Fishless cycling using Ammonia

Hi friends,

I have started Fishless cycling for my new planted aquarium few days back, following are the readings for each days. I need to confirm if everything going fine or not. Could you please review and let me know if I need to do anything?

15th August - Cycling started by adding Ammonia.

16 August -
Ammonia : 4ppm
ph : 7.5

17 August :
Ph 6.6 (added ph booster to increase it to 7.5)
Ammonia : 2 ppm (added few more Ammonia to reach to 4 ppm)
Nitrite : 0 ppm

19 - August :
Ph : 7.2
Ammonia : 2 ppm (added few more Ammonia to reach to 4 ppm)
Nitrite : between 0.25 and 0.50 ppm

20 - August (today) :
Ph : 6.6 (added ph booster to level up to 7.5)
Ammonia : between 4 and 8 ppm
Nitrite : 1 ppm
Nitrate : 20 ppm

I have attached today's reading below.

 

Are you dosing pure ammonia? When I do my fishless cycle I tend to put no more than 2.5 MAX ppm Ammonia. I think anything over 4PPM can be detrimental to a fishless cycle

 

Hi all ,
the tank is just 5 days old. Did you add anything from another tank?
Have you tested the tap water for nitrates, nitrites?

 

Hi all ,
the tank is just 5 days old. Did you add anything from another tank?
Have you tested the tap water for nitrates, nitrites?

Yes, I am using liquid fertilizer for plants, Ph booster when it reduces below 7.
Yes initially my tap water has around 5ppm nitrate..
I use prime to treat my water.

Are you dosing pure ammonia? When I do my fishless cycle I tend to put no more than 2.5 MAX ppm Ammonia. I think anything over 4PPM can be detrimental to a fishless cycle

Yes, I am using pure Ammonia. Oh, I saw 4ppm in some blogs. As per that I decided to go 4ppm

 

Seems like things are all in order. Cycling can take several weeks. I'd recommend not dosing any more ammonia until you see it drop below 1 ppm, which will be a clear sign the bacteria are digesting it. Once that stage is reached, I would only dose to 2 ppm ammonia until the cycle can completely process that into nitrate in 24 hours or less.

Just to check, what specific ammonia source are you using? If you're using liquid ammonia, be sure to shake it and check if it foams. If it does, there are other chemicals in the mixture which are not good for the tank and you'll want to find another ammonia source (such as powdered ammonium chloride, or actual pure liquid ammonia).

 

To answer your question.
I don’t think you need to do much differently ?
It would seem the ammonia is quite high .
From what I have read it’s normally kept no higher than 4 ppm.

 

Seems like things are all in order. Cycling can take several weeks. I'd recommend not dosing any more ammonia until you see it drop below 1 ppm, which will be a clear sign the bacteria are digesting it. Once that stage is reached, I would only dose to 2 ppm ammonia until the cycle can completely process that into nitrate in 24 hours or less.

Just to check, what specific ammonia source are you using? If you're using liquid ammonia, be sure to shake it and check if it foams. If it does, there are other chemicals in the mixture which are not good for the tank and you'll want to find another ammonia source (such as powdered ammonium chloride, or actual pure liquid ammonia).

Yes friend. I am using liquid Ammonia. I tested it before using. On shaking, it not foam. It is still clear liquid

To answer your question.
I don’t think you need to do much differently ?
It would seem the ammonia is quite high .
From what I have read it’s normally kept no higher than 4 ppm.

So it means, I can stop adding Ammonia till it go below 2ppm.

 

How big is the tank?
4 ppm Ammonia is simulating the daily bio load ( poop load ) of a large number of fish or a few big fish . Having enough bacteria to consume 4 ppm ammonia is a waste of time if you are only going to feed it with one betta pooping. The bacteria will starve back down to whatever the daily poop load is eventually anyway.

Light brown pillow wrote 1 ppm as a limit for ammonia. That’s good enough for me.

 

I just read through all the various threads you have started. I was looking to see if the size of this tank had been posted. I didn't find it. The amount of bacteria you want to grow depends on the size of the tank and the number of fish you will eventually have in there. What size tank are we trying to cycle?

If it is a 5 gallon tank that will only house a singe fish you won't need to grow as much bacteria as you would if it is a 75 gallon tank that will be heavily stocked.

I am not trying to be mean or nit-picky but it would be much better if all of this cycling journey was kept to one thread so everyone could be on the same page and we wouldn't have to keep asking the same questions on each thread.

 

I just read through all the various threads you have started. I was looking to see if the size of this tank had been posted. I didn't find it. The amount of bacteria you want to grow depends on the size of the tank and the number of fish you will eventually have in there. What size tank are we trying to cycle?

