I have just completed my first fishless cycle using this method. I have a 26 litre tank containing 1 male betta and 1 bee nerite snail. It had an internal filter which the betta used to sleep on, but it was forever falling off the glass - was that the betta's fault? I have replaced it with a sponge filter driven by an air pump. Because the two filters are totally incompatible I had to cycle the sponge filter in the quarantine tank before I could use it.
Tank size - 24 litres
Filter - Aqua One filter air 30; pump - JBL pro silent a50
Water temp 29oC
I have low KH so I added one level 5ml spoonful of bicarbonate of soda to increase the KH of the water.
My bottle of ammonia is very old and a lot has evaporated; the ammonia % is now a lot less than when I bought it. I will not give the volume of ammonia used, just the ppm.
Day 1
Added enough ammonia to give a reading between 2.0 and 4.0ppm
Tested every third day, readings ammonia between 2 and 4, nitrite zero
Day 28
Ammonia 0.5, nitrite over 5
Added ammonia to give a reading between 2 and 4
Tested every second day
Day 30
Ammonia zero, nitrite over 5
Day 32
Ammonia zero, nitrite over 5
Second zero ammonia so added 1ppm ammonia
Day 34
Ammonia zero, nitrite over 5
Day 36
Ammonia zero, nitrite over 5
Second zero ammonia so added 1ppm ammonia
Day 38
Ammonia zero, nitrite over 5
Day 40
Ammonia zero, nitrite over 5
Second zero ammonia so added 1ppm ammonia
Day 42
Ammonia zero, nitrite zero. Nitrite checked twice to make sure.
Added ammonia to between 2 and 4ppm
Day 43
Ammonia 0.25, nitrite 1.0
Day 44
Ammonia zero, nitrite zero
Added 3ppm ammonia
Electricity off all afternoon, after adding the ammonia
Day 45
Ammonia zero, nitrite 2.0
Day 46
Ammonia zero, nitrite zero
Added ammonia to between 2 and 4
Day 47
Ammonia zero, nitrite between 0.5 and 1.0
Added ammonia to between 2 and 4
Day 48
Ammonia zero, nitrite zero.
Moved sponge filter into betta's tank.
Did the power cut on day 44 affect the nitrite eaters? I was expecting the nitrite on day 45 to be a lot lower.