# Fishless Cycling Questions



## msrack (Jan 24, 2020)

Hello
I am new to the hobby and new to the forum. I am in the fishless cycling process and need some help to determine what needs to be done next. I am obviously trying to avoid stalling the process and making mistakes. I have done my research and fully understand the cycle, testing parameters etc. There is a lot of conflicting information out there about water changes or not, etc. so I thought I would ask the pros on this forum. I have found this forum to the best by far and have tried to follow the instructions found here. I will try to imbed my data at the end of the post. Thanks in advance for any help or advice.
Setup: 55 gallon (eventually for all male peacocks), Heater Temp:84, Penn Plax 1000 Filter (no charcoal media), air pump, 20/40 sand substrate, conditioned tap h20 (hard water, PH 8.2), API Master Test kit, ammonia source Ace Hardware 10% ammonium hydroxide, dosing by syringe with online forum calculators.
Testing Information: The tank is cycling 3-4 ppm ammonia in less than 24. The last nitrate test was 160+, nitrites 4+. The API test chart is ambiguous purple from 2-5 ppm, so my nitrites are probably off the chart as well. I have done 2, 30% water changes that made some difference in the nitrites and nitrates, but again, above 2ppm nitrite on the test chart is ambiguous. 
Questions:
1) I am adding ammonia every day. Do I add every other day, or cut my dose in half, or both to decrease nitrite production?
2) Do I do 30% WC's every day to get my nitrite and nitrate readings down to a confidence level?
3) Do I do a 90% WC to get them down significantly asap.
4) Do I do a 30% WC, fill and repeat test, and do a 30% WC to get the readings down?
5) I am a geologist and am very precise and exact on my measurements. Am I making too big a deal out of this and just keep up what I am doing, letting the tank reduce nitrite on its own?
Thanks again, I was unable to imbed a picture of spreadsheet, but did list the flickr location of my data set.
Mitchell
https://www.flickr.com/photos/186784626 ... res/2961R1


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Follow the steps/instructions on the fishless cycling article in Cichlid-forum Library, Water Chemistry section.


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

Here is a quick link to the Fishless Cycling article in the C-F Library.

When did you start the fishless cycle process?


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## msrack (Jan 24, 2020)

Thanks for the response. I re-read the articles suggested for clarity. I started the cycle jan 17 (18 days ago) with 6ppm NH3. It processed in 8 days, and the NO2 started climbing and NO3 went to 80 in 3 days. The NO2 steadily rose to 5 over the next week. I have been dosing 3ppm NH3 daily for the last week and the NO3 is 160, NO2 is 5 which is the max the API test kit can measure. I did a 50% WC last night with no change in NO2 and NO3 (5 &160). This tells me the concentrations of NO2 and NO3 were more than double what the test can measure. Jay Luto's article (CF library) suggest dosing to 5ppm NH3 daily until the NO2 drop. He does not suggest any water changes. I think this is what I'm going to do and just wait for a good Nitrospira colony to develop.


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## ironspider (Dec 5, 2017)

It''ll come around if you follow the steps outlined in the library. Mine took a very long time but worked out great. Patience is your biggest friend now.


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## Ichthys (Apr 21, 2016)

Nitrates that high will slow it down. I would change the water and redose ammonia. You should find it will finish quickly then.


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## msrack (Jan 24, 2020)

Again thanks for responding. Yesterday, I increased my dose from 3 to 5 ppm Nh3 and the tank/Nitrosomonas processed it in less than 12 hours. NO2 and NO3 are still off chart. I will perform a series of small WC's through the weekend and try to get NO2 and 3 on chart. 24th day today. I need to chill, but it's worse than 
watching grass grow. It is way better than killing a bunch of male peacocks. Thanks again for the advice.


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## Ichthys (Apr 21, 2016)

You could just change all of the water in one go. As long as the temperature is similar it won't adversely affect the bacteria.


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