# Fishless Cycle In Progress



## fishlips (Jul 8, 2014)

Hi, newbie here. I'm cycling a tank using the speedy method at the top of the long post about fishless cycling here on the site. Today is day 7. Here are my numbers: 

nitrates at 15 ppm
nitrites at 5-6 ppm
hardness = soft, at 75
chlorine at 0
alkalinity at 180 (my test kit says this is ideal)
pH at 7.8
Temp = 84

I haven't tested for ammonia since I reached 4 ppm on day 1. 

Does it look like everything's on track? I hope so. Let me know what you think. 

Once I'm done, I'll be cooling it way, way down for my goldies before I stock. 

It's a beautiful new tank by National Geographic, with curved glass in front. No seams! Very pretty. I have an Aqua Clear 70 HOB on it, a bubble wall, a small amount of black Tahitian moon sand and some coral colored glass beads as substrate. Oh - and a very Jennie of Solid Gold-esque (for those of you who are familiar with her and who I thank for the idea) fake bamboo plant as the only other decoration. I like it!


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## Fishtail76 (Oct 17, 2013)

Congrats! It looks like your progressing as it should. Since you have nitrite readings you should be dosing ammonia 1/2 dose ever four days, if that's what your doing you should be good. Just keep at it you will see ammonia and nitrites drop to zero, as soon as they both drop to zero in 24 hours after you dose ammonia you should be finished.


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## Buerkletucson (Apr 8, 2014)

Awesome.....
For a "self-proclaimed" newbie your doing excellent. 

You have a sound plan and are going to take it slow introducing fish, which is great. 
Great job.....please post some pictures when you get your fish introduced. 

Welcome....


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## fishlips (Jul 8, 2014)

Thanks to you both. I'll definitely post a pic once it's stocked.


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## fishlips (Jul 8, 2014)

Question: I've lost some water due to evaporation. My guess is I should wait until it cycles and I do my first water change after I stock it to bring the level back up. Is this a good guess?


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## Buerkletucson (Apr 8, 2014)

fishlips said:


> Question: I've lost some water due to evaporation. My guess is I should wait until it cycles and I do my first water change after I stock it to bring the level back up. Is this a good guess?


Either way...
You can wait until the cycle is complete or add some water now.

You'll want to do a big water change after the cycling is completed and BEFORE adding your fish. 
The Nitrates will be high and you will want to get these down before stocking.


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## fishlips (Jul 8, 2014)

Thank you! So glad you replied. I was confusing some of the info on the great sticky about fishless cycling - no vacuum and no filter media changes at first, thinking it was water changes. Got it!


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## MriGuy85 (Aug 29, 2013)

I wouldn't worry about the evaporation since it doesn't affect the cycle and you'll be doing a huge water change when it finishes anyways. I mean, you're going to change darn near all of the water...80% most likely. Also, what size is the tank? Just putting the idea out there to make sure your filter will be able to keep up with goldfish. Other than that you appear to be doing everything correctly. Nice job.


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## fishlips (Jul 8, 2014)

Thanks, MriGuy.! And thanks for the tip. It's a 23 gal tank with an Aquaclear 70 HOB. I figured I should go bigger with goldfish. I also have a 50 I could hang on there if the 70 won't do the job alone, as well as a submersible filter that came with the tank, but I'm afraid that one would blow them all over the place, the jet is so strong. I read something about putting a sponge on the intake of that one... sounded like a nice idea, but I need to research it more before I would know what I was doing. I'd like to have 2 filters going in case of a failure. What do you think?


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## fishlips (Jul 8, 2014)

Oh, also, I realize my tank isn't big enough for goldies. But for now, it's what I've got. I want a 75 gal, but hubby is afraid it'll be too heavy for the house/foundation. It's a 1959 house with a wooden foundation. No slab. What do people do about that when they want a bigger tank?


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## fishlips (Jul 8, 2014)

Hope and pray a lot? Move? LOL


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## MriGuy85 (Aug 29, 2013)

Well, my thought process is this: the foundation is holding the weight of the house which is considerably more than 800 pounds, so....

I've heard of people using ply wood or something like that to help evenly distribute weight. You could also find out where the floor beams are and set the tank up directly above those beams so that the tank is either parallel or perpendicular to the beams (I can't remember which) and it should be fine. The tank will weigh around 750 pounds with water alone, and more when you add substrate and decorations...but as long as your floor beams are sound it shouldn't be a problem. My 55g (550 lbs plus a 150-200lb stand) is sitting on a floor that has laminate flooring....no problems so far.


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## fishlips (Jul 8, 2014)

Thanks... now to convince the husband.


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## MriGuy85 (Aug 29, 2013)

Best of luck


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