# planted cycling - how much how long?



## shift (Jan 7, 2013)

I just started a planted fluval chi for a future "breeding tank" I used small pebble rocks for the substrate and planted a fairly healthy jungle. I figure the excessive plants (hosting beneficial bacteria) should help cycle the tank. I will probally throw in a bit of fish food for some added ammonia goodness. 

IS there any other tips for cycling a heavily planted tank? I'm just using the stock chi filtration light/filter for now but may upgrade to a hob or sponge filter down the road. I plan on using this as a breeding/fry tank once its successfully cycled.


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## shift (Jan 7, 2013)

haha, really? Thats some quick cycling


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## shift (Jan 7, 2013)

Is the bacteria on all the plants enough to make it almost cycled?


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## Django (Jun 13, 2012)

shift said:


> I just started a planted fluval chi for a future "breeding tank" I used small pebble rocks for the substrate and planted a fairly healthy jungle. I figure the excessive plants (hosting beneficial bacteria) should help cycle the tank. I will probally throw in a bit of fish food for some added ammonia goodness.
> 
> IS there any other tips for cycling a heavily planted tank? I'm just using the stock chi filtration light/filter for now but may upgrade to a hob or sponge filter down the road. I plan on using this as a breeding/fry tank once its successfully cycled.


Check your ammonia and nitrates. I would put in some fast-growing tall stem plants (e.g., anachris) in the back. If your ammonia is 0 you should put in a fish or two. You should see if you can increase the light some. Maybe a clip-on lamp with a Compact Fluorescent light (10 watts, it's hard to say how much more not knowing the size of the tank)

Hope that helped.
Steven


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## Django (Jun 13, 2012)

btw, it's a nice tank and it looks good - a good start. 

The plants consume the ammonia before it goes any further down the Nitrogen cycle, and the nitrifying bacteria drops in as it finds any ammonia and nitrite which end up as nitrates. Assuming there's enough light for the plants to photosynthesize. In any case, whether you're a plant or a bacterium, it's very important to have good water circulation to distribute the oxygen, carbon dioxide, and nutrients (including ammonia) around the tank.


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## shift (Jan 7, 2013)

So i did a water test last night (hopefully not mixing up the nitrate/nitrite viles..!)
PH 7-7.5
Ammonia 0
Nitrite .3
Nitrate 5

Is it worth picking up some ammonia and putting a drop or two in the tank to speed it up or does it look like its doing fine in its cycle?

I gave the filter from the main tank a few good squeezes in the water and have been adding the hagen cycle bacteria in a bottle as well.


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## Django (Jun 13, 2012)

shift said:


> So i did a water test last night (hopefully not mixing up the nitrate/nitrite viles..!)
> PH 7-7.5
> Ammonia 0
> Nitrite .3
> ...


Thats great! Ammonia is where you want it, of course, nitrite is high (higher than 0) and nitrates are low which is good for fish. You shouldn't add any fish until nitrites are 0. Add stem plants or any fast-growing plants - they consume the most ammonia. As I recall from your pic, you need some tall plants like Anachris. You should look through a plant and pick out some more plants that grow fast and that you like, and whose water needs match or nearly match your tank's parameters.

In addition, the light to me looks a little weak. If it looks like that to you, get a clamp-on desk light and put a 10 watt 6500K ("Daylight") Compact Fluorescent Light You can adjust the actual wattage later if necessary.

Ammonia, in small amounts per day, like 3 mL, is good. You just have to get someone who knows to tell you how to do it or google it. This is if you think you can handly very smal quantities and measure right without any spills. Honestly, I'm not too up on Ammonia cycling.

My thrust in all of this is to get you used to the idea that enough growing plants will handle all or nearly all the ammonia in the tank. They eat nitrites and then nitrites too. Maybe you should hold off on the ammonia for a little while and let the plants take care of the toxic nitrates. Then, introduce a small number (or a shoal of shoaling fish). Please check the lighting. I'm sure Hoppy, a guy who really knows his stuff, would be glad to help you figure the lighting part,

Boogie on!


