Fishless cycle help

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
This is true. I would\d stick with the fish less cycle plan. safest way to go as far as the fish concerned. cloudy is natural, after around a week things will clear out as the tank ages.
 
I did my 220 with DR Tims one and only. To be extra sure i had a friend shake out his filters and vacuumed some of his substrate into 2x 5 gallon bucket fulls of his tank water. Poured that in first and then filled it. Then Dr Tims one and only went in then i let the pumps and powerheads circulate it for about 10 minutes then added in fish and it took off. Nitrates were high because of my friends tank water but i let it slide for a week so the one and only would do its thing before i did water changes. You can do it fishless with DR Tims one and only and hell even send you a free bottle of ammonia to do it. Here is my water test log. Hope this helps
waterparams.JPG
 
So far i still don't show any nitrites tank is stable with 4ppm of ammonia. I have the ULTIMAii 1000 filter i think it also comes pre seeded with bacteria to speed things up its been about a week i really need the tank to be stable as my fish a the moment are 5 14" kelberi peacocks. Im afraid the tank will crash if i try and rush the cycle with such large fish going in.
 
DN328 said:
I found that cycle WITH fish at times takes even longer thank fishless if you have a low fish stock to volume of water. Simply fishes aren't producing enough waste quickly for ammonia. In a fishless cycle, you can bump up ammonia as needed.


Good call, given that you have 400 gallon.
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a cycle with the stock you plan on keeping for a while tends, at least so far in my experience, to level out your biofilter perfectly for your current stock. dosing with ammonia up to 4 ppm and then under stocking can lead to a biofilter dieoff and subsequently an ammo or nitrite spike. Just my thoughts on it.
 
again takes 6 to 8 weeks to fully cycle a new tank, patience.
 
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predatorkeeper87 said:
a cycle with the stock you plan on keeping for a while tends, at least so far in my experience, to level out your biofilter perfectly for your current stock. dosing with ammonia up to 4 ppm and then under stocking can lead to a biofilter dieoff and subsequently an ammo or nitrite spike. Just my thoughts on it.
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That makes sense. I didn't do go fishless AND I had the same stock I was planning to keep, all juvi, and it was close to 3 months to cycle. I've not had any issues...knock on wood.

Based on your rational, then there would be risk of under stocking after a fishless cycle? Or perhaps BB would die off but not to a point that it could not support existing stock.
 
DN328 said:
That makes sense. I didn't do go fishless AND I had the same stock I was planning to keep, all juvi, and it was close to 3 months to cycle. I've not had any issues...knock on wood.

Based on your rational, then there would be risk of under stocking after a fishless cycle? Or perhaps BB would die off but not to a point that it could not support existing stock.
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Hello; My take is that the population of beneficial bacteria(bb) is constantly fluctuating along with the supply of ammonia. You are correct the population will adjust to the existing stock.

Another take of mine is that once a stable population is established it can increase fairly quickly if the bioload increases such as with a new fish. A large increase of new fish can throw things out of balance for a time and may result in a "mini" spike in ammonia untill the bb pop catches up. When practical I increase the number of new fish a few at a time.
 
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