If you have access to Lava rock, it pretty cheap and makes great bio media. Toss it in a bag then in the tank. I keep about 6 mesh bags in my sump for this reason.
Seeding my new tank
- Thread starter G8zzaj
- Start date
Hey guys,
Tank been cycling two weeks now (I’ve been away last 9 days and was very excited to see where we were). Had someone phantom feeding the tank each day to keep the ammonia going.
Cleaned my filter from the frontosa tank and dumped it all in the new tank and put two of the sponges in one of the fx6 too.
We have the below? What’s your guys thoughts on next steps?
To me looks like
Ammonia .25
Nitrite .25
Nitrate .20
Should I do a water change?
Tank been cycling two weeks now (I’ve been away last 9 days and was very excited to see where we were). Had someone phantom feeding the tank each day to keep the ammonia going.
Cleaned my filter from the frontosa tank and dumped it all in the new tank and put two of the sponges in one of the fx6 too.
We have the below? What’s your guys thoughts on next steps?
To me looks like
Ammonia .25
Nitrite .25
Nitrate .20
Should I do a water change?
If you are doing a fish-less cycle, no need to change the water.
So I just let it keep running until ammonia and nitrite are 0? Then change to get rid of nitrate and then add fish?
Yes, for the most part. Once ammonia and nitrite are zero, your nitrate most likely will be higher than 40ppm so you will want to do a water change to bring nitrate down below 20ppm.
What are you using as an ammonia source to dose the tank?
No need to change water during a fishless cycle. The build up of ammonia and nitrite can't hurt anything so you just let it rip and allow the cycle to do its thing.
You have nitrate so you're nearly there. Your ammonia and nitrite should start subsiding soon, eventually leaving you with 0ppm, 0ppm and just a positive nitrate. That is when you do a large water change and add fish, slowly.
In the meantime just keep adding bits of fish food so your ammonia source doesn't decrease, which will stall the cycle.
when you do your large water change and add fish just keep tabs on your parameters for a while.
You have nitrate so you're nearly there. Your ammonia and nitrite should start subsiding soon, eventually leaving you with 0ppm, 0ppm and just a positive nitrate. That is when you do a large water change and add fish, slowly.
In the meantime just keep adding bits of fish food so your ammonia source doesn't decrease, which will stall the cycle.
when you do your large water change and add fish just keep tabs on your parameters for a while.
If the toxic ammonia gets to 0.7ppm, it will reduce the efficiency of nitrite eating bacteria by 50%. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15927463/ ). It's why some folks experience a stalled cycle during the nitrite conversion phase.
It's not something i've experienced but it's good to know for any future fishless cycles I do. Thanks for the heads up.