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## shift (Jan 7, 2013)

Thanks Django - I have some Cabomba in the other tank. Ill grab a stem or two and add it to this this one. I couldn't seem to find any pure ammonia today (all had additives) so i guess i'm going with out it for now.

I have a few strips of smd leds. Ill right up something to up lighting for now.
I also bought some nutrafin plant gro and added a few mm to each tank..


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## Django (Jun 13, 2012)

That's right, you have to fertilize the plants! I use Seachem Flourish Comprehensive. It's all micronutrients, but the plants can get Nitrogen, Phosphate, and Potassium from your tap water.

Don't worry about the ammonia - the plants are the essential part. A little won't hurt the plants any, in fact it's a nutrient for plants. Actually, you want to get the nitrite out of there, so don't put in any ammonia - this will force the plants to eat up the nitrites and when they hit zero, time for fish.

Plants consuming ammonia is a separate system than bacteria converting from one molecule to another to another. They co-exist in your tank. Plants also filter toxin's from the water. Get involved with the plants - the nitrifying bacteria will develop at the usual cycle rate

Steven


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## Diana (Jan 14, 2010)

Add ammonia. 
Do the fishless cycle. 
That way, whatever amount of bacteria came in with the plants will grow to the maximum amount you could want, to handle the waste from any reasonable amount of fish. 

It does not matter whether the plants or bacteria remove the nitrogen, just so long as something does. But you will not know how good a bio filter you have unless you add ammonia. 

You can do it with rotting fish food, if you want, but ammonia is easier, and you know exactly how much you are adding.


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## shift (Jan 7, 2013)

I still havent been able to find pure ammonia, everything seems to have added cleaning agents mixed in.. i guess ill throw in some more fish food flakes for now.


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## Django (Jun 13, 2012)

shift said:


> I still havent been able to find pure ammonia, everything seems to have added cleaning agents mixed in.. i guess ill throw in some more fish food flakes for now.


Have you looked in the hardware store? Seems to me someone said one time that that would be the place to find ammonia. If you get it and start using it, if the light is adequate , if you have enough growing plants, you will see that the additional ammonia goes right back down to zero, as if you had a fully-cycled tank. That's the plants consuming the ammonia. If you have zero ammonia and zero nitrites, you can put in a few fish, which will supply ammonia.

As far as the current nitrite level goes, plants will consume all ammonia first, then nitrites, and finally if nothing else is left, nitrates. This is because plants have to convert nitrites back to ammonia in order to consume it, and nitrates to nitrites to ammonia. It's just easier to consume ammonia in the first place.

Make sure you get more plants in there 

Steven


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## shift (Jan 7, 2013)

2 Groceries stores only had mixed. Home hardware was sold out. home depot didnt have any 

Ill add a few more plants in thee back, a few more days of feeding the tank fish food (unless i find ammonia) then hopefully its good to try breeding in 

Should i be doing water changes on the tank as it cycling or just leave it?


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## Django (Jun 13, 2012)

shift said:


> 2 Groceries stores only had mixed. Home hardware was sold out. home depot didnt have any
> 
> Ill add a few more plants in thee back, a few more days of feeding the tank fish food (unless i find ammonia) then hopefully its good to try breeding in
> 
> Should i be doing water changes on the tank as it cycling or just leave it?


Ok, if you have enough plants and they're growing, they will more than handle the ammonia/nitrites and when you measure zero on ammonia and nitrites you can put in your fish, as long as you don't put in too many and as long as the nitrates are under 20 ppm, or do a big water change (suggestion: 50%). Additional plants should be fast-growing stem plants with enough light.

If you want to take a more traditional route with the traditional cycle time, do the fish food, but don't put in too much and check it with your ammonia test. For our purposes ammonia and fish food are interchangeable. Ammonia can be substituted at any time, because the fish food decaying results in ammonia anyway.

You shouldn't do any water changes until the tank is cycled -same goes for cleaning the filter.

You absolutely have to wait until nitrites are zero before adding fish. This will happen sooner with the plant cycle and later with fish food or ammonia. Keep me in the loop.

