Sue's Fishless Cycle

It's understandable to be picky when you've cycled a tank for one fishy - they've got to be the best! They are gorgeous fish though, I was surprised that Maidenhead had them in the last time I visited - though they were swimming in a tank with other fish. In the other LFS they were all in their own relatively small tanks waiting to be sold. Oh and they even had them in stock at Pets at Home! I guess there must have been a sudden burst of Bettas in the Bristol area or something! Have you got any particular betta you're after Sue? All signs are looking good so far, plenty of time for fish shopping!

Day 33  12 April

Nitrite almost zero.
Ammonia added.

Nearly there. I had a nitrite of 5+ on Monday, and did a 100% water change. It is now Friday, I haven't done a water change since Monday, I've been adding ammonia every morning and I have almost zero nitrite this morning - the colour of the nitrite test (API) isn't sky blue, it has a hint of purple; but it's nowhere near as purple as the 0.25 colour 

I'm expecting that. The ones I have seen recently have been quite boring. The alternative is buying by mail order, but the prices are huge and the postage alone is more than I would pay for a fish nowadays 

Day 34  14 April

Nitrite zero.

That's after adding a bit more ammonia than usual yesterday.


I had been adding 0.4ml to get a reading 20 mins later of between 0.5 and 1ppm. Yesterday I added 0.5ml, but didn''t have time to check the ppm before we went out. This morning I added 0.75ml, and after 30 mins had an ammonia of 1.0ppm. Obviously 0.4ml must have been nearer 0.5 than 1.0. So I added another 0.75ml, making a total for today of 1.5ml, and that's given me a reading of 2ppm after 20mins.

I am fully expecting to see readings above zero for both ammonia and nitrite tomorrow. Once the ammonia reading drops to zero after 24 hours, I will dose the same amount as today, redosing every time I get zero ammonia. Then it'll just be a question of waiting till both drop in 12 hours. I'm not going to start testing at 12 hours till I get double zeros at 24 hurs - not much ammonia reagents left 

Because 1 betta in a 25 litre tank is somewhat understocked, I'm cycling this filter to remove 2ppm rather than the usual 4 to 5. That's understocked in terms of how many fish the tank can hold; in terms of how many fish can I keep with a male betta in a tank that size, the answer is that it would be fully stocked.

Day 36  15 April

Ammonia zero
Nitrite between 2 and 5

100% water change
Ammonia added to give reading of 1.0


Interesting. I was not expecting this  Because the ammonia I added yesterday was 3 times more than I'd added the day before, I expected to see some ammonia this morning. It is said that these bacteria can double in 24 hours under optimum conditions (and my water is too soft for optimum), so I didn't think there was any chance of having enough to clear triple the amount of ammonia. I was wrong  . And because I was expecting the ammonia eaters to only eat part of the ammonia I added, they would only make a bit more nitrite. With only a slight increase in nitrite made, I was expecting to see only a small amount of nitrite in the water not that 2 - 5ppm, which does confirm that the ammonia eaters got rid of ALL the ammonia and made a lot of nitrite.

This morning I have removed all the water from the tank (tilted it to get the last bit) so I can keep a better eye on what the nitrite eaters are doing. And I've dosed less ammonia. Up to Friday I was adding 0.4ml ammonia. Saturday I added 0.5ml, then yesterday I added 1.5ml. Today I've added 1.0ml, and I'll keep at that dose till I get double zeros in 24 hours, then increase to 1.5ml.
I just increased the dose too fast 

Little piggies

Sue - I've just realised I've never seen any photos of your tanks! Fancy uploading some for us to have a nose at? :-D

Day 37  16 April
Nitrite 0
Ammonia not tested

Ammonia added


I added 1ml ammonia yesterday and this morning there was no nitrite. Today I added 1.2ml ammonia, a slight increase on yesterday.

I'll start testing regularly for ammonia soon, I don't want to waste the tester liquid as there isn't much left. I'd already used some of the kit checking whenever I get new fish, and you use more drops of the ammonia bottles compared to the nitrite one so they run out faster.

Day 39  18 April

Nitrite 0
1.5ml ammonia added
Ammonia reading after 30 mins - 2ppm

I tested nitrite after 13 hours yesterday, I've edited in into yesterday's post. I do my 24 hour tests and add ammonia just after my husband goes to work in the morning and I'd turned my computer off before yesterday evening's test.
As soon as I get double zeros after 12 hours, I'll just do the 12 hour tests. If they are zero after 12 hours, they'll also be zero after 24.
Of course I've got my blip coming up at the weekend. I'll add my ammonia on Sunday morning before we go then test and add ammonia on Tues afternoon when we get back, and start testing again Wed morning to see what's happened to the cycle. If everything is still OK, I'll be able to go betta hunting the following weekend.



12 hour results:
ammonia 0.25
nitrite 0.5

At least it doesn't appear to have caused any negative affects so far - looks like your cycle is going well, fingers crossed you don't have a blip like mine!

Out of interest - I've never actually tested my Kh... should I have bought a test to check this? :s