Fishless cycling week 4 - what do we do next?

[wisecamel]

Hello - we have been following advice (thanks EauRouge!) and are now into our fourth week of fishless cycling. We have been hanging a sock of fishfood over the side of the tank. Ammonia levels were high but are now droppping and we have high nitrates and nitrites.

However, I know that we cannot put the fish in the tank with the high nitrates, even though the ammonia is gone - so do we change the water before putting the fish in? Should I put some more food in the sock? I have not changed the water (it is clear) or the filter in this time. The plants are growing well and we have a lot of snails.

So what happens between the time when the nitrates peak and you put the fish in? They must not die! It's taken ages to get this right.

Thanks!

I have never tried it with fish food, but it should be similar as adding pure ammonia. I am sure EauRouge can help regarding this, I think you need to add more food for now.

What I can say is - hang in there. You need to give the bacteria some time to grow and multiply. The nitrites will miraculously go to zero overnight. Then you do a huge water change to get the nitrates down and you are ready for your fish. Won't be long, you are almost there :)

Yes, the cycling method is exactly the same. Once the ammonia and nitrIte have dropped to zero then the tank is cycled! All you need to do is a water change to get the nitrAte level down, check all the water levels and then get some fish As long as there is a source of ammonia there all the time until you introduce fish then the filter bacteria will be fine.

PS don't worry too much about the clarity of the water- cloudy water can be a sign that something is wrong but clear water doesn't mean that it's all good. Water tests are the only way to tell for sure.

ANd I forgot to say about the nitrAte level- it needs to be less than 30ppm but the lower you can get it, the better. If it ever comes up as zero though then something is up. Does that make sense?

Thanks for this EauRouge and MamaPizza, it's so helpful to be able to ask things like this. DS says you are our fishmums! I will leave it and keep testing until the ammonia and nitrites are at zero. Is it just tap water that I put in with the dechlorinater before we are good to go? I have AquaCare water conditioner.

Thanks

Yes, in most cases you can use tap water but I would test it to be sure. If you leave some to stand in a jar for 24 hours then you will get a more accurate pH reading. You'll also need to test the nitrAte of the tap water, it can be quite high in some areas.

If you have especially hard water or high pH then that will affect your choice of fish a bit. If it's around neutral then you should be OK with most fish, some are more delicate than others though.

Aw, bless your DS :) How old is he? Have you decided on what fish to get? As EauRouge says, your choice might be limited by ph and size of tank.

I have just started cycling a 25 l tank for a dwarf puffer. DS asks every day if we are ready to pick him up. I keep on telling him that he is still in his mummy's tummy and that he will be born in summer (cycle should be finished latest early June). It keeps him happy for now.

He's 8 and has really been enjoying testing the water and watching the plants and the snails grow. We are not really going for authentic landscapes as we have a T-rex and a train as ornaments, and a fairy castle for DD, who is 10.

It is an 88 litre tank and we are planning on getting a little shoal of cloud mountain minnows, maybe 7? I don't mind really as long as they flourish - they will be the first fish we have ever had and the thought of sitting watching TV with a poorly fish gasping for life in the tank on the table next to me is not appealling at all!

LOL at the authentic landscapes

I have a shoal of minnows, they are nice, but let's put it this way a bit bland. Not too much colouring. I just added them to have a shoal in my tank.

For 88 litres you could get quite a few male guppies. They are beautiful, very active and fun to watch. Plus you can tell them apart so your children could give them some cool names :)

I dunno, I don't think they are that bland! They colour up pretty well when they are breeding, look here. You could keep 10 in an 88 litre tank quite happily.

There are loads of colourful fish you could have if you get a heater, is that an option?

We love our Guppies, they are deffently intersesting to watch (chasing each other around and they do this thing where they take it in turns to shoot acrooss the tank as fast as they can), dd1 (8) loves watching them. Our tetras are not as interesting but are still pretty (rummy nose tetras).