Steven


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## shift (Jan 7, 2013)

Thanks Steven, I did a small water change before i read this, (maybe 10%) and add a bit more cycle and a getto lighting upgrade for now. to help speed it up.










Ill do another water test tomorrow and see where its at  I have a few CPD's that look like they have a bit of a belly now so hopefully its cycled in time!


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## Django (Jun 13, 2012)

Hi Shift,

I can see the new stems in the back in the picture. That's a good step in the right direction. (thanks for the pic). Yeah, that's a tall tank. You might try moving the LEDs (if that's what they are) up a little more, just because you want the light coming from above. Er, you'd get more light from a Compact Fluorescent bulbs - they cost around $8, I don't know about the clip-on desk lamps, probably not too much. I think maybe you need more light, but you'll have to watch the plants closely and if they start yellowing or getting leggy, then you'll know. Watts per gallon doesn't work with LEDs or tall tanks. I'm using two 10s on my 10g but maybe you could go hgher than that in terms of watts per bulb and maybe do just one bulb pointed at the middle. Btw, are you using a timer for the lights? Makes things a lot easier, especially the photoperiod. I think you should start with 10 hours and adjust as needed.

The more fast-growers the sooner you'll be done 

Steven


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## shift (Jan 7, 2013)

Good call. Ill pop on a cfl clamp on with a timer. It will be a good fix for now until i build something a little more elegant. My other tank 12g edge seems to be doing pretty well with just leds. Will adding to0 much lite affect the fish negativity in any way? (sames question for breeding)


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## Django (Jun 13, 2012)

shift said:


> Good call. Ill pop on a cfl clamp on with a timer. It will be a good fix for now until i build something a little more elegant. My other tank 12g edge seems to be doing pretty well with just leds. Will adding to0 much lite affect the fish negativity in any way? (sames question for breeding)


I don't know what kind of fish we're talking about and I don't know a lot about fish. My Pristella Tetras don't mind it - they just hang out under plant overhangs, and they're supposed to be forest fish. They travel together so they do spend a good amount of time in the light. Their coloration is not pale at all - I think it's very good for tan gravel.

If a specie of fish doesn't like sun, some floaters might be helpful or some bog wood or rocks. I think breeding needs low water circulation where they are spawning.

So take this link and look them up in the fish directory:
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/myFish.php

Steven


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## shift (Jan 7, 2013)

Thanks for the link These are the guys i'm trying to breed. I decided the clamp on light didnt look as good beside the tank so i started building a led light for over the tank. Its drawing .53A at 12V and about 6.5W.. so not sure how led compares to normal Watts per gallon but it should hopefully do the trick.

sneak preview :


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## Django (Jun 13, 2012)

Nice job! I hope it's what the tank needs. How about a picture of the tank with the lights on top?


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## shift (Jan 7, 2013)

I some how lost my strip for the back so i still need to do the back side and plexi glass the bottom (for water proofing). It puts off a ton of nice light. If i do the second option with out the stock filter (and get a hob or sponge) ill cut the sides down and make the light sit closer to the tank.


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## Django (Jun 13, 2012)

Shift, you did a great job with the LEDs - the 2nd picture looks even too much light without the filter. It doesn't really matter if you get a HOB, except for the light. Too much light and you might have an algae problem, but if you keep the tank clean, you can always disable some LEDs to reduce the light some. But that's in the future. I'm having problems with algae and the 10w CFLs when I remove the screening under the lights.

I think you've probably got enough light with your current filter. I really wouldn't touch the plexiglas. The light is getting through now and it's a beautiful tank, rimless.

You're doing nice work, the plants look very good and growing. Did you test the ammonia yet? I rinse my arms and hands once before I go into the tank. Since you're working with test solutions it's not a bad idea. Eh, once I get going I don't bother with it - probably get rinsed off when I rinse out the test tube. Let me know about the ammonia level.

