Help with Cycling a New Aquarium

[Donna]

We are very new to the aquarium hobby, and need help understanding a few things:

1. We set our 84 gallon aquarium up, and filled it with water 6 days ago. We don't want to use poor defensless fish to cycle it, so we're doing the fishless cycle route.
I bought an Ammonia, a PH, and a Nitrite test kit tonight, and just for the fun of it, I tested my water, to get an idea of where it is. There is a small amount of amonia in the tank ((it's within the 0-3ppm range), the PH reading is at 7.8, and the Nitrites aren't measuring at all. The water remained clear. It appears there aren't any nitrites in the tank yet. We bought some stuff called Nutrifin Cycle, that's suppose to start the cycling process, but that's all we've used.
My question is, since there is ammonia in the water, does that mean the tank IS doing it's cycle? Remember, it's only been 6 days since we added the water.
The fact that there appear to be NO nitrites in the tank, brings me to another question of, is this normal for this stage of the cycle (6 days into it)?
I should also add that we've done two-10% water changes so far, on the advice of a local aquarium shop.

 

[PostalPenguin]

How are you adding ammonia to the tank?

A tank wont cycle unless there is a source of ammonia be it pure ammonia, rotting fish food or fish.

Since you are doing a fishless cycle get pure ammonia(cleaning aisle) and dose it to 5ppm every day(test it first, dose to 5ppm and test again). Keep dosing to 5ppm until you see nitrites then you see nitrates. Once you see nitrates and no ammonia or nitrites you are done.

 

[bbortko]

The first stage of cycling is the longest, if I remember correctly it took me 3-4 weeks before nitrites started to appear. You won't see nitrites until beneficial bacteria starts converting ammonia to nitrite, I've never done a fishless cycle but can't think of any benefits of doing water changes with no fish. The higher you let the ammonia get the more food there is for the bacteria, once the bacteria starts to grow it will spread like wildfire and eliminate to ammonia and cause your nitrites to spike then a new bacteria will handle that problem. After your ammonia and nitrites peak and come back to zero you'll probably need to do a water change to lower the nitrates, at this point you can add fish.

 

[mike b]

Im not so sure about that^ Ive never heard of purposely adding ammonia to a tank why not just put a couple of barbs or tetras in there it sounds like the waters ok dont get me wrong Ive been keeping fish for over 20 years and Ive set up new tanks with new filtration and let them cycle 48 hours and added fish and have yet to lose a fish this way Ive also gone the new tank new water but used a seeded filter which I dont think you have the luxury of It seems to me you can get alot of very good advice on here as well as bad its not rocket science regular water changes regular feedings compatible fish enough tank space and everyones happy again I dont mean to step on anyones toes but adding ammonia????? what the frenchtoast?????

 

[PostalPenguin]

The benefit of adding pure ammonia instead of fish is that you can fully stock your new aquarium as soon as the cycle is done(besides also not exposing fish to unhealthy water). If you just add a few barbs, your biofilter will be the size of a few barbs so you either have to add fish slowly or you risk a mini-cycle.

However, if you dose pure ammonia to 5ppm you will generate a biofilter that can handle a full stock immediately. You could probably overstock the tank severely without seeing any mini-cycle.

I used that Cycle product with pure ammonia and had a fully cycled tank in about 2 weeks.

 

[mike b]

like I said before Ive never heard of purposely adding ammonia to a tank before but anyway we all do things differently and find success and or failure in doing so Im not saying youre wrong but to me it just seems ridiculous its almost like some people act like theyre splitting atoms again no offense just my three cents

 

[pacu mom]

Congratulations on fishless cycling your tank! Do not do water changes during the cycling process. Do a search on fishless cycling. You will find the techniques are all similar, with little tweaks. Here's one:

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/artic...ks-for-your-fastest-fishless-cycle/Page1.html

I don't agree with the author. I would keep the ammonia at around 4ppm as PostalPenguin recommends. I would cut the ammonia down to 2ppm once nitrites start forming. You will probably find that it will take longest for the nitrites to go down to "0". Keep a daily log. Test for ammonia/nitrite/nitrate before you add ammonia. Retest after adding ammonia. Here's the log sheet that I used when I was fishless cycling.

Don't be afraid to use biological additive products. Use them generously and liberally. Once your ammonia zeros out within 8 hours, nitrite remains at "0", and the nitrates are off the charts, do a massive water change, and your tank will be ready for fish.

I also suggest that you keep a water change log until you know exactly how much and how often you need to do water changes. Here's my log:

Since I have never had a nitrite reading since fishless cycling the tank, and had small ammonia readings after two specific incidences, I only tested for nitrates. I now periodically test for nitrates to make sure we're still on track with our water changes, and never bother doing ammonia and nitrite testing.

Be patient. Fishless cycling can take a while, but it is so worth it.

 

[GhostShrimpMan]

An easier way is buying Stability, you put in the fish you want (Make sure they are compatible) the day you buy it and keep dosing the tank for 7 days, by that time you will be cycled and can start doing regular maintenance(water changes, etc.).

It's 9$ for a bottle that can cycle a 250 gallon aquarium.

 

[pacu mom]

I also measured the amount of ammonia added to one gallon of water to get a reading of 4 ppm (4ppm is a reading on the API Master Test Kit). Knowing this amount, it was easy to calculate how much ammonia I had to add to my tank to get a reading of 4ppm. When my ammonia was down to 2ppm, I added half the regular amount to get it back up to 4ppm. It took the guess work out of trying to decide how much ammonia I needed to add to the tank. I always retested to confirm the ammonia levels.

I told you not to do water changes. The only time you should change water would be if you accidently added to much ammonia.

Pure ammonia (ammonia without added surfactants) comes in different strengths, so figuring out how much to add really helps. The ammonia I used was quite diluted, and I had to add 132 ml to get the ammonia back up to 4ppm in my 300 gallon tank.

 

[Donna]

Thank you to everyone for your advice. First of all, I was wrong when I said I had a trace of ammonia in my tank. I tested it again this morning, and as it turns out, I don't have any ammonia in it at all. I still wonder if my tank HAS gone through it's cycle. Is there any way to tell?
I mean to say, isn't there a possibility that it has cycled, and now it's where it should be?
I'm aware of doing the 'add ammonia' procedure to the tank to start the cycle, but I'd like to know if there's any way to tell if maybe it's already cycled. From what I understand, every tank cycles at a different rate, depending on all the factors, so is it possible that after only 6 days, it has cycled? Mike up there says he's had tanks cycle in as little as 48 hours doing the fishless cycle.
Also, we were looking at some Severums today. Does anyone have those, and if so, what can you tell me about them? We're thinking we might enjoy two of those in our tank along with some firemouths. Any info is appreciated.