40 Gallon Tank New Axolotl Aquarium Setup - Fishless Cycle Journal

Hello Everyone! I am new to the Fishlore forums, I found them while doing some research on how to properly cycle an aquarium. I started up a new aquarium a week ago and I made a ton of mistakes from the start. I did a lot of things backwards due to impatience and as of yesterday I wiped everything clear and started over. I am going to journal my daily progress here and hopefully get this aquarium all setup for an Axolotl.

Background
My children hit me up for an Axolotl last year, after doing some initial research I told them no. I am no stranger to keeping exotic animals (snakes, lizards, frogs) but I know nothing about aquatics and from what I was reading Axolotls are needy little creatures! I told my wife that if they still wanted an Axolotl a year later I'll consider giving it a go. Well, it's been over a year they still want an Axolotl, I really thought the fad would die but Minecraft keeps adding Axolotl updates lol. To be honest, I've wanted one since I first laid eyes on one but after researching what was involved I backed away. Well, here we are now haha - lets do this!

Equipment

• 40 Gallon Aquarium
• Fine sand substrate (black)
• Fluval 207 canister filter with spray bar return
• Fluval A202 Aquarium Air Pump 3.0w
• Bio Sponge Filter (large) x 1
• Blue aquarium background
• Double Reflective Insulation
• Decorative Log (plastic) x 1
• Various Decorative plants x 9
• Temperature Strip (impossible to read)
• Temperature Gun
• Siphon Vacuum (for small water changes, substrate cleaning)
• Submersible Pump (for large water changes - not using a Python)

Test Kit(s)

• API Freshwater Master Test Kit
• Chlorine Test Strips

Chemicals

• Seachem Prime
• Seachem Stability
• Dr. Tim's Aquatics Ammonium Chloride

07/17 - Aquarium - Day 0



This is the initial setup. I thoroughly washed the sand and decorations in tap water and placed them into the tank and used a submersible pump to add 40 gallons of tap water dechlorinated with Seachem Prime. The canister filter is using the default media it came with except I added more bio-media and an extra carbon insert. That makes course sponges on the bottom tray, bio-media in the middle tray and two carbon inserts and fine sponge in top most tray. The water is returned with a spray bar that extends the length of the aquarium. There is also a bio sponge filter in the back right of the tank - I know the sponge filter is probably not needed but I wanted a backup bacteria colony for water changes or seeding.

I took the following readings as a baseline after turning the filters on and letting the water cycle a bit. Note on temperature I know its better to bump the temperature up to 78-80*F to get the optimal bacteria growth but the Axolotl will require 63-68*F temperature and as part of this setup I am trying to stabilize the temperature in this range. With the insulation wrapped around the tank the temperature stays exactly 5*F lower than the room temperature. We keep our house at 75*F so the tank is 70*F, eventually I will buy a fan to blow across the top for evaporative cooling but I am literally out of money at this point (aka my wife cut me off).

Test Results - Day 0 (Baseline reading)

• Temperature : 70* F
• pH : 7.2
• Ammonia : 0.75 - 1.0 ppm
• Nitrite : 0.0 ppm
• Nitrate : 3.0 - 5.0 ppm
• Chlorine / Chloramine : 0 ppm

The colors in the picture are exact to what I see with my naked eye. Two things that are really bothering me is that the Nitrate looks like its at around 3.0 - 5.0 ppm and Ammonia looks like its at 0.50 - 1.0 ppm. The weirdest thing is that my tap water reads exactly the same, is there Ammonia and Nitrates in my tap water or is this a false positive?

So even though the colors are confusing me, we'll call these values "0" for the baseline and anything darker in the future should be considered an elevated level, right? Honestly I hate matching colors, give me a quantifiable number!

***
07/18 - Aquarium - Day 1


I let the aquarium settle for 24 hours after the initial setup before starting the cycle. I wanted to make sure the water was still clear after running it through the filters for a day and that the temperature stabilized to 70*F.

Now that everything looks good, it is time to add some Ammonium Chloride. At this point, the only chemicals I've added is Seachem Prime (dechlorination). I have not added any Seachem Stability yet. I first wanted to get the Ammonia levels elevated to 4.0 ppm since this is what the bacteria will need to kickstart their growth.

I've added 7.5 ml of Dr. Tim's Ammonium Chloride and tested the Ammonia levels 10 minutes later. Based on the test it looks like they're at 3.0 ppm (let me know if I'm reading this right based on the picture). I will let the tank settle for another 24 hours before I add the bottled bacteria. I know most people dump the bacteria and Ammonia in at the same time but I want to only introduce one new thing at a time. This way if something goes wrong I know what caused it.

Why 7.5 ml of Dr. Tim's Ammonium Chloride? Well, the directions say to add 4 drops per gallon of water to add 2.0 ppm of Ammonia. I have 40 gallons of water so 40 x 4 = 160 drops. The bottle says 5 ml of solution = 100 drops. So if 5 ml = 100 drops that means 2.5 ml = 50 drops, so 7.5ml = 150 drops which should add 2.0 ppm of Ammonia to my existing 1.0 (ish) ppm to give me a total of 3.0 ppm.

Below is a picture of the pH and Ammonia levels before and after. The lighter color solution (left) is the first reading before adding the Ammonia. I think the right most reading is around 3.0 ppm (darker than 1.0 but lighter than 4.0)



Test Results - Day 1 (20 minutes after adding Ammonia)

• Temperature : 70* F
• pH : 7.2
• Ammonia : 3.0 ppm
• Nitrite : 0.0 ppm
• Nitrate : 3.0 - 5.0 ppm

***
Do you all think that is enough ammonia? When I add bacteria will there be a bloom?

 

***
7/19 - Aquarium - Day 2

I finally got a full spectrum LED light, looks nice but I'm only turning it on for pictures at the moment. The tank looks a little cloudy today. I'm going to assume that was caused by adding the Ammonia yesterday as nothing else really changed. Anyone know if this is a common thing?

