Something went majorly wrong during fishless cycling :(

cbirk

Just wanted to clarify, that I didn't mean that it wouldn't cycle, just that it wouldn't truly finish. In my opinion until it is balanced it is not finished. Also I was refering to reducing the nitrite in the water would hinder the growth of bacteria that convert nitrite to nitrate, not that the bacteria it self would be removed with a water change :D

Sorry for any confusion!

iamntbatman

Agreed with Twistersmom.

cbirk, I've cycled a good number of tanks completely fishless. It can absolutely be done and is pretty simple. It can take a while (but so can cycling with fish) but it's a heck of a lot easier than doing water changes to keep your cycling fish alive and doesn't result in dead or sick fish. Fishless is the way to go.

I don't even mess around with stuff like ammonia dosing. I just stick some frozen shrimp in a filter media bag and throw it in the tank and let it rot. Constant ammonia supply = easy cycling.

For what it's worth, I don't think you've got quite enough plants to eat up all of the ammonia you're dosing (hence the huge nitrite levels), nor do you have enough to suck up your nitrates if you're dosing ammonia regularly. You're going to need to do a big water change once ammonia and nitrite have been pegged at zero for a while in order to bring your nitrates down before adding fish.

cbirk

iamntbatman,

And when you put in your fish, you don't have a small spike in anything as your biofilter adjusts to the load of live fish versus that one rotting source of ammonia?

Twistersmom

When I did my fishless cycle on my brackish tank, (did not go the frozen shrimp route) used pure ammonia, all the fish I wanted where mail order. In order to not pay shipping twice, I decided to add all 10 fish at one time into a 55 gal tank.
Probable a good thing. I started bumping the ammonia up to 3 ppm twice a day. Enough bacteria was built up, so once the fish where added I never once got a reading for ammonia or nitrites.

iamntbatman

Nope. I tend to stock all of my tanks pretty slowly, but I've never seen a spike in either ammonia or nitrite after adding fish.

Newbie2612010

my tank cycled completly on sunday. did 7ppm dose of ammonia 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite in 12 hours. tried again on monday and yesterday. just did a 80% water change and bought5 juveline tiger barbs... they seem soo happy though i think i got a pair from the tank those two just keep together swimming around each other in one side of the tank occassionaly joining the school. then goin back to thier quiet corner. i'm just soo happy now . Can there really be forming a pair this young??

Been four hours no signs of stress even fed them a lil bit as i was not expecting them to eat anything and it was fun watching them feed.

Thanks a lot for all your advice u guys rock

iamntbatman

Be careful with the barbs. They don't form pairs: they live as a school, almost like a pack of wolves. Usually you get one dominant male in the group and the rest of the males will often try to fight him for dominance of the group. They tend to breed as a group, with the dominant male getting breeding rights to the females in the school. In a 125g tank, you have plenty of room for a large group of them which should do a lot when it comes to cutting down on aggression issues. At least a dozen would be good, although some say that schools of 18+ are needed to really curb aggression.

1077

+one. Would also note ,that there isn't much that swims that is quicker at snatching food from the surface with possible exception of danios. Would make it difficult for some slower mid dwellig fish to compete at feeding time.