If it is a 5 gallon tank that will only house a singe fish you won't need to grow as much bacteria as you would if it is a 75 gallon tank that will be heavily stocked.

I am not trying to be mean or nit-picky but it would be much better if all of this cycling journey was kept to one thread so everyone could be on the same page and we wouldn't have to keep asking the same questions on each thread.

My tank is 50 gallon.

 

My tank is 50 gallon.

That is a good size. What kind of fish do you plan on having?

 

That is a good size. What kind of fish do you plan on having?

Angelfish, Neon tetra, Guppies, Mollies, Zebra danio. Also planing to add siamese algae eater and pleco to deal with algae.

But I am not finalised about angel fish, because I heard they are aggressive and might eat small fishes.

 

Angelfish, Neon tetra, Guppies, Mollies, Zebra danio. Also planing to add siamese algae eater and pleco to deal with algae.

But I am not finalised about angel fish, because I heard they are aggressive and might eat small fishes.

That sounds like you will need to grow a good size colony of bacteria so if you can get this tank up to processing 4ppm ammonia within 24 hours you should be able to add all of your fish at the same time once the cycle is complete. The more ammonia a tank will process the more bacteria there will be.

I would be concerned with having angelfish in with neon tetras. I've always loved having fairly big schools of small fish in my tank so have never considered adding an angelfish to the mix. I am fond of the various kinds of small tetras. right now I have neons, blood fins and black skirts. Fortunately they all get along with each other. It seems each species of fish prefer different levels in the tank. Blood fins spend the majority of their time up top. The black skirts mid tank and the neon closer to the bottom hanging out in the plants.

I also have one columbian tetra and one pearl danio. The pearl seems to hang with the blood fins and the columbian prefers the black skirts. I would love to add more pearls and columbians but my corys were very prolific and the 6 I started with have grown to at least 25. Their numbers kinda put a damper on adding any more fish.

 

That sounds like you will need to grow a good size colony of bacteria so if you can get this tank up to processing 4ppm ammonia within 24 hours you should be able to add all of your fish at the same time once the cycle is complete. The more ammonia a tank will process the more bacteria there will be.

I would be concerned with having angelfish in with neon tetras. I've always loved having fairly big schools of small fish in my tank so have never considered adding an angelfish to the mix. I am fond of the various kinds of small tetras. right now I have neons, blood fins and black skirts. Fortunately they all get along with each other. It seems each species of fish prefer different levels in the tank. Blood fins spend the majority of their time up top. The black skirts mid tank and the neon closer to the bottom hanging out in the plants.

I also have one columbian tetra and one pearl danio. The pearl seems to hang with the blood fins and the columbian prefers the black skirts. I would love to add more pearls and columbians but my corys were very prolific and the 6 I started with have grown to at least 25. Their numbers kinda put a damper on adding any more fish.

Thank you.

So if I need to convert 4ppm of ammonia in 24 hours, I should level the Ammonia to 4ppm through out the cycle... Am I right?

Also today I found small white worms in my tank. I saw only three or four today. But it seems it will increase the count in coming days. Is it normal during cycling?.... Do I need to do anything in this?

Very hard to take picture. I tried my best to took the below picture of the worm. It crawling on the glass.

 

I would let the ammonia get down to about .5 each time before adding more to get it back up to 4ppm.

It isn't unusual to see uninvited critters while cycling. There are lots of different microscopic life that will show up in a new tank. Normally once a tank is well established we no longer see the tiny guys. Once you get fish in this tank the little worms will be free food for them.

 

Thank you.

I would let the ammonia get down to about .5 each time before adding more to get it back up to 4ppm.

It isn't unusual to see uninvited critters while cycling. There are lots of different microscopic life that will show up in a new tank. Normally once a tank is well established we no longer see the tiny guys. Once you get fish in this tank the little worms will be free food for them.

Hi,

I got a bottle of API quick start from my cousin. Do I need to add it in my tank? Will it help on anything in the cycling process?...

I am not planning to add any fish until my tank is fully cycled..

 

Hi,

I got a bottle of API quick start from my cousin. Do I need to add it in my tank? Will it help on anything in the cycling process?...

I am not planning to add any fish until my tank is fully cycled..

It might help. At least I feel sure it won't hurt. I've not seen a LOT of folks reporting that this particular brand of bottled bacteria sped up their cycle but some have.

The main thing it takes to cycle a tank is time and patience. Taking a full 6 weeks or even more isn't unheard of.

 

It might help. At least I feel sure it won't hurt. I've not seen a LOT of folks reporting that this particular brand of bottled bacteria sped up their cycle but some have.