Today I added 20 ml of Seachem Stability to get the beneficial bacteria started. The instructions say to add 5 ml per 10 gallons. I turned off my filters, shook up the bottle really well and added the 20 ml. The solution seemed to just float on top of the water it never really sank. I turned the filters on a few minutes later and the film on top was gone, guess its ok? Is there a way I can pour it directly into my canister filter media?

Test Results - Day 2
No change in water quality, wasn't really expecting any difference. The only thing that confuses me still is the nitrate level. I swear based on the color it looks like around 5.0 ppm but how can that be, my tap water is reading the same. Anyone know what could cause this?

• Temperature : 69* F
• pH : 7.2
• Ammonia : 3.0 ppm
• Nitrite : 0.0 ppm
• Nitrate : 3.0 - 5.0 ppm

 

Minecraft axolotls are sooooooo cute!

Sorry.

Anyways firstly, yes ammonia and nitrate can be present in tap water. Pretty common, actually.

Second, go ahead and continue adding the Seachem Stability.

Note that with Seachem Stability, you may see an initial decrease in ammonia without any changes to nitrite or nitrate, sometimes pretty rapidly too, and potentially coincide with a bacterial bloom. It's neither a good or bad thing, this is non-nitrifying heterotrophic microorganisms growing, which is not the microorganisms we are trying to establish with cycling (we want to establish nitrifiers, specifically autotrophic ones). But yeah, it's because Seachem Stability is not exactly the right product for cycling - it allegedly contains both nitrifiers and non-nitrifying heterotrophs. Preferably we'd cycle with something that only contain nitrifiers, like API QuickStart, Dr. Tim's One and Only Nitrifying Bacteria, Tetra SafeStart, or FritzZyme. FritzZyme TurboStart 700 is the best product on the market, followed by its less concentrated version FritzZyme 7. Tetra SafeStart is good too, everything else is either rubbish or mediocre. Regardless, you got Seachem Stability on hand - I would not use it - but theoretically it should be fine, and since you already bought it, might as well.

Now the waiting game begins.

 

Minecraft axolotls are sooooooo cute!

Haha yeah

Seachem Stability is not exactly the right product for cycling

I happen to also have some API Quick Start unopened. I will continue using that going forward. The heterotrophic microorganisms in stability make sense now that I think about it. It seems most people use it to add fish right away and in that scenario you would need those heterotrophic organisms to be present so they can break down the fish waste into ammonia? Where in a fishless scenario that wouldn't make sense since we bypass that part and directly add the ammonia source right?

Thanks for the advice!

 

I happen to also have some API Quick Start unopened. I will continue using that going forward. The heterotrophic microorganisms in stability make sense now that I think about it. It seems most people use it to add fish right away and in that scenario you would need those heterotrophic organisms to be present so they can break down the fish waste into ammonia? Where in a fishless scenario that wouldn't make sense since we bypass that part and directly add the ammonia source right?

Yep, spot on!

Thanks for the advice!

Yw. Good luck!

You've done plenty of research, so I am sure it will go fine for ya. ^_^

 

You've done plenty of research, so I am sure it will go fine for ya. ^_^

As long as I have you guys to steer me correctly, by myself its just speculation and second guesses lol.

 

Seachem Stability is not exactly the right product for cycling - it allegedly contains both nitrifiers and non-nitrifying heterotrophs. Preferably we'd cycle with something that only contain nitrifiers, like API QuickStart, Dr. Tim's One and Only Nitrifying Bacteria, Tetra SafeStart, or FritzZyme. FritzZyme TurboStart 700 is the best product on the market, followed by its less concentrated version FritzZyme 7. Tetra SafeStart is good too, everything else is either rubbish or mediocre.

Please tell us your basis for making these statements, including the comment that “everything else is either rubbish or mediocre”.

 

7/20 - Aquarium - Day 3


On day 3 the only change I've made to the tank is adding 10 ml of API QuickStart bacteria. I am going to add 10 ml daily for the next six days. This is not the instructions but I feel like it can't hurt?

The aquarium looks noticeably cloudier today. Ever since the Ammonia treatment on day 1 the tank has gotten progressively cloudier. I'm not sure if its a bacteria bloom, algae bloom or just unprocessed ammonia in the water? At this point I'm not super worried about it (should I be?). I'll worry more about it if its still present or worse in 7 days.

Test Results - Day 3

• Temperature : 69* F
• pH : 7.2
• Ammonia : 2.5 - 3.0 ppm
• Nitrite : 0.25 ppm
• Nitrate : 3.0 - 5.0 ppm

Well, I am extremely surprised to see a Nitrite reading today! I was routinely taking the tests and I happen to look at the Nitrite and saw it was purple and almost fainted! This is great news, finally confirmation that something is going on in there!

The Ammonia level looks about the same as yesterday, without a number to read my brain wants to say its less than yesterday since we have Nitrites but I just cant trust my eyes. Its still around high 2.0 to low 3.0 ppm.

On the other hand the Nitrate levels read at 3.0 - 5.0 ppm but its been like that since day one and mentioned its normal for it to be in your tap water. So I don't see this as an indication that any organisms are processing the nitrite yet, but I'm hopeful for a higher nitrate reading tomorrow!

 

7/20 - Aquarium - Day 3
View attachment 854331
On day 3 the only change I've made to the tank is adding 10 ml of API QuickStart bacteria. I am going to add 10 ml daily for the next six days. This is not the instructions but I feel like it can't hurt?

The aquarium looks noticeably cloudier today. Ever since the Ammonia treatment on day 1 the tank has gotten progressively cloudier. I'm not sure if its a bacteria bloom, algae bloom or just unprocessed ammonia in the water? At this point I'm not super worried about it (should I be?). I'll worry more about it if its still present or worse in 7 days.

Test Results - Day 3

• Temperature : 69* F
• pH : 7.2
• Ammonia : 2.5 - 3.0 ppm
• Nitrite : 0.25 ppm
• Nitrate : 3.0 - 5.0 ppm

View attachment 854333
Well, I am extremely surprised to see a Nitrite reading today! I was routinely taking the tests and I happen to look at the Nitrite and saw it was purple and almost fainted! This is great news, finally confirmation that something is going on in there!