Steven


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## shiloh (Jun 10, 2011)

The amount of light looks good and tbh you could probably add the cpds now if you wanted to. They are a very hardy fish and I have cycled a tank with them before so some ammonia/nitrites will not kill them. Hold off on the shrimp until you've got zero readings for a week or two then do a good sized water change for the nitrates.


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## shift (Jan 7, 2013)

Well i finsihed it except for the back strip (until i find it) and added the plexiglass for water proofing since it more or less touches the top of the filter.









I tested my water again today

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0.1-0.3 depending on the lighting..
Nitrate: 5 (maybe a bit lighter so could be lower)

If i was to do a 50% water change do you think it would be okay to add a few of them in?


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## shift (Jan 7, 2013)

Well i decided to move some in, I will just do water changes a little more frequently to be safe. I ended up with 3F/2M in there.


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## shift (Jan 7, 2013)

When i first put the CPD's in they hid for a bit then came out to eat. i fed them some frozen food and they seemed quite happy. I just got home and all 5 of them seem to be glass surfing and swimming back and forth along the glass... seems like strange behaviour.. is this a sign that something is off or wrong in the tank or just the fish adapting to the new pad?


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## Django (Jun 13, 2012)

Hi. The nitrogen results (ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate) look good, although I am concerned about the nitrite. It should go down, and I think it's less than the last time you checked it. Nitrate is very good - anything below 20 ppm is alright.

The fish sound like they're ok. If you see everyone gasping at the surface, which I don't expect at all, do an immediate 50-75% water change and then do 50% water changes, say, every day to get the ammonia or nitrites back down. They sound very good though.

I guess you can get yourself a chair and sit back and enjoy. Make sure the lights are on a timer - 10 hours daylight to start off.

Looking good!

btw, I'm pretty sure that when you get a low nitrate level like yours, it means that most of the ammonia is going to the plants instead of the rest of the Nitrogen cycle with bacteria. The bacteria establish their own level in the tank, probably in the same time frame as a no-fish-in cycle.


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## shiloh (Jun 10, 2011)

shift said:


> When i first put the CPD's in they hid for a bit then came out to eat. i fed them some frozen food and they seemed quite happy. I just got home and all 5 of them seem to be glass surfing and swimming back and forth along the glass... seems like strange behaviour.. is this a sign that something is off or wrong in the tank or just the fish adapting to the new pad?


This is common behavior. I have had fish that did this for like 8 hours a day for many years... they're stupid, what do you expect?


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## shift (Jan 7, 2013)

Django - I did a 10% ish water change before i put them in... ill do another one in a few days to be safe. but sounds like the levels are within reason.. so hopefully all good. They are probably still recovering from being hunted with a fishing net for half an hour.

Shiloh - haha fair enough. They didnt do it in the 12G,, only the 5G which seemed odd.


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## shift (Jan 7, 2013)

Would trowing some pond snails into a new tank help it filter any faster? I have 2 new 10 gallons i'm going to use for shrimp that i need to get fast track cycled.. sadly i'm still waiting for the sponge filters to show up


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## Django (Jun 13, 2012)

Hi Shift.

Pond snails would be a small sourceof ammonia, but probably not significant. I also think that they would not survive the spikes of a bacteria cycle.

If you, for whatever reason, can't use a substrate and plants, you could put in some plants in plant pots and if you use stem plants you might be able to do a "silent cycle" (with plants).

Otherwise, I would do an added ammonia cycle or even better, seeding from another tank that's already completed cycling. Probably the fastest way to non-plant cycle.

Btw, how many days did it take to complete the plant cycle. If you have adequate lighting to grow the plants, it shouldn't have taken long, and I think that's the way it worked out. Meanwhile, the bacteria are slowly settling into the tank slowly.


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## shift (Jan 7, 2013)

It's was about a week and a half. The other 3 tanks will get plants. It haut won't be nearly as heavily planted as the first one. I can prob steal a bit of grave to help jump start it. I just don't have sponge filters yet. So I'm relying on air stones for now.


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## Django (Jun 13, 2012)

Well, congratulations on completing the plant cycle! I hope your tanks go down to zero ammonia with less plants to process it. 

