Dr Tim’s fishless cycle

[Hetts]

Day 6 numbers in tank of cycling it, how they look? I just added some more ammonia per instructions

Ammonia 1-2ppm
Nitrite 2-5ppm
Nitrate 20-40ppm
pH 7.8-8

 

[Dan_P]

Day 6 numbers in tank of cycling it, how they look? I just added some more ammonia per instructions

Ammonia 1-2ppm
Nitrite 2-5ppm
Nitrate 20-40ppm
pH 7.8-8

What was the ammonia level before adding more?

 

[Hetts]

What was the ammonia level before adding more?

About the same maybe closer to 0.50

 

[RocketEngineer]

Stop adding stuff, you don’t need more. You already have nitrates so the bacteria you want are in the system. Do a big water change and add some hardy fish.

 

[Hetts]

Stop adding stuff, you don’t need more. You already have nitrates so the bacteria you want are in the system. Do a big water change and add some hardy fish.

Just following dr Tim’s cycle my man

 

[RocketEngineer]

Yeah, I know. But constantly adding ammonia once you kickstart things means the bacteria is always fighting an artificial input vs having an actual input from something like a fish. I’m not sure about you, but I’m not interested in keeping bacteria, I’m trying to house fish and corals.

 

[Hetts]

Yeah, I know. But constantly adding ammonia once you kickstart things means the bacteria is always fighting an artificial input vs having an actual input from something like a fish. I’m not sure about you, but I’m not interested in keeping bacteria, I’m trying to house fish and corals.

Gotcha, thanks!!

 

[Keko21]

I used Dr Tims to start my cycle as well. If your tank is 30 gal or more I'd say dump the whole bottle of bacteria in if you haven't already- not going to harm anything and will speed up the process.

Stop adding ammonia, its just delaying the process especially since you are already at 1-2ppm. Just let the bacteria do it's thing. Once ammonia and nitrite are at 0ppm do a 40-50% water change and start stocking (1-2 fish at first depending on the size of your tank). Dont be surprised if you get a little pop of ammonia after you add the first couple fish, it'll get eaten up in a day or two and you'll be back to 0ppm.

 

[Hetts]

I used Dr Tims to start my cycle as well. If your tank is 30 gal or more I'd say dump the whole bottle of bacteria in if you haven't already- not going to harm anything and will speed up the process.

Stop adding ammonia, its just delaying the process especially since you are already at 1-2ppm. Just let the bacteria do it's thing. Once ammonia and nitrite are at 0ppm do a 40-50% water change and start stocking (1-2 fish at first depending on the size of your tank). Dont be surprised if you get a little pop of ammonia after you add the first couple fish, it'll get eaten up in a day or two and you'll be back to 0ppm.

Gotcha

 

[Dan_P]

About the same maybe closer to 0.50

OK, looks like a slow start. With BioSpira or TurboStart, you can expect ammonia to hit zero after 2-3 days.

I discovered the reason for the repeated dosing of ammonia. I am studying model aquaria, tiny ones, 0.2 L. I was interested in developing a method to measure ammonia consumption that happens in the sand after inoculating it nitrifying bacteria.

It turns out that with the initial ammonia dose, the nitrifying bacteria are not firmly attached to the sand. The entire aquarium but not a sample of sand shows activity. By the third ammonia dose, maybe before, the activity of the sand sample matches that of the entire aquarium. What seems to be happening is that initially the nitrifying bacteria live in the water or unattached flocs, but do finally colonize the sand and stick. Cool, right?

By the way, it is not unusual for Dr. Tim’s to be a dud or slow. After 7 days of little or no ammonia reduction, buy another product.

 

[RocketEngineer]

Is it dose or days? If you did one dose then waited 20 days, what happens?

 

[Hetts]

Is it dose or days? If you did one dose then waited 20 days, what happens?

Okay so day 1 I did 4 drops of ammonia. Day 3 did 40 drops (4 drops per gallon). Day 6 did another 40 drops. By day 8 apparently the tank should be cycled by then

 

[RocketEngineer]

Grr, bad internet. Ignore.

 

[Hetts]

Seems to me the experiment is missing control cases.

It’s dr Tim’s fishless cycle. So hit it up with Tim lol

 

[RocketEngineer]

I get it. The vendor recommends XYZ. However, companies recommend dosing all sorts of potions. I’m cynical by nature. KISS

 

[taricha]

Nitrite 2-5ppm

This tells you what you want to know. Things are moving as expected. ammonia is being oxidized to NO2.