The Ammonia level looks about the same as yesterday, without a number to read my brain wants to say its less than yesterday since we have Nitrites but I just cant trust my eyes. Its still around high 2.0 to low 3.0 ppm.

On the other hand the Nitrate levels read at 3.0 - 5.0 ppm but its been like that since day one and mentioned its normal for it to be in your tap water. So I don't see this as an indication that any organisms are processing the nitrite yet, but I'm hopeful for a higher nitrate reading tomorrow!

Nice!

Yeah I would just ignore all cloudiness to be honest. Whether a bacterial bloom or otherwise.

1ppm ammonia converts to 2.7ish ppm nitrite by the way, so assuming the 0.25ppm nitrite is all the nitrite so far produced, then that'd only correspond to a decline of 0.09ppm ammonia or so, not gonna be really a visible change in the color of the ammonia reading. So not surprised your ammonia reading still looks pretty much the same.

 

1ppm ammonia converts to 2.7ish ppm nitrite by the way, so assuming the 0.25ppm nitrite is all the nitrite so far produced, then that'd only correspond to a decline of 0.09ppm ammonia or so

Oh that is good to know! When do you think is a good time to add more ammonia? I'm worried that if I try to keep it at 4.0 ppm every time it drops that I will over dose it. I was planning on waiting until ammonia dropped to 1.0 ppm then bring it back to 4.0 again?

 

Oh that is good to know! When do you think is a good time to add more ammonia? I'm worried that if I try to keep it at 4.0 ppm every time it drops that I will over dose it. I was planning on waiting until ammonia dropped to 1.0 ppm then bring it back to 4.0 again?

I only re-dose ammonia when both ammonia and nitrite reaches zero. That way, I firstly know that I would never run the risk of having nitrite spike wayyy too high and start to really significantly inhibit the cycling process. And secondly, to better track progress. One can always do a serial dilution for example, to guesstimate how much ammonia/nitrite/nitrate or whatever there are, but it is just so much easier to track things when they are within readable ranges.

4ppm is also a lot by the way. We found out with some experimentation (and simple calculations), that even a fully stocked tank that is decently fed will still produce less than 1ppm ammonia a day. 2ppm is like for really heavily fed tanks. Not to say you should not dose to 4ppm, after all if your tank can process 4ppm ammonia a day, that's just more buffer in case anything goes wrong. Say a fish dies or something, there's more time to get to removing it before things can really go sideways as your tank can at least consume 2ppm ammonia over what is normally produced.

 

7/21 - Aquarium - Day 4


On day 4 the tank is still cloudy, didn't get any cloudier though so that's good. I've added another 10 ml of API QuickStart. I topped off the water level last night as it was getting lower than the spray bar. I treated that water with a dechlorinator (prime).

Test Results - Day 4

• Temperature : 70* F
• pH : 7.2
• Ammonia : 2.0 ppm
• Nitrite : 0.50 ppm
• Nitrate : 5.0 ppm

Comparing yesterday and today it looks like the ammonia levels dropped down to around 2.0 ppm and nitrite is up from 0.25 to 0.50 ppm now. I'm still calling nitrate 5.0 ppm, maybe a little higher but I don't feel its changing much yet (soon).

I'm not sure I am going to keep up with the daily updates as the changes are minor and I'm going to burn through my test kit. I'm happy since things are progressing but we still have a long way to go before 2.0 ppm of ammonia is processed in 24 hours.

 

7/21 - Aquarium - Day 4
View attachment 854447
On day 4 the tank is still cloudy, didn't get any cloudier though so that's good. I've added another 10 ml of API QuickStart. I topped off the water level last night as it was getting lower than the spray bar. I treated that water with a dechlorinator (prime).

Test Results - Day 4

• Temperature : 70* F
• pH : 7.2
• Ammonia : 2.0 ppm
• Nitrite : 0.50 ppm
• Nitrate : 5.0 ppm

View attachment 854451
Comparing yesterday and today it looks like the ammonia levels dropped down to around 2.0 ppm and nitrite is up from 0.25 to 0.50 ppm now. I'm still calling nitrate 5.0 ppm, maybe a little higher but I don't feel its changing much yet (soon).

I'm not sure I am going to keep up with the daily updates as the changes are minor and I'm going to burn through my test kit. I'm happy since things are progressing but we still have a long way to go before 2.0 ppm of ammonia is processed in 24 hours.

Well, definitely looking like it is progressing, so that's great!

Don't worry though, the test kit lasts for a while. I am on to my fourth cycle with my current master test kit and still going strong. :3 Though I will have to clarify, one of those cycles was pretty much an instant cycle (moved over some biomedia to instantly cycle a very small tank), and one was the same tank, but I converted from saltwater to freshwater and so the cycle was very short as the nitrifiers were still around. So pretty much two major cycles I suppose. XD

But yeah, if you want, you can skip days with your testing. You may accidentally miss a day or two when ammonia and nitrite drops to zero or something, but hey if you are in no hurry then no fret. And then you can always pick up the testing pace again when the ammonia and nitrite decreases faster.

 

Just a testing tip but its a bit easier to read the colors putting the vial sample with the white of the chart directly behind it and next to the right chart for it. And with a bright light on it, that's how it's meant to be compared to the chart.
I will say this, the colors they use on the chart, I'm fairly certain they used Pantone colors..... classy!

Whether the cloudiness is from decay types of bacteria or diatom blooms, or both, the end result after the bloom ends and they die off to sustainable counts is ammonia which feeds the cycle, don't worry about the cloudiness, it will go clear again when they die off and the cycle is ending.

No animals in the tank so you don't have to be so concerned or watchful about it. It all can get crazy and find it's balance and sort itself out. Just you want some ammonia available, and you want to check the pH just so it don't go too low before the cycling is finished from the acids that cycling produces, my only concern by you cycling with 4ppm ammonia. But where its at currently is fine.

