Goldfish and Aquarium Board Article-Our Experience of Fishless Cycling with Household Ammonia


`Goldfish and Aquarium Board Articles` `Our Experience of Fishless Cycling with Household Ammonia By Carolyn (Queensgrrl) and Peter` The cycled tank with the new happy inhabitants In new tanks, the first month or so can be a difficult time for both the inhabitants and the owner. A set of bacteria ("biofilter" bacteria) must grow in the tank to keep the water from getting toxic. The waste product from fish (ammonia) is first transformed by these biofilter bacteria into nitrIte and finally nitrAte. The process of building up these bacteria is called cycling. It is important to establish these bacteria because while ammonia and nitrIte are toxic to fish, nitrAte is only toxic in large amounts, and you can easily keep nitrAte low by doing weekly partial water changes. The process of cycling can be hard on fish because while the tank is being cycled, ammonia and nitrIte will build up to toxic levels. Cycling with fish can also be hard on you because you'll need to do a lot of partial water changes to keep the water from getting too toxic. Instead of putting yourself and your fish through cycling, you can instead add household ammonia and artificially cycle without fish. This is called Fishless Cycling. This process is in our opinion better because it does not subject the fish to the build up of ammonia and nitrIte. The following is an account of our successful attempt to “humanely” cycle a 10-gallon tank by adding household ammonia. We are not very experienced fishkeepers, but are learning all the time, and we thought this would be an interesting experiment. The main sources of information used were Koga’s article and Cow’s article, plus advice picked up here and there from other sources (such as the ever helpful GAB folks!). The tank we cycled is a 10 gallon-tank with an Aquaclear 20 HOB (hang-on-the back) filter, and a 7” bubble wand for aeration. Substrate is a thin layer of pebbles. Decorations include a few silk and plastic plants and a swim-thru rock. Our tap water has a pH of 6.6 with a low KH (buffering capacity). Because we keep goldfish, who like a higher pH, we brought it up to 7.5 by adding baking soda (which works as a buffer). To help buffer, we also have about ½ cup of crushed coral in a mesh bag under the filter intake. We used NovAqua+ to condition the water. After the first day or two we learned that the tank temperature needed to be higher for the bacteria to develop, so we added a 50W heater and brought the tank up to 80/82F degrees and kept it there throughout the fishless cycle. All tests used (ammonia, nitrIte, nitrAte, low pH) were AP drop tests except for the high pH test, which was Red Sea brand drop test. We did not seed the tank because we did not have an available cycled tank. "Seeding" means to bring over some already established biofilter bacteria. This can be done by, for instance, squeezing established filter media over the new filter or using some gravel from an established tank. Seeding would have helped the process go faster. For the first seven days we added a powdered bacteria product called “Biozyme” which is supposed to contain a dried form of the bacteria we were trying to cultivate in the tank. Theoretically it should "boost" the process. We are not sure if it worked; it certainly did not seem to have any effect during the first couple of weeks. When shopping for “clear ammonia” we found a cheap supermarket brand. The ingredients were listed as “Deionized Water, Ammonia,” with no soap or coloring added. The first surprise was how weak our ammonia was -- no matter how potent it smelled! Instructions were to add “a few drops” of ammonia to quickly bring the tank to a high ppm. We started out with 5 drops. Then another 5. And another. And so on, until after about 35 drops the tank was finally testing at ~1ppm. We kept adding drops of ammonia until the tank got up to ~2ppm, the level we decided to try for this experiment (most people do between 2-5ppm). Some careful measuring showed us that ¼ teaspoon was about 35 drops or close to 1ppm, ½ teaspoon 70 drops or close to 2ppm. So we decided to use those measures instead of tediously counting drops when adding ammonia to the tank. Just remember that every brand will have a different ammonia concentration, so this formula will most likely not be the right one for you. It can only be determined by adding drops, keeping count, and testing until you reach the desired ppm in your tank, with your water. It is probably a good idea to experiment by adding drops to one gallon of water to find out how much you need to raise the ammonia to the required level. Then you can just multiply that by the number of gallons your tank holds. Our goal was to keep the tank at approximately 2ppm ammonia throughout. We did that by testing every day and only adding ammonia when the level fell below 2ppm (adding enough to bring it back up to approximately 2ppm). The daily water test readings are here. Note, ammonia might raise the pH a bit, and ours stayed pretty much at 8 during the first stage of the process, without extra buffering. It took about seven days for the first sign of nitrItes--A very low level, but enough to show up on the test at about .10ppm. This was a very exciting moment -- it was actually working! Okay….now that we have nitrItes, here’s where we tell you the truth. This is a pretty tedious process -- lots of testing and waiting. You have to be patient. After nitrIte began to show up, it took around 37 days for nitrIte to come down to 0ppm. This is especially trying, if like us, you don’t have any other tanks up and running at the moment to keep you distracted. Think of it as a science project -- a long, but ultimately rewarding one that your fish will thank you for! (One bonus result of this project is we finally decided to get that betta we’ve been thinking about, so we at least had one fishy friend to keep us company while waiting….he’s done a great job!) On day 16 we added a couple of plants to see if that might help the process along a little. A large bunch of anacharis and a small java fern (with a nice root ball containing some dirt) were soaked in a bucket of dechlorinated water for a couple of days, and then were placed in the tank. We did not use anything to sterilize the plants, as we wanted to take advantage of any biofilter bacteria that may have been present on the plants. This is also when we added a 15W “grow light” to the tank and kept it on 8-10 hours per day. The nitrItes stayed at a very low level even after adding the plants. Most days it tested at about .10ppm, some days less. We continued keeping the tank at ~2ppm ammonia, and waited patiently. Finally, on day 23, we got a solid .25ppm nitrIte reading, and within three days it had spiked off the charts to 5+ppm! This is also when we saw our first nitrAtes, at about 10-15ppm. The next stage got a little stuck. NitrItes leveled out around 3ppm, and nitrAtes acted a little crazy, some days going over 40ppm, other days back down to 5ppm. Around day 26 or so, the algae and plants went a bit overboard, so we cleaned most of the algae out, trimmed back the bigger plant, and turned off the grow light. The tank is in a bright sunny room, and the plants did fine without it. Finally, as desperation started to creep in, on day 44 our nitrItes suddenly went down to zero. We were cycled! The nitrAtes then went through the roof at 160+. Nothing that a large water change can’t fix. But uh-oh. After a 20% water change, then another 20% change, and then a 60% change, nitrAtes were still extremely high, but a final 80% water change did the trick. So, plan on at least two massive water changes before you’re really ready, just to be on the safe side. With great pleasure, on day 48 we introduced two baby goldies into the tank (1” each). After three days of them being in the tank, all water tests were coming out just fine. It really worked! Lessons learned from this experience are: Be patient, it will happen. We didn’t need to test every single day. Every other day would probably be fine. Once you know the ammonia eaters are up to speed, you’ll know how much to dose the tank every night to keep them fed. Next time go for a higher ppm of ammonia in hope that the process goes a bit faster. Do try to find some reliable (i.e. clean, no pathogens) source for gravel or filter material to seed your tank and speed up the process. If you’re doing this as a team effort remember that, while bickering about bacteria feels very silly, ultimately you will be back to bickering about fish again… Finally, and most important, it is totally worth being patient for a few weeks so that your new fish don’t have to suffer the rigors of cycling the tank themselves. Good luck, and happy cycling! `Copyright © 2006 theGab. All rights reserved.`

