High Nitrites, couldn't be happier...

[edtriou]

............the nitrite cycle is usually slow....so slow that a more sophisticated approach is to add nitrite compounds to start the nitrite cycle asap reducing the total cycle time and then adding the ammonia compound. the presence of ammonia retards the nitrite cycle if your add the ammonia compound first.

That's a great idea, can't believe I never thought of that.

Couple of follow-up questions. So once the nitrite cycle starts, you can then immediately add ammonia and it doesn't retard it? Namely, your total cycle is now basically just the duration of the nitrite cycle, since the ammonia cycle will be contained within that window? Cool.

Ed

 

[johnptc]

That's a great idea, can't believe I never thought of that.

Couple of follow-up questions. So once the nitrite cycle starts, you can then immediately add ammonia and it doesn't retard it? Namely, your total cycle is now basically just the duration of the nitrite cycle, since the ammonia cycle will be contained within that window? Cool.

Ed

still have to wait for the ammonia cycle but basically ready to go after that as the nitrite cycle is much quicker without any ammonia present

 

[edtriou]

still have to wait for the ammonia cycle but basically ready to go after that as the nitrite cycle is much quicker without any ammonia present

Gotcha.
Still sequential, but in reverse order.

I was thinking/hoping it was more or less parallel, with a slight staggered start for Nitrite.
Although quicker is good, either way, grin.

Ed

 

[edtriou]

Thought I'd give you guys an update.

Ammonia is fixed at 0, and it’s able to consume 200ml daily. I'm going to be starting on a second gallon! Nitrites were darker at one point, so I'm hoping it peeked. Seems to be lighter than I've seen, although I think I've looked at it too long and seeing things.

Ph crashed the other day, as somewhat expected (although for some reason I thought it wouldn't happen to me). Went from 7.2 to 6.0 within a day, and started to get even lighter. Slight overkill on the baking soda dosing as it’s definitely not green anymore, grin.

Ignore the Nitrates in the pic as I've been dosing KNO3, to get potassium and to make sure some nitrates are there while the ammonia is at 0 for some hours during the day. I was also experimenting to see if some of the plants would use it while ammonia was present, but as I've read, nope ammonia wins, hands down.

Ed

 

[johnptc]

 

[edtriou]

Success!
Fishless cycle is complete.

It's been done for a few days, but just double checking as well as ensuring it can grow rapidly in response to additional ammonia. It's now able to take on an additional 30ml of ammonia (25% increase) in the same time (12 hours) and still remain 0 for ammonia/nitrites. Nitrates are off the charts, as expected. I did a 100% water change today, lowered the temp, re-feed the ammonia one more time, and if everything is zero tomorrow, we're in business...

My wife was teasing it would 'Christmas' by the time I got this project done, boy was she wrong.

Ed

 

[janev]

Thanks for letting us know how your fishless cycling went.

1 appreciate the picture of your water testing also, because it really helps tell what is going on with your water.

How many days did it take by this method to get tank cycled?

Do you think it is faster this way?

 

[edtriou]

How many days did it take by this method to get tank cycled?

Do you think it is faster this way?

It was just over 3 weeks.

Although it took most of that time for the ammonia to drop. Since everyone indicated nitrites take so much longer, I thought it was be the 2008 before I saw anything. However the nitrites went to 0 in less than a week. I added plants a week or so in to it, which I think also helped shave off some time.

I've done faster routes in the past (ie: take a canister/media from an existing tank), but I had concerns. First I didn't want to take any chances, as my wife loves these fish we've had for years (ie: I mess this up and excuses to buy fish stuff just got harder). Second, I wanted to sell the old tank (this on was replacing) and didn't want to guess one when I could remove the old filters. Lastly, I had never done a fishless cycle in all my years, and watching pure chemicals cause biological events, just sounded cool, although that's probably just me.

If I were to do it again, I would try johnptc's suggestion, nitrites first, although I haven't looked into what the source of that would be. I did notice that with both the plants and BB, the ammonia was consumed in literally hours, which I believe helped the nitrite cycle, due to the low ammonia presence for each remaining 24 hour period.

Ed