Progressing nicely!

 

Don't worry though, the test kit lasts for a while. I am on to my fourth cycle with my current master test kit and still going strong. :3 Though I will have to clarify, one of those cycles was pretty much an instant cycle (moved over some biomedia to instantly cycle a very small tank), and one was the same tank, but I converted from saltwater to freshwater and so the cycle was very short as the nitrifiers were still around. So pretty much two major cycles I suppose. XD

Well in that case I will continue to test daily - I wonder how long until the bacteria start to die off without ammonia. In a previous test (lets call it alpha test) I was not getting any bacteria growth because I kept the ammonia at like 1.0 ppm, this time around once I bumped it up they seem to really respond to that. I wonder if they die off just as fast in the absence of ammonia?

 

Well in that case I will continue to test daily - I wonder how long until the bacteria start to die off without ammonia. In a previous test (lets call it alpha test) I was not getting any bacteria growth because I kept the ammonia at like 1.0 ppm, this time around once I bumped it up they seem to really respond to that. I wonder if they die off just as fast in the absence of ammonia?

Nah they can easily go weeks to months ammonia-starved before they even start to go dormant, let alone die off significantly.

Depending on the species of course, there are probably exceptions.

In my field of microbiology, there's always that saying after all - there is absolutely an exception to every statement. Like, oh bacteria has to be smaller than a certain size, and then suddenly we discover this.

But generally yeah, nitrifiers are very resilient and will just hang around until they are needed again.

Not to mention building up a population of nitrifiers to handle 4ppm ammonia does not mean once the amount of ammonia reduces, they MUST die off. It is possible even with less ammonia the population size does not change. Like imagine humans, eating three full meals a day. Then times change and they only get to eat two full meals a day. Well, that could still be perfectly enough, right? Same idea. Disclaimer though, I don't know exactly how much less ammonia the same population of nitrifiers could consume and still survive without changes to the population.

 

Just a testing tip but its a bit easier to read the colors putting the vial sample with the white of the chart directly behind it and next to the right chart for it. And with a bright light on it, that's how it's meant to be compared to the chart.

Thanks! I will have to try that. They should paint a white background on the vial or something, wonder if they thought of that?

Thats good to hear about the cloudiness, we all want that "floating in air" water clarity hehe. But that is a good point that the ammonia level will rise when all those organisms eventually die, I will make sure never to dose above 2.0 ppm to counteract that spike one day.

In my field of microbiology, there's always that saying after all - there is absolutely an exception to every statement. Like, oh bacteria has to be smaller than a certain size, and then suddenly we discover this.

That is a huge bacterium, visible with naked eye even!

 

Well in that case I will continue to test daily - I wonder how long until the bacteria start to die off without ammonia. In a previous test (lets call it alpha test) I was not getting any bacteria growth because I kept the ammonia at like 1.0 ppm, this time around once I bumped it up they seem to really respond to that. I wonder if they die off just as fast in the absence of ammonia?

I know it's ugly and no aquatic keeper wants for their tank, but it will run its course and die off and go clear again.
The bacteria or diatoms might have nothing at all to do with the ammonia and have something to do with proteins or phosphates or fine plant matter in the source water, or in the case of diatoms, silicates in the substrate possibly or yes, in their case, the ammonia, or both.
They die off when the excess resource is consumed. Diatoms or decay bacteria both multiply like every 15 minutes while the nitrifier bacteria multiples more like every 15 hours.
The cloud will win the race, reach an unsustainable population and exhaust the resource it used to multiply, and then die off to small population counts and become fixed in the substrate, where they can sustain the small numbers, and the dead produce ammonia which your slow and steady nitrifier bacteria will consume, continue to multiply off of and turn to nitrates.

The tank finding its balance as the water goes from devoid of life to supporting life to full of life in sustainable numbers.

 

The tank finding its balance as the water goes from devoid of life to supporting life to full of life in sustainable numbers.

Yes, well stated. It felt like just a box of water at the start!

 

Aquarium - Day 5


It's Day 5! Not much to report on, topped off some water again. It sure is evaporating pretty fast, I have a celling fan on and an AC vent just above the tank so I'm sure that is contributing to it. At this evaporation rate I'm going to burn through dechlorinator faster than I anticipated.

Also I really don't like the way the decorations are laid out. I feel like everything is too uniform, there should be more open areas and then more dense hiding areas. What do you all think? I also hate how it has a plastic "fisher-price" look, I need to get real plants eventually but this will suffice for now.

Test Results - Day 5

• Temperature : 70* F
• pH : 7.2
• Ammonia : ~1.5 ppm
• Nitrite : >1.0 ppm
• Nitrate : >5.0 ppm

Finally I feel like the nitrates are rising, looks higher than 5.0 ppm for sure today. I tried looking at the colors with the white card background but I still struggle. I've accepted that I'll never get an exact number but more of a + or - change from the prior day. I'm definitely happy to see ammonia dropping, it was definitely darker on day 1!

I had a little talk with the kids today about possibly getting fish over an Axolotl. They seem like such a pain and counter to what I'm trying to achieve with the tank. Here are my argument points against an Axolotl:

• An aquarium needs good water flow to keep the waste moving towards the filter right, well Axolotls get stressed by any water flow.
• With fish we can have many pets and a living environment of invertebrates! If we keep Axolotls we can have a maximum of two in 40 gallons which limits the variety of the tank and will get boring to look at.
• The aquarium looks nice with the light on. Well Axolotls don't like light, people keep the light off most of the time. They also like to hide a lot, so we're gonna have a dark tank with a hiding animal? Boring.
• Temperature - I can keep the tank at 69-70*F naturally right now. To get the temps down to 60-65*F we will need some sort of active cooling. I am not paying $300 for a chiller. We can use a fan blowing on the water but that is just going to add to my evaporation problem.
• Aquarium top - you must have a top for Axolotls as they jump out. This is a pain because of the filter intake / return. I would have to buy an aquarium lid and then cut a hole for the filters? I know there are custom mesh lids you can make but that's just more money. With fish, I can just make sure I don't get any species that jump out.
• Axolotls seem to have a lot of different issues if any of the above requirements are not met. I want this to be enjoyable, I don't want to be stressing every day worrying that one of the above parameters is off.