Goldfish and Aquarium Board Articles

Our Experience of Fishless Cycling with Household Ammonia
        
By Carolyn (Queensgrrl) and Peter

The cycled tank with the new happy inhabitants

In new tanks, the first month or so can be a difficult time for both the inhabitants and the owner. A set of bacteria ("biofilter" bacteria) must grow in the tank to keep the water from getting toxic. The waste product from fish (ammonia) is first transformed by these biofilter bacteria into nitrIte and finally nitrAte. The process of building up these bacteria is called cycling. It is important to establish these bacteria because while ammonia and nitrIte are toxic to fish, nitrAte is only toxic in large amounts, and you can easily keep nitrAte low by doing weekly partial water changes. The process of cycling can be hard on fish because while the tank is being cycled, ammonia and nitrIte will build up to toxic levels. Cycling with fish can also be hard on you because you'll need to do a lot of partial water changes to keep the water from getting too toxic. Instead of putting yourself and your fish through cycling, you can instead add household ammonia and artificially cycle without fish. This is called Fishless Cycling. This process is in our opinion better because it does not subject the fish to the build up of ammonia and nitrIte.

The following is an account of our successful attempt to “humanely” cycle a 10-gallon tank by adding household ammonia. We are not very experienced fishkeepers, but are learning all the time, and we thought this would be an interesting experiment. The main sources of information used were Koga’s article and Cow’s article, plus advice picked up here and there from other sources (such as the ever helpful GAB folks!).

The tank we cycled is a 10 gallon-tank with an Aquaclear 20 HOB (hang-on-the back) filter, and a 7” bubble wand for aeration. Substrate is a thin layer of pebbles. Decorations include a few silk and plastic plants and a swim-thru rock. Our tap water has a pH of 6.6 with a low KH (buffering capacity). Because we keep goldfish, who like a higher pH, we brought it up to 7.5 by adding baking soda (which works as a buffer). To help buffer, we also have about ½ cup of crushed coral in a mesh bag under the filter intake. We used NovAqua+ to condition the water. After the first day or two we learned that the tank temperature needed to be higher for the bacteria to develop, so we added a 50W heater and brought the tank up to 80/82F degrees and kept it there throughout the fishless cycle. All tests used (ammonia, nitrIte, nitrAte, low pH) were AP drop tests except for the high pH test, which was Red Sea brand drop test.