I don't have any experience with light planting for plant cycling. I would be very interested in how it goes. 

Make sure that there's sufficient water circulation (below the surface). This will move the ammonia around the tank. The oxygen comes in through gas exchange through the water surface by itself. So you don't need any bubble- producing devices that create surface agitation, losing CO2, as long as you have enough circulation around the tank. I should tell you that using/not using bubbling devices is a very controversial subject in some areas.

In addition to other plants you would like to get, fast-growing stem plants and others are the ones that do the real work of consuming ammonia.

btw, you can put in the plants any time you have water in them. Good luck.


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## shift (Jan 7, 2013)

Well its been a good day! 

I finally found some pure ammonia, got 5 heaters for 20$ and got a good chunk of java moss from an established tank full of bacteria good ness. The 3 shrimp tanks should be on their way to being cycled in no time 

How many drops or ml of ammonia would equal 3-5 ppm in a 10 gallon tanks? Any rough estimates to get started?


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## Django (Jun 13, 2012)

Hi Shift,

Here is one of many links that can be found using Google. You can verify the information found at the following links about cycling with ammonia:

http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/nitrogen_cycle.html#pureammonia

http://www.csupomona.edu/~jskoga/Aquariums/Ammonia.html

Use "Aquarium cycle Ammonia" or something else in Google.

There is a search facility here too.


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## shift (Jan 7, 2013)

Well one of the tanks i seeded with a bit of gravel from an established, the rest are hopefully semi seeded with a lovely cloud of bacteria from wishing a chunk of javamoss in the tank (and leaving it in) I haven recieved my sponge filters yet so I just put in a air stone/heaters to get it going for now .. along with a few plants. Hopefully it wont take too long but ill let you know how it goes.

I did 4 drops of ammonia in each 10 gallon tank. and added 25ml of cycle. so hopefully this special blend willget the ball rolling.. I may do an ammonia test tomorrow on one of them to see where its at... in theory they should all be decently similar.

I plan on adding cycle for the 3 days (as per bottle) and a few drops of ammonia each day.


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## Django (Jun 13, 2012)

Sounds like you've got everything under control. Unfortunately, we won't be able to tell how much ammonia the plants are taking care of. Except by looking at the nitrate. Not much or no nitrates would make me think that the plants are consuming most or all of the ammonia.


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## shift (Jan 7, 2013)

I Just did a test and it was only reading .5 after 4 drops early today.. so i just dosed another 4 drops.


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## shift (Jan 7, 2013)

Not the prettiest yet.. But it's a start! (And will be fun to scape).
Hopefully the rocks in the bottoms left tank are fish/shrimp safe. 

Right now I just have a 15w led shop light pointed at them unlit I have a chance to build in some led strip lights


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## shift (Jan 7, 2013)

Led upgrade!
The top tanks will need more leds, but its a good start


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## Django (Jun 13, 2012)

I don't know what kind of space you have above the top level, but I have a 13w CFL in a metal reflector and it's a little too bright. Depending on how low-light tanks you want and the space you have, you might want to try a 10w or other if they make them. 

This is from when I had 2 10w CFLs in reflectors - you can't see the whole reflector, but I thought this would give you an idea of how the tank lighting looks.

Steven


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## shift (Jan 7, 2013)

Django - i actually removed the light socket as they were missing the splash gards.. I could add them in.. but Ill see how the LEDs do first.. I would like to plant the top one fairly heavy as it will be my fry grow out tank.


On a cycling note.

The tanks have been running for about 4 days. I cracked up the heaters to 80 ish, have doused the the nutra fin cycle, added plants and dirty bacteria filled java moss, dumped in a bit of dirty water (from vacuuming the other tanks) and have been dosing 3-5 ish drops of ammonia daily. I just checked the ammonia and its back down to .5

I still haven't received the sponge filters so just have little air stones runing in each tank for movement.

It looks like this super accelerated cycle is off to a good start. I haven bothered checking the ammonia/nitrate levels yet.. Ill start tomorrow.