The kids didn't like my argument, they still want an Axolotl *sigh*.

 

Your call, you’re the one with the wallet. IMO axolotls seem like a very “trendy” pet, and really don’t do much of anything even if they are out and about. They also live for a while so if the kids get bored in a couple months you’re gonna be stuck with it for 10-15 years.

also, (almost) all fish jump. They’re fish, it’s what they do; you’re gonna need that lid. Get yourself a pvc board and cut to the correct size. It won’t be clear but it’ll be better.

 

They also live for a while so if the kids get bored in a couple months you’re gonna be stuck with it for 10-15 years.

haha yeah that was what my wife said, "this is gonna be your pet!"

 

Have you perhaps looked into small animal fostering for your local shelter? It would be an opportunity for lots of interesting animals coming in and out without any long-term commitments.

 

Aquarium - Day 6


Here is the aquarium on Day 6 - I put on the blue light to change things up a bit. Its still moderately cloudy but it hasn't gotten cloudier so I'm fine with that as long as it eventually clears up as you all have said it should. I've also added another 10 ml of API QuickStart - not sure if I'm supposed to dose it daily but the bottle is almost empty so I want to just finish it off.

Test Results - Day 6

• Temperature : 70* F
• pH : 7.4
• Ammonia : 1.0 ppm
• Nitrite : 2.0 ppm
• Nitrate : 10.0 ppm

Results today show a little less ammonia, more nitrite and definitely more nitrate! Nitrate looks to be around 10+ ppm today and definitely 2.0 ppm of nitrite. I've notice the pH has gone up just a little as well. I also think I'm going to stop topping the tank off with water because each time I do I'm adding ammonia and nitrate since that is naturally in my water. I add prime to that water but the API test shows no change in ammonia or nitrate after its added.

That actually leads me to a question. If I have ammonia and nitrate in my water how the heck (lol edited) am I supposed to remove it from the tank with water changes? I'm going to have to do like 100% water changes weekly? If that's the case this may be a short lived hobby for me.

 

Might as well add all the API Quick Start, no reason to not really.

Looks like the cycle is definitely progressing.

Note that Prime allegedly detoxifies ammonia and nitrite, but allegedly does not cause a change in the reading itself, due to how it works.

With your Q about ammonia and nitrate in the water, eventually your tank will be able to easily handle the ammonia added from the tap water. Even if the tap water has 1ppm ammonia in it, well firstly you won't be adding the full 1ppm depending on the size of the water change. A 20% water change only adds 0.2ppm ammonia. Especially since you are cycling the tank to handle 2ppm ammonia a day, even a 100% water change should be no issue - i.e. adding 1ppm ammonia on top of whatever feeding produces. Most tanks would not produce more than 1ppm ammonia from feeding activities each day anyways, so yeah. Nothing to be worried about.

Nitrate too - depending on what live stock you plan to keep, 40ppm would still be fine. Quick google search finds this applies to axolotls. So let's say nitrate is at 40ppm, and you do a 50% water change and the tap water has 5ppm nitrate. You will get 22.5ppm nitrate after, so not bad at all.

You can also use real plants to handle the nitrate - you don't need much to be able to soak up the nitrates. I just have some pothos and hornworts in my ten gal, and they easily soak up all the nitrate that is produced in that tank even though I feed heavily (and probably produce at least 5ppm nitrate a day). Pothos are super easy to grow. Potatos can work too.

Lastly, one thing to note is that nitrate tests work by converting a small portion of nitrate to nitrite first, then measuring that nitrite as a proxy of nitrate:

So unless nitrite is zero, and especially as nitrite reaches 2ppm+, your nitrate reading can be falsely high, so best to only read nitrate when nitrite is zero.

If you want to have an idea of what to expect, well 3ppm ammonia converts to 8.1ppm nitrite or so, then 10.9ppm nitrate or so. So along with the 5ppm-ish nitrate at the beginning, you should see 16ppm or so nitrate max, once all that ammonia and nitrite is consumed.

 

You can also use real plants to handle the nitrate - you don't need much to be able to soak up the nitrates. I just have some pothos and hornworts in my ten gal, and they easily soak up all the nitrate that is produced in that tank even though I feed heavily (and probably produce at least 5ppm nitrate a day). Pothos are super easy to grow. Potatos can work too.

Once I get the tank established and fish / axolotl healthy I am going to add some of those pothos plants you mentioned. They look nice too.

But thank you for all the information - It makes sense that even though I am adding back some nitrate the rate of nitrate build up will be slow enough so its not at 40pp again the next day. Then add some plants to help out a little and I think everything will be ok as long as the tank isnt over stocked!

***

Aquarium - Day 7



It has now been one week since I started cycling this aquarium. I was kind of surprised to see nitrites by day 3, I expected it to take at least a week before I saw any progress. My wife keeps asking how long this is going to take. She says "when I was a kid we just bought fish and threw them in a tank" and I said, "they died a week later" she nodded...sigh

As for visibility, the tank looks less cloudy today, still cloudy but not as dense. I stirred things around doing some work in the tank today and there was a slimy film on the filter intake just beneath the water line. It was whitish yellow and it kind of broke into little floating pieces when I rubbed it. Algae I guess?

I also added a pre-filter sponge to the filter intake, you cant see it in the picture but it fit nicely and now I won't have to worry about large pieces of debris clogging the intake. It is a pretty coarse sponge so it didn't seem to restrict the flow at all.

Pre-filter Sponge



Test Results - Week 1 Comparison

• Temperature : 70* F
• pH : 7.2
• Ammonia : 0.75 ppm
• Nitrite : 5.0 ppm
• Nitrate : >20 ppm

The above picture is the comparison of day 1 and day 7. You can see the drop in the ammonia level from day 1 and the buildup of nitrites and nitrates. The ammonia is at or lower than 1.0 ppm now and I should add some but I just want to see tomorrows results first.

