cycling question

[Theplatymaster]

Im aware cycling in itself is a complex topic. Im working on it for my 2.5gallon shrimp tank. The aproaches i decided to take, were pretty much all of them. I tried using some stability, to no avail. I tested Nitrite in my water. Ive added fish food as an ammonia source, and easy green for the plants, as im trying a plant cycling. The plants in this tank are Anubias, moss, hornwort, and duckweed. The video i was reccomended suggests waiting till you see new growth on the plants, ive been seeing growth on the hornwort, and the duckweed. The other method i used was used filter media. I floated a sponge from my main tank HOB, added rockwool i got with a plant from the LFS, and swapped out the sponge filter with an established one. Now my testing indicates no Nitrite or Ammonia, just Nitrate which my plants are consuming. Does this mean my tank is cycled?

[Ninjoma]

On 1/31/2023 at 3:34 PM, Theplatymaster said:

Im aware cycling in itself is a complex topic. Im working on it for my 2.5gallon shrimp tank. The aproaches i decided to take, were pretty much all of them. I tried using some stability, to no avail. I tested Nitrite in my water. Ive added fish food as an ammonia source, and easy green for the plants, as im trying a plant cycling. The plants in this tank are Anubias, moss, hornwort, and duckweed. The video i was reccomended suggests waiting till you see new growth on the plants, ive been seeing growth on the hornwort, and the duckweed. The other method i used was used filter media. I floated a sponge from my main tank HOB, added rockwool i got with a plant from the LFS, and swapped out the sponge filter with an established one. Now my testing indicates no Nitrite or Ammonia, just Nitrate which my plants are consuming. Does this mean my tank is cycled?

If you no longer see Amonia or Nitrite in your water and do see Nitrates, it sounds like you do have some nitrifying bacteria in your tank that is keeping up with your current bioload (the Fish food you added). There's no guarantee that you'll have enough bacteria to keep up with the shrimp and shrimp food you plan to add though, so just make sure to keep testing your water everyday once you add the shrimp until you are sure things are stabilized. 

[Pepere]

Agreed, cycling is not once and done,  as bioload increases it takes time for beneficial bacteria to reproduce more to meet the new levels of ammonia being created.

[nabokovfan87]

On 1/31/2023 at 3:34 PM, Theplatymaster said:

I tried using some stability, to no avail. I tested Nitrite in my water. Ive added fish food as an ammonia source, and easy green for the plants, as im trying a plant cycling.

There's a lot going on here.

What do you mean that stability didn't work? Was it expired, failed, or did it simply not do what you expected?

I also generally only use food to cycle tanks. Mostly that and time is what it takes. I've never heard of using plants to cycle a tank, but I do understand when people say that "cycling a planted tank is different than a fish only tank". Most of that is generally just down to time itself.

One thing to keep in mind is that shrimp tanks can often have issues with cycle because it's such a low bioload that can quickly, exponentially rise.  Something like a few otos or small fish is what I would recommend to have enough bioad to properly season and cycle the tank. Plecos are often used. So are snails. I wouldn't recommend or use snails, but I do know that a lot of people do. I'm just not on team snail!

[Theplatymaster]

On 1/31/2023 at 9:15 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

What do you mean that stability didn't work? Was it expired, failed, or did it simply not do what you expected?

i followed the instructions on the bottle and still had Nitrite, so it clearly didnt add any Benefical Bacteria

[Pepere]

It takes beneficial bacteria to convert ammonia to nitrite.

My experience is that bacteria establishes itself fairly quickly. The bacteria that converts nitrite to nitrate establishes itself much slower.
 

I have had a tank able to fully metabolize a 2 ppm ammonia challenge to nitrite in a little over a week.  It took about 6 weeks to get the beneficial bacteria to fully metabolize 2ppm to nitrate in 24 hours, leaving 0 ammonia 0 nitrite.

 

I would not say the bacteria in a bottle products are devoid of bacteria in spore form. I would contend they do not speed the cycle along fast enough to be worth the price.

 

Filter squeezings definitely speeds things along, but it is not “instant cycling”. 10 days maybe…

 

for instant cycling you need to use a cycled filter.  And while that is good for moderate amounts of bioload, I would not say that tank is “fully cycled”. With time all the other surfaces in the tank will get biofilm on it giving a more robust and resilient colony of beneficial bacteria.

Now, if only the manufacturers could invent patience in a bottle….

Edited February 1 by Pepere

[nabokovfan87]

On 2/1/2023 at 3:59 AM, Theplatymaster said:

i followed the instructions on the bottle and still had Nitrite, so it clearly didnt add any Benefical Bacteria

Nitrite happens really quickly compared to nitrates. I've used that product probably 10x, or similar ones other times, and it's been beneficial in my experience. Some filters just fight bacteria and some surfaces aren't made for bacteria to colonize easily. Even some sponge, used in aquarium filters, is so smooth and plastic feeling that I don't like to use it.

I understand the rush to want instant results. Depending on how the filter is setup, the amount of bioload on the tank, that really is where you determine if the tank cycles easily or not, apart from whatever is added to buffer the cycle.

Say you cycle the tank with a small pinch and then add fish that have 5x the bioload, you'd basically crash the cycle while the tank appears to try to catch up.