Cycling Procedure

I've been reading up on more fishless cycling procedure. I realized when I did that I should have been adding more ammonia as this process continued, because the bacteria have nothing to eat. So, despite the fact that Van and Ed are here installing my new sink, I quickly did a water change to bring down the NO2 & NO3 levels, and added a splash more of ammonia. I haven't had time to do a test and measure the levels yet, since the kitchen is being torn up (again) at the moment. But the splash I put in there should feed the bacteria for a while. I have to get the levels up to 4ppm and somehow manage to keep them there until the cycle is fully established. This is a hair more complicated than I'd realized.

For my own edification, I'm cutting and pasting the directions I need, right here.

B) Add your dechlorinator to remove any chlorine / chloramines /  heavy metals in your tap water. Chlorine is made to kill bacteria…  bacteria is what you’re trying to grow. These 2 things don’t mix.

C) Crank your heater up and get the water temperature between 77-86  degrees. This is the range that the beneficial bacteria colonize the  fastest. It’s smart to leave your tank light off at this point as well  (assuming you don’t have real plants). Algae also love the water  conditions you’re creating, and leaving the light off will help prevent  it from growing. Hey, there’s nothing to look at yet anyway!

D) Crank the bubble wand up! The more bubbles the better! If you  don’t have an air stone or similar item, lower the water level a bit so  the filter water splashes onto the water surface and creates bubbles.

E) Go ahead and add in your ammonia. Aim for around 4ppm. Start with a  small amount, wait about 20 minutes for it to circulate and add more if  needed. Repeat until you achieve the correct amount. If you add too  much, you can do a partial water change to bring down the level. Keep  track of how much you added to achieve the desired result.

F) Get some seeding material! Beg your friends, a friendly guy at the lfs, basically anybody with a healthy, established tank to donate a used filter, gravel,  decorations…anything will help! Stick it in the tank, preferably into  the filter area as this is where most of the bacteria grow. Technically,  if you got enough seeding material you could instantly cycle your tank  since you’d be adding in so much of the bacteria you need. If you can’t  get anything, no biggie! The bacteria you want are free and in the air  around you. Also, you can add a tiny bit of finely ground up fish food  to add nutrients and phosphates into the water that the bacteria like.

G) Have patience. Test your ammonia level every few days. When you  see it start dropping down… the party’s getting started. Let it go down  to about 1ppm and then dose it back up to 4ppm. Don’t let it drop to  zero because you’ll be starving the bacteria of the food they need.

H) Once the ammonia starts dropping, start testing for nitrItes. It  is normal for there to be a delay of several days between the time  ammonia drops and nitrItes show up. It will appear slowly at first then  start rising pretty quickly. You should be excited! We’re almost halfway  home!

I) Keep dosing the ammonia up to 4ppm. It should be dropping fairly  quickly by now. Watch your nitrite levels, and once they’ve gotten  really high…start testing for nitrAtes. Once the nitrAtes show up, it’s  all downhill from here!

J) When your levels of nitrItes and nitrAtes get so high that they’re  off what your test kit can show you… do a 50-60% water change. A water  change will have no negative impact on your cycle and will help keep  things moving and bring your levels low enough so you can actually tell  what they are. You can also add another pinch of ground up fish food  just to make sure the bacteria has lots of nutrients and phosphates to  grow. A water change will also restore the buffers in your water to  prevent any fluctuations in pH at the end of your cycle. Remember your  dechlorinator!

K) Wait for the magic to happen. Keep watching your levels and adding  the ammo up to 4ppm. Keep a very sharp eye on pH at this point. If you  see any hints of the pH level dropping…time to break out the bucket and  bottle of Prime to do a 50% water change. We want to make sure we have  plenty of buffers in the water to keep the pH stable.
One morning you’ll wake up and when you test the water…Ammo and  nitrItes will be gone! They’ll have vanished overnight! Technically this  means your cycle is complete, but we’ve still got a bit of testing to  do to make sure.

L) Add your ammonia up to 4ppm one more time. Look at the clock. If  within 24 hours you can turn that 4ppm of ammonia > nitrItes >  nitrAtes… congratulations! After the 24 hours your test results should  be ammo-0 nitrItes-0 and have lots of nitrAtes. You grew one heck of a  bio-filter and are going to have ridiculously happy fish!

M) Now you’ve just got to keep your bacteria alive until you add  fish. Add around 1ppm of ammonia daily just to keep the bacteria alive.

N) The day before you plan on adding fish, you’ve got 2 important  things to do… Number one, TURN THE HEATER BACK DOWN! The bacteria love  the warm water, but your fish probably don’t want to be dropped into a  hot tub. Also, perform a HUGE water change… I’m talking around 90%. The  nitrAtes will have built up like crazy during this process and you’ve  got to get them into a safe level for fish. The lower the better, but as  long as you can get them below 20 you’re good to go!