Thanks again for everyone's help, we'll see what week two brings!

 

Once I get the tank established and fish / axolotl healthy I am going to add some of those pothos plants you mentioned. They look nice too.

But thank you for all the information - It makes sense that even though I am adding back some nitrate the rate of nitrate build up will be slow enough so its not at 40pp again the next day. Then add some plants to help out a little and I think everything will be ok as long as the tank isnt over stocked!

***

Aquarium - Day 7

View attachment 854700
It has now been one week since I started cycling this aquarium. I was kind of surprised to see nitrites by day 3, I expected it to take at least a week before I saw any progress. My wife keeps asking how long this is going to take. She says "when I was a kid we just bought fish and threw them in a tank" and I said, "they died a week later" she nodded...sigh

As for visibility, the tank looks less cloudy today, still cloudy but not as dense. I stirred things around doing some work in the tank today and there was a slimy film on the filter intake just beneath the water line. It was whitish yellow and it kind of broke into little floating pieces when I rubbed it. Algae I guess?

I also added a pre-filter sponge to the filter intake, you cant see it in the picture but it fit nicely and now I won't have to worry about large pieces of debris clogging the intake. It is a pretty coarse sponge so it didn't seem to restrict the flow at all.

Pre-filter Sponge
View attachment 854703

Test Results - Week 1 Comparison
View attachment 854706

• Temperature : 70* F
• pH : 7.2
• Ammonia : 0.75 ppm
• Nitrite : 5.0 ppm
• Nitrate : >20 ppm

The above picture is the comparison of day 1 and day 7. You can see the drop in the ammonia level from day 1 and the buildup of nitrites and nitrates. The ammonia is at or lower than 1.0 ppm now and I should add some but I just want to see tomorrows results first.

Thanks again for everyone's help, we'll see what week two brings!

Yeah pre-filters are good, I like them. I don't have one on my current tank. Whenever I stir up detritus in my tank somehow it still clears up, but certainly not as fast or as well.

Hopefully it should not be too long anymore before ammonia drops to zero, and then nitrite to zero too.

 

Aquarium - Day 8


I'm not sure if I'm just getting used to the cloudiness or its clearing up lol. I do think its very subtly clearing up daily. I've added 10 ml of API QuickStart again today, I am probably going to run out in a day or two and I'll stop adding bottled bacteria after that. Also the ammonia level is now down to almost 0 ppm and I think I should add another 7.5 ml of ammonia to bring it back to around ~3.0 ppm.

Test Results - Day 8

• Temperature : 70* F
• pH : 7.2
• Ammonia : 0.25 ppm
• Nitrite : >5.0 ppm
• Nitrate : >30 ppm

I am so happy to see the ammonia levels almost down to nothing, this is even lower than my tap water reading haha. I will be adding more ammonia to bring the ppm back up to 3.0. Nitrites are off the chart but since we have nitrates I know there are nitrite oxidizing bacteria present working on that problem. Nitrate is almost a red coloration so I'm going to call that around 30-35 ppm nitrate. The next milestone is to see that nitrite down to zero and I'll be happy.

Question about adding more ammonia. Right now we have plenty of nitrites, if I add more ammonia those ammonia oxidizing bacteria are going to turn that into even more nitrite, will that overwhelm the nitrite oxidizing bacteria or will it trigger them to replicate even more? We obviously need more of them working harder in there!

***

Added 7.5 ml of ammonia about an hour ago, just tested the water for ammonia and it's back up to around 2.5 ppm I'm thinking it's around 3.0 ppm based on color against the white background.

Day 8 - Post ammonia treatment

 

Aquarium - Day 8
View attachment 854795
I'm not sure if I'm just getting used to the cloudiness or its clearing up lol. I do think its very subtly clearing up daily. I've added 10 ml of API QuickStart again today, I am probably going to run out in a day or two and I'll stop adding bottled bacteria after that. Also the ammonia level is now down to almost 0 ppm and I think I should add another 7.5 ml of ammonia to bring it back to around ~3.0 ppm.

Test Results - Day 8
View attachment 854796

• Temperature : 70* F
• pH : 7.2
• Ammonia : 0.25 ppm
• Nitrite : >5.0 ppm
• Nitrate : >30 ppm

I am so happy to see the ammonia levels almost down to nothing, this is even lower than my tap water reading haha. I will be adding more ammonia to bring the ppm back up to 3.0. Nitrites are off the chart but since we have nitrates I know there are nitrite oxidizing bacteria present working on that problem. Nitrate is almost a red coloration so I'm going to call that around 30-35 ppm nitrate. The next milestone is to see that nitrite down to zero and I'll be happy.

Question about adding more ammonia. Right now we have plenty of nitrites, if I add more ammonia those ammonia oxidizing bacteria are going to turn that into even more nitrite, will that overwhelm the nitrite oxidizing bacteria or will it trigger them to replicate even more? We obviously need more of them working harder in there!

Adding more nitrite will not trigger the nitrite-oxidizers to replicate even more per se, and too much nitrite can actually stall the cycle.

Hence it is better to wait until both ammonia and nitrite to drop to zero before re-dosing ammonia again.

Your nitrate readings look like they are starting to be impacted by the high nitrite. You may see nitrate spike super high in the next few days, don't worry about it, most likely would be a falsely high reading.

 

Adding more nitrite will not trigger the nitrite-oxidizers to replicate even more per se, and too much nitrite can actually stall the cycle.

Oh it looks like I may have messed up because I already added more ammonia. The nitrites are super high and probably going to get even higher tomorrow with the addition of the ammonia.

 

Oh it looks like I may have messed up because I already added more ammonia. The nitrites are super high and probably going to get even higher tomorrow with the addition of the ammonia.

It's okay in this instance, at this point it is not necessarily the end of the world. I mean from personal experience, nitrite can reach 30ppm and the cycle will still progress. But definitely there is a point where it'd stop.

