I Am 9 Days Into A Fishless Cycle And

I am 9 days into a fishless cycle and I have been using fish flakes and used TSS+. I have the water heated to ~82 and filtration and bubblers are running to ensure circulation.

I am testing my parameters on a regular basis and ammonia never seems to get above 1 or 2 ppm and no sign of nitrites or nitrates. I am thinking about going to ACE and buying some ammonia and using that instead of fish food. My question is should I do a water change to remove as much of the food waste now or just begin adding ammonia to my tank and to a massive water change once it is cycled.

Any reason why I would not see any nitrites 9 days in? I thought I was doing everything correct.

 

What is your tank size in gallons, if I may ask?

How deep and what type of substrate?

 

46 gallon bow front tank with about 1-1.5" of gravel. I think it is about 18" deep. Currently only a few fake plants and decor in the tank.

 

any help with this?

 

I would recommend going the ammonia route so you can control the ammonia being added. Keep checking on the ammonia levels and only do a water change if your ammonia spikes gets to 5ppm or higher. I maintained my tanks at 3-4ppm ammonia and added a seeded filter pad to speed up the process.
Good luck!

 

Should I do a water change prior to move the fish food I have been adding the first week or just try and keep my ammonia level between 3-5 going forward.

 

I would say add ammonia to bring up the levels above 2ppm, keep an eye and if it gets close to 4-5 ppm due to food rotting then do a water change, keep water changes to minimum for this point of cycle.

 

Thanks!

 

When I did my fishless cycle I never really did the ammonia bottle thing. What are you going to do with that after your done?

I think really you just need to let it sit and do it's thing. If you want just add a piece of uncooked shrimp into the tank and let that rot. Or just keep adding fish food and let it rot. I honestly think that people who start keep check and checking and checking and it makes time go slower cause your constantly checking every single day...just add some food, leave the lights off and let it cook. Walk away...check in a few days.

 

I understand, but I have been "cooking" for 10 days and I still have no signs of Nitrites or Nitrates yet.

 

10 days into a month or two long process...I recently did a fishless cycle with my 55 gallon cause I didn't put enough bio media to start an instant cycle and thus it failed and I had to do a fishless cycle. I have plants and added a little bit of food. I check my ammonia every few days and it was green...took about a month for it to be fully done but I left it alone for a few more weeks just in case (also Chinese New Year was around the corner).

Adding ammonia could speed up the process, but your tank is still in its early stage...

 

I understand, but I have been "cooking" for 10 days and I still have no signs of Nitrites or Nitrates yet.

I just got into the hobby in November and I did a totally natural fishless cycle. It took 4+ weeks to complete.

2 weeks with just hob filtration.
Added crypt plant and 2 snails after two weeks
Added fish and shrimp after 4+ weeks when cycle finished.

It takes patience and it was very difficult for me since I am very impatient.

 

I went through a fishless cycle on my 75 gallon with a seeded filter pad from LFS and bottle of ammonia. It took me 4 weeks for stage one to convert to nitrites and another week or 10 days to get to nitrates.