We did not seed the tank because we did not have an available cycled tank. "Seeding" means to bring over some already established biofilter bacteria. This can be done by, for instance, squeezing established filter media over the new filter or using some gravel from an established tank. Seeding would have helped the process go faster. For the first seven days we added a powdered bacteria product called “Biozyme” which is supposed to contain a dried form of the bacteria we were trying to cultivate in the tank. Theoretically it should "boost" the process. We are not sure if it worked; it certainly did not seem to have any effect during the first couple of weeks.

When shopping for “clear ammonia” we found a cheap supermarket brand. The ingredients were listed as “Deionized Water, Ammonia,” with no soap or coloring added.

The first surprise was how weak our ammonia was -- no matter how potent it smelled! Instructions were to add “a few drops” of ammonia to quickly bring the tank to a high ppm. We started out with 5 drops. Then another 5. And another. And so on, until after about 35 drops the tank was finally testing at ~1ppm. We kept adding drops of ammonia until the tank got up to ~2ppm, the level we decided to try for this experiment (most people do between 2-5ppm). Some careful measuring showed us that ¼ teaspoon was about 35 drops or close to 1ppm, ½ teaspoon 70 drops or close to 2ppm. So we decided to use those measures instead of tediously counting drops when adding ammonia to the tank. Just remember that every brand will have a different ammonia concentration, so this formula will most likely *not* be the right one for you. It can only be determined by adding drops, keeping count, and testing until you reach the desired ppm in your tank, with your water. It is probably a good idea to experiment by adding drops to one gallon of water to find out how much you need to raise the ammonia to the required level. Then you can just multiply that by the number of gallons your tank holds.

Our goal was to keep the tank at approximately 2ppm ammonia throughout. We did that by testing every day and only adding ammonia when the level fell below 2ppm (adding enough to bring it back up to approximately 2ppm). The daily water test readings are here. Note, ammonia might raise the pH a bit, and ours stayed pretty much at 8 during the first stage of the process, without extra buffering.

It took about seven days for the first sign of nitrItes--A very low level, but enough to show up on the test at about .10ppm. This was a very exciting moment -- it was actually working!

Okay….now that we have nitrItes, here’s where we tell you the truth. This is a pretty tedious process -- lots of testing and waiting. You have to be patient. After nitrIte began to show up, it took around 37 days for nitrIte to come down to 0ppm. This is especially trying, if like us, you don’t have any other tanks up and running at the moment to keep you distracted. Think of it as a science project -- a long, but ultimately rewarding one that your fish will thank you for! (One bonus result of this project is we finally decided to get that betta we’ve been thinking about, so we at least had one fishy friend to keep us company while waiting….he’s done a great job!)

On day 16 we added a couple of plants to see if that might help the process along a little. A large bunch of anacharis and a small java fern (with a nice root ball containing some dirt) were soaked in a bucket of dechlorinated water for a couple of days, and then were placed in the tank. We did not use anything to sterilize the plants, as we wanted to take advantage of any biofilter bacteria that may have been present on the plants. This is also when we added a 15W “grow light” to the tank and kept it on 8-10 hours per day.

The nitrItes stayed at a very low level even after adding the plants. Most days it tested at about .10ppm, some days less. We continued keeping the tank at ~2ppm ammonia, and waited patiently. Finally, on day 23, we got a solid .25ppm nitrIte reading, and within three days it had spiked off the charts to 5+ppm! This is also when we saw our first nitrAtes, at about 10-15ppm.

The next stage got a little stuck. NitrItes leveled out around 3ppm, and nitrAtes acted a little crazy, some days going over 40ppm, other days back down to 5ppm. Around day 26 or so, the algae and plants went a bit overboard, so we cleaned most of the algae out, trimmed back the bigger plant, and turned off the grow light. The tank is in a bright sunny room, and the plants did fine without it.

Finally, as desperation started to creep in, on day 44 our nitrItes suddenly went down to zero. We were cycled! The nitrAtes then went through the roof at 160+. Nothing that a large water change can’t fix. But uh-oh. After a 20% water change, then another 20% change, and then a 60% change, nitrAtes were still extremely high, but a final 80% water change did the trick. So, plan on at least two massive water changes before you’re really ready, just to be on the safe side. With great pleasure, on day 48 we introduced two baby goldies into the tank (1” each). After three days of them being in the tank, all water tests were coming out just fine. It really worked!

Lessons learned from this experience are:

Be patient, it will happen.
We didn’t need to test every single day. Every other day would probably be fine. Once you know the ammonia eaters are up to speed, you’ll know how much to dose the tank every night to keep them fed.
Next time go for a higher ppm of ammonia in hope that the process goes a bit faster.
Do try to find some reliable (i.e. clean, no pathogens) source for gravel or filter material to seed your tank and speed up the process.
If you’re doing this as a team effort remember that, while bickering about bacteria feels very silly, ultimately you will be back to bickering about fish again…
Finally, and most important, it is totally worth being patient for a few weeks so that your new fish don’t have to suffer the rigors of cycling the tank themselves.

Good luck, and happy cycling!