# Cycling Question



## NuclearTech (Mar 23, 2008)

My 41 gallon tank has been cycling for 4 weeks now fishless-ly. I now have the ammonia down to 0 ppm in 12 hours when adding it externally up to 1ppm the day before. Nitrites have gotten up to 0.5ppm and have not gone higher nor come down in about 2 weeks. Nitrate is at 15ppm before the 10% water changes that I have now done 2X.

So basically the tank is happily cycling and in about the middle of a fishless cycle. No prob there.

Today I went to an auction and bought some fish. Not to panic! I have a happy 20 gallon moderately stocked tank with 2 AC's that are well cycled. Tank has been up and running, low tech style, no problems, for over 2 years now. I put the new fish in the 20 for the time being.

Knowing that I now required a fully cycled 41 gallon, I took one of the AC's off of the 20 and put it on the 41 to help finish the cycle (read: convert the remaining nitrite to nitrate so that I could finish the cycle). I did a reading on the 41 before the adding the AC,

Ammonia 0, nitrite 0.5. (didn't bother with the nitrate)

6 hours after adding the AC, no other changes,

Ammonia 0, nitrite 1.0.

Where did the extra nitrite come from? The only thing I can think of is that I've been watching a bacteria bloom for the last 10 days and it seems to be dying off. Could this have been another source that wouldn't show up on the ammonia test (API liquid test)?

Other details,
48W T5HO on for 5 hours/day, no CO2, excel daily, Flourish, Potassium, Phosphorous, Trace and Iron as per Seachem dosing schedule for the last 7 days. 2 X 10% water changes in 4 weeks. Most recent yesterday. Anything else you need?


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## NuclearTech (Mar 23, 2008)

18 hours later:

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0.5


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## NuclearTech (Mar 23, 2008)

28 hours later:

ammonia 0
nitrite 0.5


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## qwerty (Dec 15, 2009)

The purpose of cycling isn't to watch ammonia turn into nitrites and then nitrates, it's to grow the bacteria responsible for this conversation in your filter media.

Adding a cycled filter to the tank will not complete your cycle just because it converted your nitrites to nitrates. Your other filter still hasn't established the bacteria because you let an already cycled filter do all the work.

So then when you remove the filter you just added, and put fish in the tank, you're going to get a nitrite spike, and now you're stuck finishing a half-completed cycle with fish.

You can use media from your established filter to seed the filter for this tank, but you can't cheat and just stick an already established filter on the tank and say everything's cycled when you see nitrates...


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## shrtmann (Feb 15, 2009)

agreed...if u want to save some time...just throw a piece of your media in your cycled filter to your uncycled....works really good with floss....


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## NuclearTech (Mar 23, 2008)

Hey thanks for responding.

I'm under no illusion that my 'tank' is suddenly cycled just by adding a cycled HOB. That newly added AC will have to stay on the tank for quite some time, I'm aware. The purpose of adding it was to get the existing nitrites down to nothing so I can get the fish in there asap. The are a bit crowded right now in the other tank.

My question was a bit different. I was wondering why do you think I had a nitrite spike (double the original) just several hours after sticking the AC on the tank? It was bothering me that I couldn't figure it out. Today after work I decided to do another water change and it occurred to me that I've used Prime for the 2 previous water changes. It seems to me that the Prime would be 'complexing' (sorry I don't know the correct terms) the ammonia so that it would be unavailable to be read by the ammonia test. It's not like I kept the ammonia at a high level these past few weeks. Then, when I added the HOB, the established BB 'went to town' on said ammonia, creating the nitrite spike. The ammonia was never actually 0, just converted to a fishy-safe compound.

What do you think of that explanation? I hope I've answered my own question, cuz it was kinda bugging me. If I'm way off base feel free to 'gently' tell me. It doesn't change my situation, still happily waiting for things to get to 0.

Also, just setting up my eheim was a feat in itself (I considered it DIY to cut the tubes  ...it's okay you can laugh at me). There's no way I'm putting anything in it. I'm not opening that thing up for nothing until I have to clean it. I may not get it back together properly! I'm not used to flipping 3 or 4 pages in a manual to get to the English instructions...


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## AquariAM (Jan 28, 2010)

NuclearTech said:


> Hey thanks for responding.
> 
> I'm under no illusion that my 'tank' is suddenly cycled just by adding a cycled HOB. That newly added AC will have to stay on the tank for quite some time, I'm aware. The purpose of adding it was to get the existing nitrites down to nothing so I can get the fish in there asap. The are a bit crowded right now in the other tank.
> 
> ...


Prime turns ammonia into NH4 which is still readable by Tetra and API tests for sure, and likely all others.


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## NuclearTech (Mar 23, 2008)

Hrmm, well then I don't know the answer. It's worked itself out nonetheless.


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## davec (Jan 19, 2010)

Hi Nuclear tech

You deserve the patience award. You've waited 4 weeks with a planted aquarium! And I recall you have a large ie forgiving tank~40 gallons. I would just go ahead and start introducing a few fish into your new aquarium, and gradually increase the bio load. My 2 cents.

DaveC

ps I have a 26 gallon planted tank and by 4 weeks I had 16 cardinals 3 cories and a pleco. I introduced the 3 cories and pleco at about 1-2 weeks. Then 8 cardinals a week later than another 8 cardinals. At 5 weeks I added 6 rummies. (my tank is probably overcrowded now) no issues with nitrites or sig problems with nitrates. Just 20% water changes every week.


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## NuclearTech (Mar 23, 2008)

Hi Davec,

Thanks for the compliment! I think the opposite  in that I feel like I've been very impatient. I bought all the fish for this tank at an auction last weekend, knowing full well that my tank wasn't ready yet. They had to go into my 20 gallon while it finished. In order to help speed the process, I added a cycled HOB to the tank.

The reason I started this tank fishlessly was because I knew that I had the time to do it. It helps tremendously when it's not the only tank in the house. At any time I could get whatever I needed and use the 20 gallon to hold. It let me be selective about what I was going to put in it. Also, I had never done a fishless cycle. I have learned that such a cycle takes a LONG time, but in the end is so worth it. My fish selections are rather sensitive to nitrites, and would perhaps be better suited to a well established aquarium. Knowing that I was going to use a new set up, it behooved me to be as responsible as I could. 

Had this been my only aquarium, I can guarantee that this process would have been much harder. In the end I will be very comfortable with my filters.

It's easy for me to talk like this now, the tank is very close to being ready. Had you asked me 10 days ago, I may have sounded a bit different  .


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## davec (Jan 19, 2010)

What kind of fish did you buy?

Secondly they have auctions for tropical fish? Where?


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## NuclearTech (Mar 23, 2008)

www.caoac.ca

This will have a list of all of the aquarium associations (members). Each association will have a page which lists their auction dates. Most areas have both a spring and fall auction.

I bought Albino Pearlscale angelfish and 2 electric blue rams.

Next auction in the area is for the Hamilton association. It's in Waterdown.


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## dl88dl (Mar 8, 2010)

Hi NuclearTech, have you started to put fish in your 41gal?


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## NuclearTech (Mar 23, 2008)

Hey thanks for asking. YES. Fish are swimming! All testable parameters are normal. I will be posting bad photos in my journal this weekend sometime. Unfortunately the tank is a bit overcome with diatoms right now. I added 3 apple snails last weekend in hopes that they would help. They worked hard for the first couple of days, but the angels are not happy with them and the snails are forced to hide out most of the time.


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## dl88dl (Mar 8, 2010)

Nice to see your fish is doing good


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