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## shift (Jan 7, 2013)

Should I keep dosing ammonia or quit and most monitor the other parameters? I have a feeling I should continue to feed the bacteria. Maybe ill cut back to 3 drops per day


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## Django (Jun 13, 2012)

Hey Shift,

I think you should go until ammonia and nitrites have spiked read zero and there are Nitrates. Then you should do a big water change to take down the Nitrates. You don't really need to test Nitrates until Nitrites have spiked. An aggravating time - I started with fish food and ended up with plants.

You did well so far in starting the tanks. There's not much more you can do now except test ammonia and nitrites. 

Stick with it.

Steven


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## shift (Jan 7, 2013)

I will keep adding 3-4 drops daily for now.


I doses this morning (8-9am) tested around noon and the ammonia was fairly low 0-.5 (hard to tell exact color) and the nitrite test was bright pink! so this is a good sign.

I generally pick a random tank to test, i'm assuming all 3 will be about the same. Only real difference is some have more plants.

From my understanding i should keep dosing 4 ish drops of ammonia daily and just watch the nitrites until i see them drop to 0.. and once I do it will be considered cycled?


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## Django (Jun 13, 2012)

Shift:

To know when the tanks are finished cycling, between now and check Nitrates if you want to. When you are confident that the amonia-converting bacteria are eating all the ammonia in a small amount of time (it's really that ammonia = 0 when you test it. Number of minutes is good information but not essential. You just want that zero when you take 5 ml out of the tank and test it.

Then you will start to see a nitrite spike - same thing with that. Then test the nitrates. If there are nitrates present in the water, note the level and if it's above 20 ppm do a large water change, say 50%. After you have one of the 3 10s cycled do those levels on the onther two.


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## shift (Jan 7, 2013)

My main question is if i am dosing 4 drops of ammonia daily... after how many hours should I test it and confirm its at 0 ?


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## Django (Jun 13, 2012)

I don't know this one. Haven't seen this question before. It seems like ammonia shouldn't be floating around the tank. Try using pump speed divided by tank size - in minutes. That's once around the tank. I'd like to see, just out of curiosity, what 1 minute tests at.

Since you were wondering, I considered doing a Google search on this but ended up using TPT's search. :icon_cool



shift said:


> My main question is if i am dosing 4 drops of ammonia daily... after how many hours should I test it and confirm its at 0 ?


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## shift (Jan 7, 2013)

ill try the does in the am, wait an hour test then test 12 hours later to see the difference 

tomorrows test!


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## bikinibottom (Nov 18, 2012)

shift said:


> My main question is if i am dosing 4 drops of ammonia daily... after how many hours should I test it and confirm its at 0 ?


I've always waited for 24 hours on my tanks. For example, I'm cycling a 20-gal right now, and when I wake up in the morning I test to see where the ammonia and nitrite is at. Then I dose ammonia. Then I wait and re-check the next morning. If it's been 24 hours and everything is 0, then I dose one more time, wait 12 hours, and check again. If it's still 0 in 12 hours, then the cycle is done. If there's still lingering ammonia or nitrites, I keep dosing until those two are 0.


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## shift (Jan 7, 2013)

Thanks bikinibottom!

How many drops of ammonia are you using per day for your 20 gal?

Do you do water changes at all during cycling or is it all off the original fill?


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## shift (Jan 7, 2013)

AS an update, i have learned that 2.5ml of ammonia will give you about 4ppm.

And for fun a few pics of my tanks. (cell phone shots, will take better ones later!)

The "main" origional tank. Currently housing 4 neons, 12 cpds a nerite snail and 10ish pumpkin shrimp


















My Second breeding/"love shack" tank, now housing 10ish PFR shrimp and 10-15 fry!








It made me laugh when i lifted up the light and saw the nice coating of algae over the edge directly under it and the filter rocks.. but i'm sure its some how beneficial so it can stay for now.. (at least while the fry are there)



3 tanks that are currently cycling, will be a shrimp/fry tanks. 
providing they finish cycling soon i may have 12 yellow shrimp moving into one of them next week.

