Just yeah, avoid next time.

 

It's okay in this instance, at this point it is not necessarily the end of the world. I mean from personal experience, nitrite can reach 30ppm and the cycle will still progress. But definitely there is a point where it'd stop.

We'll see what happens lol, for science...

 

Just for reference about the water clearing and that patience will pay off.
This is two of my tanks, tank lights are on in both cases. The first tank has a diatom bloom, it's been going on for 3 weeks. The angelfish juveniles there are fine. More importantly, the water is fine, it's ugly, theres a lot going on in the water, but its not dangerous for the fish because I'm monitoring it.


This 2nd tank had this same type of bloom for about a month before clearing, basically right before it happened on the 10g. Same fish were in it, same fish are fine.


Some of the blur is my terrible picture taking, but its very clear one is clear and one is like "brown" and looks blurring, thats not the picture, the tank water is blurry.

Not really a surprise, one was jumpstarted off the other by moving a sponge filter about 5 months ago. Actually, the surprise was that it didn't happen sooner on either tank. The 20g was running for a year, and the diatom issue happened on the new filter there basically in May when that new filter broke in and got way up to speed for the fry/juveniles that were there, it was handling about 15 nitrates a day of ammonia, I was doing daily water changes of 50% and it was seriously overcrowded. I moved them to a bigger tank and moved the parents from the 10g. The 10g was new and I guess the diatom issue happens because it was a new tank on that filter. I sold some fry and moved the remaining to a larger tank, move the adults from the 10g to the 20g, and put 3 juveniles with damaged pectoral fins in the 10g to heal. I think the changes to the bioloads is what cause the diatom blooms in both cases. I went from 15 nitrates a day to 10 per week in the 20g, and I went from 10 per week it 4 per week in the 10g with the 3 juveniles. I "think" in both cases this change caused and imbalance and resizing of the biofilter and this triggered the blooms.

This is diatom in my tank, yours I believe is a bacterial bloom, notice the color difference of the water?
Same results though, ride it out and the bloom runs its course and the water clears on its own then clean up. Cleaning up early just makes it last longer so unless nitrates get stupid, let it do its thing and it ends quicker.
Anytime you are making a drastic change to your water there can be an imbalance, from my experience, nature has the means of making corrections and you just have to be patient for nature to sort it out and it works out faster than when I tried to fight it with water changes. Can always clean up after it's over and in balance again.

 

This is diatom in my tank, yours I believe is a bacterial bloom, notice the color difference of the water?
Same results though, ride it out and the bloom runs its course and the water clears on its own then clean up.

Yeah I can tell the difference in your two tanks, you can tell the second picture looks clear. I am glad I was patience and didn't do anything rash like change all the water or start dumping chemicals in to clear it. That first tank picture is pretty dark I'd be freaking out Thank you for the example, I can see mine is starting to clear, it has a minor blur but much better than originally. And yeah the color was more of a white so that makes sense its a bacterial bloom.

***
Aquarium - Day 9


Like said, the tank is clearing up. There is a minor blur but it could be there is a film on the inside of the glass or its still clearing up. Regardless, its clearer than Day 3 when it started to go cloudy.

I've been researching a DIY lid with polycarbonate sheet - I am going to build a simple lid with a hinge this weekend. The lid is going to bring the temperature up as well because right now there is a ceiling room fan blowing on high keeping it cool (and evaporating the water). I've turned off the fan and the temperature raised to around 72-73*F and this is about what the temp is going to be with the lid on. So yeah, forget the Axolotl I would need some sort of chiller. I'll find some fish that like 70-75*F.

Test Results - Day 9

• Temperature : 72* F
• pH : 7.2
• Ammonia : 2.0 ppm
• Nitrite : >5.0 ppm
• Nitrate : ~40 ppm

Well the nitrites are now off the chart and nitrate is around 40 ppm but I honestly cannot tell the difference between 40 and 80 ppm so yeah they're getting up there. I'm mostly worried about the nitrites getting too high but I'll trust you lol. I really do not want to stall the cycle and I was considering a 30% water change just to get some of those nitrites out of there. There should still be enough to feed the NOB after the change right? What do you guys think? I wish I hadn't added ammonia last night ugh..

Also if you look at the ammonia level I posted yesterday after adding more it was around 3.0 ppm and today its down to ~2.0 ppm which means those AOB really put a dent in the ammonia over night! They're not processing 2.0 ppm in 24 hours but getting close. Not so much for NOB yet.

Stay tuned...

 

In the near future, I would recommend adding some live plants and getting rid of the neon ones. It will be less stressful for fish.

 

Yeah I can tell the difference in your two tanks, you can tell the second picture looks clear. I am glad I was patience and didn't do anything rash like change all the water or start dumping chemicals in to clear it. That first tank picture is pretty dark I'd be freaking out Thank you for the example, I can see mine is starting to clear, it has a minor blur but much better than originally. And yeah the color was more of a white so that makes sense its a bacterial bloom.

***
Aquarium - Day 9
View attachment 854919
Like said, the tank is clearing up. There is a minor blur but it could be there is a film on the inside of the glass or its still clearing up. Regardless, its clearer than Day 3 when it started to go cloudy.

I've been researching a DIY lid with polycarbonate sheet - I am going to build a simple lid with a hinge this weekend. The lid is going to bring the temperature up as well because right now there is a ceiling room fan blowing on high keeping it cool (and evaporating the water). I've turned off the fan and the temperature raised to around 72-73*F and this is about what the temp is going to be with the lid on. So yeah, forget the Axolotl I would need some sort of chiller. I'll find some fish that like 70-75*F.

Test Results - Day 9
View attachment 854920

• Temperature : 72* F
• pH : 7.2
• Ammonia : 2.0 ppm
• Nitrite : >5.0 ppm
• Nitrate : ~40 ppm

Well the nitrites are now off the chart and nitrate is around 40 ppm but I honestly cannot tell the difference between 40 and 80 ppm so yeah they're getting up there. I'm mostly worried about the nitrites getting too high but I'll trust you lol. I really do not want to stall the cycle and I was considering a 30% water change just to get some of those nitrites out of there. There should still be enough to feed the NOB after the change right? What do you guys think? I wish I hadn't added ammonia last night ugh..

