# Screwey Fishless Cycle?



## holly12 (Apr 21, 2011)

So.... first time fishless cycling and I_ thought_ everything was going perfectly... not I'm not so sure....

Day 1 (Sunday), I added 2 teaspoons of ammonia (20g tank) and achieved 4ppm. It stayed that way for 24 hours, so I left the tank alone for the prescribed 3 days.

After 3 days (Wednesday), I checked both Ammonia and Nitrites. Ammonia was still at 4ppm and Nitrites were 0 so I left the tank alone.

On Thursday the Ammonia was at 3.5ppm and Nitrites were at .25ppm, so I dosed the tank with .25 (1/4) tsp of Ammonia. 2 hours later the ammonia was at 4ppm. 

Last night (Friday) the Ammonia was still at 4ppm but the Nitrites were at .50ppm. (I didn't dose the tank since the ammonia stayed the same).

Today (Saturday) the Ammonia was at _maybe_ 3.5 and the Nitrites were at .50 still. Since the Ammonia had dropped a tiny bit, I added .25 (1/4 teaspoon) of ammonia. I'm going to test in 2 hours to be sure it's up to 4ppm.

From what I understand, I'm supposed to keep the tank at 4ppm ammonia until the Nitrites reach 5ppm. But people have said I will need to be dosing ammonia daily.... my ammonia is going down so slowly, I only have to do tiny doses every other day to every 3 days..... is that normal or have I messed something up?

Once the Nitrates reach 5ppm, I'm supposed to lower the dosage (HOW do you do 1/2 of a quarter tsp???? A few drops I guess Lol. And, I'm supposed to dose every other day..... but I do that now.... so I'll be dosing like once or twice a week.

Have I messed something up or do I just have a different tank than the norm? 

Thanks!


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

So exactly what is it that is screwy? I think your method is...if I compared it to the way that I did mine. Your results however, don't seem screwy at all. If your ammonia went down 1, it doesn't mean that you'd see a corresponding rise of 1 in nitrites. IME, your nitrites will be low and then in one day maxed out. If you don't know what to do, then just ask. For the most part, stop overthinking and second guessing everything - you CAN'T mess it up. That is the beauty of it.


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## holly12 (Apr 21, 2011)

Lol, thanks. I was just following the instructions of rtbobs post..... but am just getting ammonia drops much slower than what the thread had said, and therefore not having to dose every day like he suggested.... so I thought I had done something wrong and stalled the cycle.

Alrighty then, I'll keep going.


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## Rohkey (Apr 25, 2011)

Agreed with jrman. I had my ammonia level at above 8 ppm for a while then at like 2-4 for periods and my tank still cycled fine. I added like 10 fish a month after my initial batch and still haven't had an ammonia spike. You are overanalyzing it and nitrites so soon is a good sign. I think about 1 ppm of nitrite is produced for every 2-3 ppm (not exact) of ammonia consumed by the. bacteria because it seems a lot easier to lower nitrite levels and a lot of ammonia has to be added to get nitrites to appear in smaller ammounts. I think the nitrate producing bacteria are not as efficient, however. These are only my guesses but seems to fit from the experience of my tank.


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## holly12 (Apr 21, 2011)

Hmm. Interesting, (about the amount of ammonia being eaten to produce the amount of Nitrites.)

I know I worry a lot, lol, I have OCD. I worry about everything, lol. I drive my husband nuts! I'm trying very hard to just 'go with it' though.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

You also can't go by what anyone else may have experienced for length of one phase or the other. Every tank is different and everyone of them, even if done side by side with all the same variables, would likely be different. Size of the tank has nothing to do with either. A 125g can cycle just as fast, or slow, as a 10g if the dosing regimens are roughly the same.


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## probe1957 (Jul 2, 2010)

One anal fish keeper to another, you're doing fine.


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## cannonfish (May 22, 2011)

Is it a good idea to maybe add an ornament from your small tank for a while as the friendly bacteria lives on objects in the tank? this could speed up your cycle by bringing in extra bacteria?


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

cannonfish said:


> Is it a good idea to maybe add an ornament from your small tank for a while as the friendly bacteria lives on objects in the tank? this could speed up your cycle by bringing in extra bacteria?


Definitely. Gravel, filter media, etc.. all can/should be added and will speed up the cycle. The best thing about having multiple tanks.


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## holly12 (Apr 21, 2011)

Thanks everyone. I feel a bit better now.

I checked the params' to day, and came up with 3.5ish for ammonia. (dosed 1/4 tsp ammonia then to bring it back to 4ppm.) 
My Nitrites are at 4.5-5ppm today though, so I'm hoping the ammonia will begin to fall a bit faster now. (The Nitrites were at 1 when I tested yesterday, and jumped that high in 24 hours.... odd, lol.) And I'm very careful when I do the testing, so it's all been done correctly.

I hope my tank is a fast cycler! My LFS has some Honey Gourami's and Feather Fin Rainbows that I would like to get. (They said they don't always have them - it's a gamble. They also got a HUGE order of plants from 2 different suppliers, and all the plants I want are in.) That doesn't normally happen - they are usually pretty plant bare. Lol, life is taunting me with the plants and fish I want but can't get at the moment, hahaha.


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