Cycling woes

[carbonxxkidd]

It is beautiful...but definitely glad I don't have to work tomorrow! They are really behind on plowing the roads so I doubt I could even get out of my driveway again right now, haha.

I hope my tank is cycled soon too. When I started it up, most of the water and about half of the gravel was from other tanks. The gravel was in a 2 gal that had been running for a couple weeks (pretty sure that tank wasn't cycled) and the water was from my mom's well-established tank. I know not much bacteria resides in the water alone, but I thought it might help a little bit. I don't think my water conditioner (was Aqua Safe until today but just ran out so now I have Stress Coat) does anything for nitrites or ammonia, but I will definitely retest in the morning and go from there. Up until now I have been doing a water change every 3 days (Monday, Thursday, Sunday, etc) but looks like I might need to go every other day at minimum to keep my ammonia down.

I will say this, next tank I set up I am definitely going to try and be patient and do a fishless cycle!!!

[Hallyx]

For the next tank you set-up, you'll have a fresh batch of live nitrifying bacteria to seed it with. In other words, you'll never have to really cycle a tank again. Nice, huh?

[carbonxxkidd]

That's a great point, yes!!! Maybe my Xmas present to myself will be a second tank? ;)

[carbonxxkidd]

Just tested my water again (about 24h after water change) and it is reading the same as yesterday:

ammonia : 0.25 ppm
nitrite: 0 ppm
nitrate: 5.0 ppm

Right now I'm planning on retesting and doing a water change when I get off work tomorrow since I probably won't have time in the morning before work.
Any ideas how long it usually takes for nitrites to show up?

[shellieca]

My 10g fish IN took 6 wks for nitrites to appear & they lasted for 2 wks. Not a bad water test for 24 hrs, IMO

[sandybottom]

sometimes it takes up to two months to fully cycle a tank. oldfishlady has a water changing schedule stick that should be helpful. i'm in mankato a bit to the south of you. so yup, we got the snow too. good thing i drive taxi for 10 hour shifts in this stuff. wheee... it does bad things to a person mentally. you know how those crazy mn drivers are.

[carbonxxkidd]

Good to know. I should be seeing them in the next 2 weeks then, hopefully!

[carbonxxkidd]

Originally Posted by sandybottom

sometimes it takes up to two months to fully cycle a tank. oldfishlady has a water changing schedule stick that should be helpful. i'm in mankato a bit to the south of you. so yup, we got the snow too. good thing i drive taxi for 10 hour shifts in this stuff. wheee... it does bad things to a person mentally. you know how those crazy mn drivers are.

Glad to see another Minnesotan on here. I am so glad I don't have your job! I have a 20-30min commute to work which is bad enough, but I don't have to go anywhere today which is good because apparently it's an ice rink out there.

I've been following OFL's water change schedule. Well, sort of, I was doing about 3 50% water changes a week but now that I have a test kit I might be doing them more often. Her stickies really are awesome though, I've learned a ton already.

[Leopardfire]

Try using tetra safestart to help with your cycle. I did a fish less cycle and my tank was fully ready in 2 weeks. I didn't even have nitrites. It will be slower with a fish in cycle, but it should still help.

[carbonxxkidd]

I actually debated buying some of that when I started up my tank, but didn't for some reason. Good to know it works! I might have to try it.