The main thing it takes to cycle a tank is time and patience. Taking a full 6 weeks or even more isn't unheard of.

Thank you..

 

I would let the ammonia get down to about .5 each time before adding more to get it back up to 4ppm.

It isn't unusual to see uninvited critters while cycling. There are lots of different microscopic life that will show up in a new tank. Normally once a tank is well established we no longer see the tiny guys. Once you get fish in this tank the little worms will be free food for them.

Hi,

Today I got the below reading,

Ammonia : 0.25ppm
Nitrite : 0ppm
Nitrate : 5ppm

I am aiming for a bacterial colony to process 4ppm in 24 hours, so today I added more Ammonia to reach up to 4ppm back.
Am I right?

I have one doubt, when I tested before two days, my nitrate reading was 20ppm.. but it went down to 5ppm today... Is it normal to lower the nitrate during cycling?. I read that nitrate will rise always and it will be very high at the end of cycling..

I didn't add anything in my tank and didn't perform any water change after cycling started.

Today's reading:



Thanks in advance.

 

Normally nitrates will steadily rise. You may want to make sure your test tubes are clean and re-run the test. Under certain conditions I have seen the nitrate test to default back down to 5 but that has only been when they along with nitrites have spiked way above the tests capability of reading correctly. Yours haven't gone that high yet.

 

Hi,

My test reading today as below,
Ph : 7.2
Ammonia : 0ppm ( added more Ammonia to level up to 4 ppm)
Nitrite : 0ppm
Nitrate : 5ppm

Yesterday I added Ammonia and the reading was above 4ppm. Today Ammonia and nitrate back to 0ppm. Is it means my tank cycled?

I tested again after cleaning the test tube and it is still showing 5ppm. As my understanding nitrate will go higher during cycling, but in my case it reduces from 20ppm to 5ppm.... Is it means something wrong in my cycling process?

 

It is strange that your nitrates aren't going up while processing this much ammonia. You can try a dilution test to see if the nitrates are in fact much higher than what you are seeing by doing a dilution test. I have seen the nitrate test default back down to 5 when they get too high for the test to correctly measure them. Add 1ml of tank water and 4mls of source water to the test tube and run the test on that mixture. You may see deep red in the tube. If so that is telling us that your nitrates are sky high, your cycle is done and water change in in order.

 

It is strange that your nitrates aren't going up while processing this much ammonia. You can try a dilution test to see if the nitrates are in fact much higher than what you are seeing by doing a dilution test. I have seen the nitrate test default back down to 5 when they get too high for the test to correctly measure them. Add 1ml of tank water and 4mls of source water to the test tube and run the test on that mixture. You may see deep red in the tube. If so that is telling us that your nitrates are sky high, your cycle is done and water change in in order.

Hi,

I tested nitrate as you suggested by mixing tank and tap water. It still showing 5ppm.

I tested my tap water as well and it shows 0ppm

I have a heavily planted tank. Plants any reason for low nitrate?

 

Hi,

I tested nitrate as you suggested by mixing tank and tap water. It still showing 5ppm.

I tested my tap water as well and it shows 0ppm

I have a heavily planted tank. Plants any reason for low nitrate?

Plants will lower nitrates but I wouldn't think they would use all of them. The main thing we want to see in a cycled tank we are fishless cycling is 0 ammonia and nitrites within 24 hours of dosing it. It seems that is what is happening. I have to think this cycle is complete since it is processing 4+ppm ammonia within the 24 hour time frame.

I feel sure you do but I do have to ask if you are shaking the nitrate solution bottle #2 really well right before dispensing it. Are you shaking the test tube for a full minute after adding drops from each of the 2 bottles and then allowing a full 5 minutes for it to reach the correct color.

When I shake mine I pound it against the palm of my hand as I am doing it and usually shake it for at least a full minute. This one is the only one to where crystals will settle to the bottom. They need to be broken loose and mixed well to work correctly. If this hasn't been done each and every time it has been used I fear it will no longer work correctly even if it is shaken well. The amount of crystals to liquid will have changed if the crystals haven't been mixed well each time.

 

Plants will lower nitrates but I wouldn't think they would use all of them. The main thing we want to see in a cycled tank we are fishless cycling is 0 ammonia and nitrites within 24 hours of dosing it. It seems that is what is happening. I have to think this cycle is complete since it is processing 4+ppm ammonia within the 24 hour time frame.

I feel sure you do but I do have to ask if you are shaking the nitrate solution bottle #2 really well right before dispensing it. Are you shaking the test tube for a full minute after adding drops from each of the 2 bottles and then allowing a full 5 minutes for it to reach the correct color.

