The Fishless Cycle, Part II

Marimo moss balls added (8/13)

        The second half of my cycle was a bit more relaxed than the first half as I figured I was in for a long wait for the all the nitrites to convert to nitrates.

During the second week of the cycle, for the most part, I continued to test for nitrites and nothing else because I knew ~2 ppm ammonia was being converted to nitrites and I knew there were nitrates present, so really I was just waiting for the drop off in nitrites.

Tested	8/14/16	8/15/16	8/16/16	8/17/16	8/18/16	8/19/16	8/20/16
						did not test
PH	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	8.3		8.3
Ammonia	0 ppm	0 ppm	n/a	n/a	0 ppm		0 ppm
Nitrite	5 ppm	5 ppm	5 ppm	5 ppm	5 ppm		0 ppm
Nitrate	20 ppm	n/a	n/a	n/a	80 ppm		40 ppm
Action	dosed with 5 drops	dosed with 5 drops	dosed with 5 drops	dosed with 5 drops	partial water change dosed with 5 drops		dosed with 5 drops

On the 18th, I performed a partial water change late in the day and dosed with ammonia before bed. I did not test the next day as I had dosed so late the day before, I knew my results would still show some ammonia. It was very surprising to find, when I finally tested early in the morning of the 20th, that just two weeks after I started the cycle, it appeared to be completed. The partial water change, it seems, jump started the cycle and got things moving a little faster.

To test that the tank had truly cycled, I dosed with ammonia after performing partial water changes, then checked the levels 24 hours later. Here's what I found:

Tested	8/21/16	8/22/16	8/23/16	8/24/16	8/24/16
					after water change
PH	8.3	8.3	8.3	8.3	n/a
Ammonia	0 ppm	0 ppm	0 ppm	0 ppm	0 ppm
Nitrite	0 ppm	0 ppm	0 ppm	0 ppm	0 ppm
Nitrate	80 ppm	80 ppm	40 ppm	20 ppm	5 ppm
Action	dosed with 6 drops	partial water change dosed with 7 drops	partial water change dosed with 3 drops	major water change	betta time :)

After watching the nitrite test tube turn purple instantly for so many days in a row, seeing it stay sky blue seemed almost magical, and with my nitrates finally below 20 ppm, it was time to consider finally adding a fish to the tank!

The final arrangement. Driftwood and anubias coffeefolia added 8/15

The Fishless Cycle, Part I

        My mother kept an aquarium when I was a kid and, while I remember the fish and the water changes, the occasional bouts of ich, and the one instance of dropsy (yikes!), for the life of me, I do not remember her ever testing the water, let alone pre-cycling the tank.

So, when I decided that I wanted an aquarium of my own, I was surprised when I found that every internet fish forum and resource pushed cycling the tank before adding fish. Whether we knew it at the time or not, the aquariums of my childhood did cycle, but at the expense of the fish. Since I'm set on doing things right this time, I suppressed my overwhelming urge to "add a fish and see how things go" and started down the long road of the fishless cycle.

Water testing with my Master Test Kit is as close as I've come to playing scientist since chemistry class over a decade ago. Testing would be a lot of fun if it wasn't for my inability to differentiate between shades of green, purple and orange. 

Before I officially started my cycle, I figured it was important to test my tap water parameters since that is what I would be using (conditioned with Seachem Prime, of course) to fill the tank. 

Tap Water

Test	Result
PH	8.3
Ammonia	0 ppm
Nitrite	0 ppm
Nitrate	0 ppm

A good start, but seeing as bettas prefer a more neutral PH, the reading of 8.3 is a bit of a concern. According to my water service, PH readings last year were between 8.6 and 9.0 in some locations, so I consider myself lucky to have a relatively low PH.  

on the first day of  the fishless cycle (8/6)

I officially began my fishless cycle on August 6, 2016 and I started it, thanks to a lost package, without the corner sponge filter I had ordered. While I waited for a filter to arrive, I added an airstone to agitate the water since I had read that was important for bacteria growth. I also added some plants: Java Moss, Java fern and anubias, as I read, and was told by a helpful Petco shopper, that they quite like the water conditions during a fishless cycle. On August 6, I dosed my 5.5 gallon tank with 5 drops of Dr. Tim's ammonium chloride to get the cycle started. Here's what the first week of cycling looked like:

Tested	8/7/16	8/8/16	8/9/16	8/10/16	8/11/16	8/12/16	8/13/16
PH	8.4	8.4	n/a	8.3	8.3	8.3	8.3
Ammonia	2 ppm	2 ppm	1 ppm	1.5 ppm	0.5 ppm	0.25 ppm	0 ppm
Nitrite	0.25 ppm	0.25 ppm	.50 ppm	2 ppm	5 ppm	5 ppm	5 ppm
Nitrate	n/a	n/a	n/a	5 ppm	5 ppm	10 ppm	20 ppm
Action	dosed with 6 drops	added almond leaf for PH	dosed with 5 drops	none	dosed with 5 drops	dosed with 5 drops	dosed with 7 (oops) drops

Note: Once nitrite values hit 5 ppm, the measurement is not actually accurate as it is bound by the limitations of the test kit. As I entered the nitrite spike portion of the cycle, water in my test tube would immediately turn a dark blue/purple as soon as I added the test solution indicating that nitrite levels were sky high and beyond the capabilities of the test.

I was surprised at how quickly I began to see nitrite results as I understood that it would be a bit before this would happen. I credit adding live plants and all the established tank bacteria they brought with them for the speed of this part of the cycle. 

cloudy after rearranging (8/11)

On August 11, I finally received and installed a sponge filter and upgraded my terrible heater to a more reliable, Eheim Jager which required me to rearrange the tank entirely, including the substrate. I was concerned that this would impact my cycle, however, according to the data, things seemed to carry on just as they had been. One week of cycling and the tank was securely in the nitrite spike phase of the cycle, cultivating  the necessary bacteria for a healthy tank. The plants were thriving, some algae had arrived (brown diatoms) and things were swimming right along!