territory. They are egg eaters after all and may actually be aware that there is an easy meal. Corydoras are thick skinned and will likely get the eggs at night.

Anyone with Kribensis has fry to sell, why. Because they breed like rabbits.

I can see were this conversation is going Dandy88, you ending up with another tank. Sorry I don’t have an easy answer.
I will say one adult bristln nose of around 6 inches would pick up any uneaten food. They are armour plated and get the message to stay away.

It’s probably best to stay away from corydoras in the 29?

Hello Flyfisha,

I currently do have a bristlenose pleco, around 4inches but hes not really eating as much as I would like him to, maybe he's a lazy sod? hmm I guess if I go down the route of corys I would need to be really vigiliant with the Kribensis, I have seen them attack Kuhlis before.

Another tank is always a good idea

Good job. I feel sure you will find all kinds of uses for your turkey baster. For at least another couple of months just hover over the top of the gravel with your gravel vac. After that it should be safe to start deep cleaning it.

I don't have Kribs so know nothing about them. Elbert lives in the tank with all the corys and they all get along just fine. I often see the corys trying to take food from him and even then he doesn't get upset with them. Corys are completely docile. Should the Kribs lay eggs the corys may try to eat them but other than that I don't think the corys would bother anyone. They just go along doing their own thing.

I do love my little corys I started out with 3 albino and 3 bronze December 2015. Sadly I lost my female albino a couple of years ago but the other 5 along with bunches of their offspring are healthy and, I have to think, happy. They are almost constantly laying eggs. I no longer collect and hatch them. I just scrape most of them off the glass to make them easier for everyone to eat. Miss Sneller, my mystery snail does a pretty go job of cleaning them off for me too. At least half of my corys are big females so a lot of eggs are laid.

Hello Mattgirl!

I will do that then just to be sure, I'm hoping the gravel vac is good! by deep cleaning, is that meaning removing the gravel/plants?

Do you have any photos of them? they sound awesome

 

Hello Mattgirl!

I will do that then just to be sure, I'm hoping the gravel vac is good! by deep cleaning, is that meaning removing the gravel/plants?

Do you have any photos of them? they sound awesome

Deep cleaning is pushing the gravel vac down into the gravel holding it there and pulling the detritus out. Lift it out and move over a few inches and repeat. No need to do all of the gravel each time. Do one side of the tank one week and the other the next week.

I haven't taken any pictures of my little guy and girls. Normally they are too active to get much of a picture of them but I will try. I will try to get a picture of some of them lined up across the front of the tank. Normally when they do that they have gone back to their normal little selves before I can get the camera.

 

A link to a good video on two handed vacuuming.

Only when the tank is fully cycled should you deep clean the gravel as seen at the 3 minute 20 second point.

Don‘t do this to your gravel until it’s got a stable cycle / a fully working nitrogen cycle/ lots of bacteria.

 

Deep cleaning is pushing the gravel vac down into the gravel holding it there and pulling the detritus out. Lift it out and move over a few inches and repeat. No need to do all of the gravel each time. Do one side of the tank one week and the other the next week.

I haven't taken any pictures of my little guy and girls. Normally they are too active to get much of a picture of them but I will try. I will try to get a picture of some of them lined up across the front of the tank. Normally when they do that they have gone back to their normal little selves before I can get the camera.

Thanks for responding! Lucky as I nearly did this the other day!! I'm glad I came here first!!

A link to a good video on two handed vacuuming.

Only when the tank is fully cycled should you deep clean the gravel as seen at the 3 minute 20 second point.

Don‘t do this to your gravel until it’s got a stable cycle / a fully working nitrogen cycle/ lots of bacteria.

Thanks for responding! How do I know when I'm fully cycled? I finished the cycle about a week on Friday. I have also noticed my Nitrates are about 20ppm again. I'll watch that video when home, I've seen videos of that guy before, such a cool guy!

 

That’s a good question Dandy88.
I guess a cycle is never really finished? It’s a living group or colony of things that are alive.
Each time we add fish or move ornaments plants rocks gravel etc between tank we are changing the bio load / daily poop load. The bacteria are constantly growing new young offspring and getting old.

When we have not added any new fish or seen any ammonia for a couple of months I guess it’s considered a stable tank. We probably all have a different opinion on what constitutes an established tank?

 

I would give the tank at the very least 2 months to get established. The longer the better. Bacteria is growing on everything in the tank. The strongest colony is going to be on your filter media because that is where the most food is going to be. Give the bacteria as long as possible before disturbing it any more than necessary.

If it seems there is a lot of detritus in the gravel start cleaning the gravel after a couple of months. Making sure your fish clean their plate and good filtration will slow down the build up. I wouldn't be comfortable taking decor out and cleaning it for at least 6 months. By then your cycle should be as strong as it will ever be.