180 dormant: a crash course in fishless cycling
With the tank empty, its water parameters unstable, its nitrogen cycle haywire, fishless cycling is the only way to proceed. In fact, it's what I should have done in the beginning, but that ray wouldn't have stayed in the store forever; AND I was 90% sure the tank would cycle with all the biorings and media I shoved into its two filters. As moving media has worked in the past for me (from a heavily stocked 10 gallon to a mildly stocked 55), I figured there would be no reason it wouldn't work this time around.
Fishless cycling is essentially adding clear or pure ammonia to your tank until the ammonia reading tops at 5 ppm. Eventually, nitrite begins to rise as the ammonia eating bacteria form and convert it, and then you cut your dose of ammonia in half. Your goal is have to ammonia and nitrite disappear from your tank entirely in 8-24 hours.
When nitrates appear, and ammonia and nitrite read zero, then you're done. A large water change is then in order. As I have a mammoth-ass tank, I'll have to change 20% over two days or once in the morning and then in the evening as to not deplete all the hot water in my water heater.
Last night ammonia peaked at 5 ppm and nitrites are now at .50. Going to slack on the ammonia addition until the ammonia levels drop and nitrite rises a little more. You don't want to shock the tank with too much ammonia. Right now I've been putting in exactly two tablespoons of pure ammonia each night. Last night I added three as the ammonia was only reaching 3 ppm. The extra dose got it right up to 5.
Once it begins to lower I'll only add one Tbs per day or as needed to keep the cycle going until nitrites disappear.
I only hope nitrates top around 20-25 ppm when this is all said and done as I do not want to do a massive water change on a 180 gallon tank.
Below are some links to a few excellent articles on fishless cycling as well as new tank setup.
Fishless Cycling Data: Day-by-day anaylis of someone's fishless cycle.
New Tank Setup: an article by Ecotank about starting a brand new tank and info on fishless cycling.
Fishless Cycling: A thorough how-to on fishless cycling for the beginner.
"Fishless" Cycling: an informative and humorous piece on the process... even talks about human urine as a source for ammonia!
- Josh
joshday.com
PS -- be sure you purchase only household ammonia that's unscented, unperfumed, and contains no soap or surfactants, and states that the product is pure or clear. Shake the bottle; you want to see NO foam, which indicates soap. The ingredients should read ammonia (sometimes with or without a concentration), softened water, and possibly a chelating agent, which is fine. Chelating agents are necessary to bond the gas ammonia to the liquid that is H2O.
Fishless cycling is essentially adding clear or pure ammonia to your tank until the ammonia reading tops at 5 ppm. Eventually, nitrite begins to rise as the ammonia eating bacteria form and convert it, and then you cut your dose of ammonia in half. Your goal is have to ammonia and nitrite disappear from your tank entirely in 8-24 hours.
When nitrates appear, and ammonia and nitrite read zero, then you're done. A large water change is then in order. As I have a mammoth-ass tank, I'll have to change 20% over two days or once in the morning and then in the evening as to not deplete all the hot water in my water heater.
Last night ammonia peaked at 5 ppm and nitrites are now at .50. Going to slack on the ammonia addition until the ammonia levels drop and nitrite rises a little more. You don't want to shock the tank with too much ammonia. Right now I've been putting in exactly two tablespoons of pure ammonia each night. Last night I added three as the ammonia was only reaching 3 ppm. The extra dose got it right up to 5.
Once it begins to lower I'll only add one Tbs per day or as needed to keep the cycle going until nitrites disappear.I only hope nitrates top around 20-25 ppm when this is all said and done as I do not want to do a massive water change on a 180 gallon tank.
Below are some links to a few excellent articles on fishless cycling as well as new tank setup.
Fishless Cycling Data: Day-by-day anaylis of someone's fishless cycle.
New Tank Setup: an article by Ecotank about starting a brand new tank and info on fishless cycling.
Fishless Cycling: A thorough how-to on fishless cycling for the beginner.
"Fishless" Cycling: an informative and humorous piece on the process... even talks about human urine as a source for ammonia!
- Josh
joshday.com
PS -- be sure you purchase only household ammonia that's unscented, unperfumed, and contains no soap or surfactants, and states that the product is pure or clear. Shake the bottle; you want to see NO foam, which indicates soap. The ingredients should read ammonia (sometimes with or without a concentration), softened water, and possibly a chelating agent, which is fine. Chelating agents are necessary to bond the gas ammonia to the liquid that is H2O.
posted by Josh Day at 10:44 AM
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