2nd Cycle

[Alvanck]

Hi All,

A fellow fishless cycler here. I dosed my tank to 2PPM ammonia and beneficial bacteria. My ammonia and nitrites are at zero and nitrates are on the rise. I’ve heard about performing a second cycle before adding livestock, such as redosing the tank with 2PPM ammonia and no additional bacteria and confirming it goes back down.

Any thoughts?

Alv

 

[Matt L]

How long has the tank cycled?

 

[Alvanck]

How long has the tank cycled?

About 2.5 weeks now

 

[exnisstech]

That's not really a second cycle. Its more about verifying the tank can process ammonia. Some like to do it twice which I assume may be because they lack confidence? Nothing wrong with doing it it's up to you. I'm a bit of an outlier and don't own an ammonia or nitrite test. When I see nitrate I slowly move forward.

 

[Matt L]

About 2.5 weeks now

You might be good to go by slowly adding fish, but there’s no harm in double checking first if you can wait longer to stock.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I agree, it’s verification, not a needed procedure.

 

[winxp_man]

That's not really a second cycle. Its more about verifying the tank can process ammonia. Some like to do it twice which I assume may be because they lack confidence? Nothing wrong with doing it it's up to you. I'm a bit of an outlier and don't own an ammonia or nitrite test. When I see nitrate I slowly move forward.

I did my 300 twice. The second time I did 4ppm…. I know! But what can I say I live on the edge haha. I think the threshold for a tank is 5ppm at the highest you want to go with ammonia.

48 hours later ammonia was reading .10-.05ppm on Hanna reader. To me that’s zero. Put fish in a day later and never looked back