Fishless cycle question: filter setup

Hi Folks,

I'm just about to start my fishless cycle...drumroll please...

My Juwel compact bio-filter is fitted with fine, coarse, nitrax, poly-pad and carbon filters. Can you tell me if I should leave it complete or maybe remove the carbon?

Thanks for any/all thoughts,
J

You really only need to use the carbon part of the filter if you have been treating your fish for anything and wwant to remove the residual bits of the meds after the treatment has finished.

Remove it and just keep it in your cupboard in case you need it in the future/

Cool, it'll also save me a couple of quid a year! He He!

Thanks again Diana!

Sorry J I Don't know just wishing you a fast cycle
and and we need step by step pics.see how you are going
we all like to be involved.(nosey buggers us)

Starting tomorrow Chez. I'm going to wait till the cycle's complete before adding my plants when I do my 80% water change.
Maybe I'll do a test the next day or so , then if A-OK I'll start adding the scaley-ones

Cheers,

J

Jack, hope you don't mind me saying but I think you are misunderstanding the fishless cycle, because there is no way it will be complete in a day or two (unless you have an already established tank you can take some bacteria from).

The average length of doing a fishless cycle from scratch is 3-4 weeks.

Have you read the info on it in the Articles section? Have a look aat it and then see if it makes sense, if not then just ask your questions and we will talk you through it.

Thanks Diana, but I when I said "the next day or so" I meant after however-long-it-takes to do the cycle, I'll swap out 80% of the water (that IS correct, isn't it?) and add the plants AND THEN give the plants a day or two to settle in before testing it again...then add my fishies!

That's ok, isn't it?

J

the fishless cycle is a pain having to wait jack but well worth it for you fish

Jack O Byte wrote:

Thanks Diana, but I when I said "the next day or so" I meant after however-long-it-takes to do the cycle, I'll swap out 80% of the water (that IS correct, isn't it?) and add the plants AND THEN give the plants a day or two to settle in before testing it again...then add my fishies!

That's ok, isn't it?

J

Do your fishless cycle, when you have gone through it and have your reading of Ammonia and Nitrite both zero for a couple of days, do your 80% water change. Put your planst in when you have emptied tyour water out, gently refill and then off to the shops for your fishies You dont need to give the pklants time to settle in and the longer you wait you will be losing bacteria from your filter unless you keep adding some ammonia to feed them

What are you going to get, do you know yet?

Hi again,

I bought an API Master Freshwater test kit and thought I'd test my tanks water before adding any ammonia.
With the filter/heater unit and 10kg of aquarium gravel in place, the tank now holds 75ltr of water which I've treated with Interpet Tapsafe to neutralise the chlorine.

All tests seem fine apart from the PH tests.
This came out at 7.6 on the PH low test but didn't colour match at all on the PH high test (this test should measure down to 7.4).
To double-check, I used API paper-strip test (API 5 in 1 strip test) and this gave a PH colour of between 6.5 and 7.

Is there something I'm doing wrong?

Slightly confused now...

J

Dont worry about the ph for now. You will find that it will be up and down during the cycle and then will settle into whatever it is going to be. just have a check of your expiry date on the test kit to make sure it isnt out of date (does sometimes happen!).

Just add the ammonia now jack and keep your filter running and you are off

ps. add the ammonia a little at a time, test, and keep doing that until you have reached the magic number of ammonia 5 (well, I think 4 is the nearest you can get on the API kit). Then check it at the same time every day and just top up as needed

Will do, thanks Diana.

J

Hi Diana,

Thought I'd give you an update...and a bit of a laugh...

I seeded the tank with ammonia a few days ago and have been checking the level every 24 hours, but the % of ammonia hasn't changed at all since then so I haven't added any fresh ammonia. That is, until last night!
Reading through you old forum posts regarding the fishless cycle, I suddenly realised I'd set the water up at 0.5ppm and not 5ppm! What a numpty!

J

Oh God! OH well not to worry Jack, at least you realised in the early days and not 6 weeks dow :)n the line!

Indeed!

the wait will be well worth it jack just stick with it mate

Thanks Dekker.
I tested it last night as usual and it's dropped from 5ppm to 2 in 24 hours, so I guess the cycle has started. Will be counting the days.

J

good luck J we are all wishing you a fast cycle.lol

Thats a good sign jack, just keep topping it back up to 5

Thanks Diana that's the level I'm trying to maintain.

J

how are we going with this J ?

Hi Chez,
The ammonia level got a bit high (I think I was up at 8 rather than 5ppm) then stopped coming down so Diana thought I should do a partial water change. It seems to have kick-started the cycle again.
I'm adding half the ammonia than I was before to make sure it's not getting overloaded. I'm using the API kit and it doesn't have a level 5 on the chart so I'm topping the water up to match the 4ppm colour.
Nitrite and Nitrate levels are almost off the chart.

I must admit that I'm finding it hard to accurately colour match a liquid in a glass test-tube(with all the light reflections and shadows) to a blob of paint on a card! Why don't they just supply coloured samples in test-tubes?

J

That sounds great Jack. If your Nitrite has spiked then reduce the amount of ammonia you are adding so that you maintain a level of 2-3 (can't remember what the nearest level is on the APPI chart.

After that you just have to wait for the magic zero levels

Will do Diana, thanks again!

J