well I am 1/2 way there.

Just tested my 6 gallon and it moving 6-7ppm, maybe 10ppm, of Am in 24 hr and the Nitrites VERY high, off the charts high. I'm doing it fishless. MUCH easier than with fish,I might add.

I have no heater in there so the tank temp goes from about 82 when the light is on in the day to about 74 at night. I ordered a 25w Stealth from DFS but that is not here yet,Its shipping Fedex smartpost and that takes FOREVER.

Wish me luck for a fast cycle!

 

Hang in there Andy
Carol

 

Fishless is the way to go!

 

Fishless is the way to go!

Yep. Way to go Andy.
also by cycling fishless you can let those parameters go really high thus cycling faster than doing water changes every day like you have to when fish are in the tank.
Carol

 

the tank is eating AT LEAST 10 PPM of Am in 12 Hr!
My nitrites are off the charts. I did a water change to get the Nitrites down a bit to try to cycle it a wee bit faster.

 

Great your doing a fishless cycle!
Water changes now will slow the cycle, you are growing 2 types of bacteria, 1 that changes ammonia to nitrite and 1 that changes nitrite to nitrate. you must let it run without water changes, as you do water changes you remove the food the bacteria need to grow in numbers.

 

oops. I will not be doing any more Water changes in it.
Thanks for the advice.

 

That's great andy,
Your patience will pay off!

 

Update

I have my heater. 82* is where I set the tank.

I test last night and...

Am is going away in 12 Hr. I stated to put in just 2 drops so the nitrites would got to high.

The nitrites test is taking longer and longer to go all the way,so the mean that they are dropping SLOWLY.

Nitrates are at 20 maybe 30.

Now all I have to is sit and wait.

 

Done Done Done

I am DONE,DONE,DONE!!!!!

Every thing is at 0 but the Nitrates,they are around 40. I have some live plants in there and I think I will leave the Nitrates till I get fish. The plants can use it to grow.
I won't be able to go to the LFS till MAYBE this weekend or mid week. I was going to just do 2 drop of Am a day till I can get fish in it.

2 weeks, that's what it took to cycle. We squeezed our filter sponges from our aquaclears in it. That did the trick and the heater at 82*

Now I have to figure out what fish to put in it. The fun begins!

 

awesome job!!! doesn't it feel great? not sure id keep the temp up that high tho...depending on what you are going to keep I guess...usually that's the temp for ich and with summer coming, it will be hard to lower it...congrats again on the cycle...its like a big weight lifted off your shoulders!

 

I don't plan on keeping it there. I am just going to leave it till I get fish in it. Its SOOOOO nice to see that its done.

 

Good job, andy. Now the fun part, what are you going to put in it?

 

My betta girl and maybe some ghost shrimp and LOTS of live plants.

 

Well done Andy65!!! Dont leave it to long without fish or the bacteria will start to die off.
If you are not going to stock the tank for more than 48hrs, then you must keep adding some ammonia to the tank so the bacteria has food..

 

That sounds great, andy, will the betta and shrimp be ok together?

 

should be, if not the shrimp don't cost that much.