Cycling A Freshwater Tank for An Axolotl

[SirPoopsALotl]

On day 21 of Cycling a Freshwater 90 gallon for a future Axolotl.
Started with Dr.Tims ammonium chloride, Fritz Turbo Start, and prime.

During week #2 we were running out of Dr.Tims and couldn't wait for amazon to ship more so we ended up getting the Ace Hardware pure ammonia and use a conversion calculator to dose.

I started by dosing the dr.tims daily keeping it at 4ppm.

We have had several days of the ammonia going to 0 in 24 hours. 4 days I kept topping it to 4ppm, but the last 3 days I've only been dosing to 2ppm. Every morning they are at 0.

However, the nitrites don't seem to budge? I'm assuming they're going up, and down because the ammonia is processing but the color hasn't changed. My nitrates are also pretty high.

Ph is at 8.2 and has stayed pretty consistent.

How do I get the nitrites to start dropping as well? Is a water change worth anything in the cycling case or will that just prolong things?


Have i messed up by cutting the ammonia down to 2ppm instead of the 4ppm suggested for axolotl cycling?


*sirpoopsalotl is our future axolotl*

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

Stuck nitrite levels is pretty common. What is the current water temperature? In some cases, it is due to lack of nutrients for the bacteria. I've used coca cola to jump start stuck cycles, as outlined on page 50 of this document:

http://drumandcroaker.org/pdf/2019.pdf

Do you have a plan to manage lower water temperatures in that tank?


Jay

 

[brandon429]

Why use exclusively marine bac to cycle freshwater

 

[SirPoopsALotl]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

Stuck nitrite levels is pretty common. What is the current water temperature? In some cases, it is due to lack of nutrients for the bacteria. I've used coca cola to jump start stuck cycles, as outlined on page 50 of this document:

http://drumandcroaker.org/pdf/2019.pdf

Do you have a plan to manage lower water temperatures in that tank?


Jay

On day 23 of cycling today and the ammonia is still processing out in 24 hours. Just waiting on the nitrites. Nitrates have been lowering with some plants. We were cycling at around 78F, but have since slowly lowered the temp. Definitely didn't shock anything, but nows just the waiting game sadly. Was getting impatient but I know that isn't the key to a proper cycle plan for keeping low Temps for now is a fan but if needed saving up for chiller.


--sorry for posting on this site. I've realized this probably isn't the site for me since I'm not a saltwater tank and don't have reefs.

 

[SirPoopsALotl]

Why use exclusively marine bac to cycle freshwater

I'm not sure what this means exactly I am very very inexperienced. However I used the items listed from suggestion reading about how to cycle a tank for an axolotl and items recommended.

 

[Gill the 3rd]

Did you use the fritz turbo start for freshwater or saltwater? Axolotls are obviously freshwater and this is a saltwater forum. But there's plenty of us who keep freshwater as well and can try to help.

 

[brandon429]

no problem

nowadays there are so many bacterial strains on the shelf there's no easy choice

that bacteria you added will work because your assembly process for an axolotl tank imports the right bacteria anyway, in the wet things you add and build up in the tank. the contaminate in, free of charge

they already have their own setup course in effect to the side of the bottled bacteria you added


adding those bacteria above don't negate or harm the ones already suited to freshwater, and many strains of bacteria do both fresh and salt anyway (common liquid tetra nitrifying bacteria from wal mart are euryhaline species) so there's a chance the fritz by itself worked just fine for both marine tank and freshwater tank cycling. nobody really knows, it hasn't been tested much here.

cycling for freshwater is opposite of the material you may have been reading here about marine cycling

marine tanks:
ammonia is lethal, nitrite is completely neutral to the degree we don't need to own the kit

freshwater tanks, even moreso in barren axolotl tanks and such sensitive animals and acid-tending pH:

nitrite is lethal, system needs connected to ample surface area and decent flow to keep waste in check, keeper routinely removes by siphon water changes any built up waste in the main tank. Ammonia doesn't factor here, nitrite is what you track.

the bulk of your system are likely mismatched species for nitrite control this early on

after all a basic cycling chart shows ammonia to comply three times faster than nitrite, and those were written for freshwater charting.

you should:

1. ensure you have a hang on back filter or canister filter to run the ax setup, not just a bubbler in a ten gallon aquarium. spend some cash and get a setup that has flow through channeled filter material.

2. toss in one ground up pinch of fish food into the system, have the filtration running, and do nothing for 20 days.

then do a big water change, and you are cycled, and can't not be cycled, as a testless cycle.

you don't need to test anymore things, if you follow above your tank will be cycled by 20 days wait