When I shake mine I pound it against the palm of my hand as I am doing it and usually shake it for at least a full minute. This one is the only one to where crystals will settle to the bottom. They need to be broken loose and mixed well to work correctly. If this hasn't been done each and every time it has been used I fear it will no longer work correctly even if it is shaken well. The amount of crystals to liquid will have changed if the crystals haven't been mixed well each time.

Yes, I shake two bottles of nitrate well before using it. And also shake it for full minute after adding the ten drops. Exactly followed what is specified in the api test kit manual.

Since Ammonia and nitrite reaching 0ppm in 24 hours, I hope my tank cycled.

I added Ammonia today to reach back to 4ppm. So I will test tomorrow and if it back to 0ppm, I am planning to do a 50% water change Tomorrow. Can I proceed with this plan?.

I am planning to introduce only 4-5 guppies at first after water change. I will wait for 2-3 weeks before adding more fishes. So my doubt is, since it have only 4-5 guppies, it will never produce waste to level Ammonia to 4ppm daily. So our beneficial bacteria will die of no Ammonia?

 

Yes, I shake two bottles of nitrate well before using it. And also shake it for full minute after adding the ten drops. Exactly followed what is specified in the api test kit manual.

Since Ammonia and nitrite reaching 0ppm in 24 hours, I hope my tank cycled.

I added Ammonia today to reach back to 4ppm. So I will test tomorrow and if it back to 0ppm, I am planning to do a 50% water change Tomorrow. Can I proceed with this plan?.

I am planning to introduce only 4-5 guppies at first after water change. I will wait for 2-3 weeks before adding more fishes. So my doubt is, since it have only 4-5 guppies, it will never produce waste to level Ammonia to 4ppm daily. So our beneficial bacteria will die of no Ammonia?

Since you are running the nitrate test correctly I don't know where the nitrates are going. Unless you did a water change to get them down I have no explanation as to why they dropped from 20 down to 5 and have been holding there. With this tank processing 4ppm ammonia daily they should be much higher than what you are seeing.

Since this tank will process 4ppm ammonia there is no need to add just a few fish at a time. The beauty of fishless cycling is you can grow enough bacteria to handle the bio-load of your full stocking if you add all at the same time.

If you still choose to add a few at a time the bacteria will regulate itself down to the level needed to handle the bio-load but it will take time for it to start dropping.

 

Since you are running the nitrate test correctly I don't know where the nitrates are going. Unless you did a water change to get them down I have no explanation as to why they dropped from 20 down to 5 and have been holding there. With this tank processing 4ppm ammonia daily they should be much higher than what you are seeing.

Since this tank will process 4ppm ammonia there is no need to add just a few fish at a time. The beauty of fishless cycling is you can grow enough bacteria to handle the bio-load of your full stocking if you add all at the same time.

If you still choose to add a few at a time the bacteria will regulate itself down to the level needed to handle the bio-load but it will take time for it to start dropping.

Thank you for your advice friend. You helped me alot during my cycling phase. Your advices definitely guided me to complete the cycling without any issues as of now. Thanks again.

As you suggested I will add guppies, neon tetras, other fishes in my plan at once. So I can produce enough waste for feeding my bacteria daily.

 

Thank you for your advice friend. You helped me alot during my cycling phase. Your advices definitely guided me to complete the cycling without any issues as of now. Thanks again.

As you suggested I will add guppies, neon tetras, other fishes in my plan at once. So I can produce enough waste for feeding my bacteria daily.

You are so very welcome

Please keep us updated. I love hearing success stories. Hopefully you will be able to source healthy neons. These days it seems they are not as healthy as they have been in the past. I had just about given up on ever having a good size school of them. Each time I bought more some of the new and some of my originals would die. Finally a member here offered up 17 of them. Sadly 4 of them were lost in shipping but the other 13 are doing well. I now have a fair sized school of healthy ones. That was well over a year ago and all are doing well. Thankfully I didn't lose any of my original 5 when I added the new ones this time.

 

You are so very welcome

Please keep us updated. I love hearing success stories. Hopefully you will be able to source healthy neons. These days it seems they are not as healthy as they have been in the past. I had just about given up on ever having a good size school of them. Each time I bought more some of the new and some of my originals would die. Finally a member here offered up 17 of them. Sadly 4 of them were lost in shipping but the other 13 are doing well. I now have a fair sized school of healthy ones. That was well over a year ago and all are doing well. Thankfully I didn't lose any of my original 5 when I added the new ones this time.

Yes, I will keep post my updates. Since I am new in this hobby, I will definitely have alot of doubts in this coming days. Fishlore is a good platform to get advices from many experienced people in this hobby.