Also if you look at the ammonia level I posted yesterday after adding more it was around 3.0 ppm and today its down to ~2.0 ppm which means those AOB really put a dent in the ammonia over night! They're not processing 2.0 ppm in 24 hours but getting close. Not so much for NOB yet.

Stay tuned...

You've added probably a total of 6ppm ammonia (assuming there was no other ammonia source), which would have only produced 16ppm or so nitrite max. So not really any level to worry about, and thus a water change is currently not needed. Should be fine to keep going as is.

But yes, glad to hear the ammonia oxidizers are starting to process the ammonia pretty well, hopefully it'll get very fast soon.

 

You've added probably a total of 6ppm ammonia (assuming there was no other ammonia source), which would have only produced 16ppm or so nitrite max.

You're exactly right about the 6ppm total - so 1 ppm of ammonia is 2.7 ppm of nitrite, thats where you got the 16 ppm ok gotcha! I didn't think of it in those terms. I won't do any water changes, I'll let them continue their work. Exciting stuff and thanks so much!

In the near future, I would recommend adding some live plants and getting rid of the neon ones. It will be less stressful for fish.

For sure! I will eventually replace those fisher-price plants with live ones. I am taking it one step at a time right now and want to get the tank cycled properly. Do plants change your water parameters much (besides the obvious benefits of taking up nitrogen)?

 

You're exactly right about the 6ppm total - so 1 ppm of ammonia is 2.7 ppm of nitrite, thats where you got the 16 ppm ok gotcha! I didn't think of it in those terms. I won't do any water changes, I'll let them continue their work. Exciting stuff and thanks so much!

Yep.

If you want to know a bit more, 'ppm' here refers to 'mg/l', and so even though the amount of nitrogen does not change when ammonia is converted to nitrite, their molecular weight does (ammonia is around 17 g/mol, while nitrite is 46 g/mol (not quite, also have to consider that what is measured is total ammonia, which comprises of both unionized ammonia and ammonium blah blah blah)). Therefore the increase in ppm going from ammonia to nitrite despite no change in the amount of nitrogen itself. And yes, 46/17 is around 2.7, where the conversion comes from.

 

If you want to know a bit more, 'ppm' here refers to 'mg/l', and so even though the amount of nitrogen does not change when ammonia is converted to nitrite, their molecular weight does

Literal mind blown - I forgot about molecular weight.

 

Yeah I can tell the difference in your two tanks, you can tell the second picture looks clear. I am glad I was patience and didn't do anything rash like change all the water or start dumping chemicals in to clear it. That first tank picture is pretty dark I'd be freaking out Thank you for the example, I can see mine is starting to clear, it has a minor blur but much better than originally. And yeah the color was more of a white so that makes sense its a bacterial bloom.

***
Aquarium - Day 9
View attachment 854919
Like said, the tank is clearing up. There is a minor blur but it could be there is a film on the inside of the glass or its still clearing up. Regardless, its clearer than Day 3 when it started to go cloudy.

I've been researching a DIY lid with polycarbonate sheet - I am going to build a simple lid with a hinge this weekend. The lid is going to bring the temperature up as well because right now there is a ceiling room fan blowing on high keeping it cool (and evaporating the water). I've turned off the fan and the temperature raised to around 72-73*F and this is about what the temp is going to be with the lid on. So yeah, forget the Axolotl I would need some sort of chiller. I'll find some fish that like 70-75*F.

Test Results - Day 9
View attachment 854920

• Temperature : 72* F
• pH : 7.2
• Ammonia : 2.0 ppm
• Nitrite : >5.0 ppm
• Nitrate : ~40 ppm

Well the nitrites are now off the chart and nitrate is around 40 ppm but I honestly cannot tell the difference between 40 and 80 ppm so yeah they're getting up there. I'm mostly worried about the nitrites getting too high but I'll trust you lol. I really do not want to stall the cycle and I was considering a 30% water change just to get some of those nitrites out of there. There should still be enough to feed the NOB after the change right? What do you guys think? I wish I hadn't added ammonia last night ugh..

Also if you look at the ammonia level I posted yesterday after adding more it was around 3.0 ppm and today its down to ~2.0 ppm which means those AOB really put a dent in the ammonia over night! They're not processing 2.0 ppm in 24 hours but getting close. Not so much for NOB yet.

Stay tuned...

Yes. The common mistake a lot of people make with cycling is a bloom happens and they get frustrated the tank looks ugly or worried it might hurt the fish, and set upon water changing and cleaning, which knocks it back some but doesn't stop it and it just gets cloudier over and over again as they multiply and build up again, it doesn't end it, so they keep water changing and cleaning, and they just keep multiplying to consume the resource and impossible to get rid of them all.
But those water changes also remove ammonia, nitrites, nitrifying bacteria, and it sets back cycling also while not accomplishing anything, while the nitrifiers take like 15 hours to double, the cloudy water bacteria or diatoms take 15 minutes to double. The cloud wins until it exhausts the resource its using to multiply, then stops suspending and becomes fixed and settles.

The cloud is them suspending, the blur is them settling on surfaces and becoming "fixed" the start of a biofilm. Once fixed they don't move and basically die off to sustainable numbers after running out of resources in those little spots they fixed to. Left alone its the foundation for algae and microorganisms to attach to as the film gets thicker and thicker..
then you can clean up glass to remove the blur on viewing panels, and leave the rest alone if you like. Just saying too clean can be just as bad as too dirt



I'd like to tell you you'd never see it again after this but I'd be lying. It pops up from time to time when big changes happen and there's excesses in one thing or another, or like too clean and then letting it build up they will multiply. Some people get it for a day or two after a water change and gravel vac before it settles again.

If it happens, test just to make sure its not something more serious, but same thing do nothing and it will settle and balance and clear.