I will probably do some re-scaping later as i prefer the natural look.. but for now i decided to use some of the ornaments that came with the tanks.


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## Django (Jun 13, 2012)

Lookin' good...why not put the bubbler inside the skull? Actually these bacteria need oxygen and give out, you guessed it, CO2!

Gotta go.


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## shift (Jan 7, 2013)

The bubblers are part of my speed of the cycle methods. they will be replaced with sponge filters once they arrive, but bubblers are better than nothing!


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## shift (Jan 7, 2013)

So this morning i was at 4ppm ammonia and 12 hours later i'm at 1-2ppm.. which is a good sign, hopefully 0 by morning


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## shift (Jan 7, 2013)

So i just tested the nitrite and got 0 on 2 tanks and .1 on the other... 3-4ppm of ammonia gone in 12 hours.. not bad at all for accelerated cycling! (1.5 ish weeks since i started)


i upped my does from 1.5ml up to 2 ml to test in the morning and see where its at! 

I love accelerating cycling


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## shift (Jan 7, 2013)

Nitrites are finally 0 within 24 hours of dosing 3-4ppm ammonia.

Next question. I have to go out of town for work for 3-4 days. Will not dosing the tanks with ammonia for a few days mess up the cycle? I don't want to put fish or shrimp in until i get back. (and get someone to feed multiple tanks while i'm away)


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## Django (Jun 13, 2012)

The best answer I can come up with from a quck google search is put a small piece of raw fish in each tank and leave it until you get back. Next question... 



shift said:


> Nitrites are finally 0 within 24 hours of dosing 3-4ppm ammonia.
> 
> Next question. I have to go out of town for work for 3-4 days. Will not dosing the tanks with ammonia for a few days mess up the cycle? I don't want to put fish or shrimp in until i get back. (and get someone to feed multiple tanks while i'm away)


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## shift (Jan 7, 2013)

Guess who's having shrimp cocktail this weekend!  

Thanks Django


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## shift (Jan 7, 2013)

A little more planted now


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## Django (Jun 13, 2012)

Hey shift,

With those plants all the ammonia will be a thing of the past. No new nitrates either - you may need to dose it. Also, start dosing micronutrients. All the other pieces must be in place and working - adequate ligting, micronutrients, nitrates around 20 ppm, water circulation. The only thing left to do is populate, which you can do after the plants are planted and working. Congrats.

Steven


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## shift (Jan 7, 2013)

Only one of the tank had dirt so I will defiantly have to do a bit of ferts. Ill snap better pics of them later. I do have some nutra fin plant gro and was thinking of doing a half dosage once a week since i have shrimp. do ypu just add them in with water changes? Do you add the amount for the whole tank or just what amount of water you are replacing?

I Also have to work on better lighting for those tanks, I will probably work on adding a few more led strips 

So far one tank has CRS/CBS and the other has Rillis. Once I am able to do a bit more breeding they will double as fry tanks. It should be a fun process


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## Django (Jun 13, 2012)

shift said:


> Only one of the tank had dirt so I will defiantly have to do a bit of ferts. Ill snap better pics of them later. I do have some nutra fin plant gro and was thinking of doing a half dosage once a week since i have shrimp. do ypu just add them in with water changes? Do you add the amount for the whole tank or just what amount of water you are replacing?
> 
> I Also have to work on better lighting for those tanks, I will probably work on adding a few more led strips
> 
> So far one tank has CRS/CBS and the other has Rillis. Once I am able to do a bit more breeding they will double as fry tanks. It should be a fun process


You follow the directions on the bottle and 50% water change before you start again. And I assume you already know whether you should fertilize a soil substrate. It should only be helping (substrate fertilizer) plants that are heavy root feeders.

I would say go ahead with the Plant Gro if you find by reading the bottle that it's suitable. For the shrimp, they are aquatic animals too, and probably have close to plants' needs. Maybe there are special ferts for shrimp, though. But go ahead and try it. I use Seachem Flourish Comprehensive which is micronutrients. Be very careful of using Copper in shrimp tanks.

Steven


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