Fishless cycle questions

SailorCrab · #1 ,

Hello everyone!

I've been having some cycling problems...I've got things kind of figured out, but I'm not all the way there yet. Basically, I attempted to start my fishless cycle back in November, by adding fish food to the tank. The ammonia wasn't going up very fast, though, so I started adding more fish food. I got to the point where I was getting readings on nitrite, but because I was adding so much fish food, the ammonia kept rising. Anyway, eventually the nitrite went down to 0 but my ammonia was off the charts...I knew that the ammonia was supposed to fall at some point, but I didn't realize I was doing anything wrong, I just thought the cycle was taking a while. Anyway, not too long ago, I was browsing around on a different website, and I read that too much ammonia will actually kill your good bacteria...no wonder my cycle was taking so long.

So I changed out most of the water and started over. I've been adding a bit of fish food to the tank for the last week and a half or so, but now I'm wondering if I need to be putting in more. The ammonia is somewhere between 0.5 ppm and 1 ppm, no nitrites yet. Am I putting in enough fish food, or should I be putting in more? If anyone has any other advice for my fishless cycle, that would also be very helpful.

Thank you everyone!

Dano · #2 ,

For things to start working the ammonia does not need to be any higher than what you have now....If there is beneficial bacteria there it will begin growing and the nitrite should follow......The question is: is there bacteria there?

Did you add anything to seed the tank?...There are now many bacterial additives on the market that are getting good reviews in getting the cycles started.....If you can find Tetra Safe Start or Dr. Tim"s One and Only, you might want to try one or may be another recommended brand.

Perhaps someone else will join with their opinions on this.