Almost Done Cycling?

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Slash-GNR

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So I think I'm almost done cycling? What do yall think? I've been cycling this tank for about two months now.

My current parameters:

Ph: 7.0-7.6
Ammonia: 0.50-1.0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 10 ppm

From what I've gathered, all the parameters seem to be good except for ammonia? If that's the case, do I continue my water changes, and how long will it be til the tank is fully cycled?

Thank you!
 
If you see ammonia then your cycling is not done. Are you adding ammonia still??

Question on this, I read your other post where you mention you have an axolotl in a 10 gallon tank that was not cycled. Is that the tank you are asking about here? Is the axolotl in the tank that is still not cycled? Are you.. by any chance adding ammonia to the tank with the axolotl still inside it? Reading that other post and then reading this one made me wonder if you had the axolotl tubbed in a separate container while you were adding ammonia to the 10 gallon, or if you are keeping the axolotl in the 10 gallon while adding ammonia to cycle it...
 
minorhero said:
If you see ammonia then your cycling is not done. Are you adding ammonia still??

Question on this, I read your other post where you mention you have an axolotl in a 10 gallon tank that was not cycled. Is that the tank you are asking about here? Is the axolotl in the tank that is still not cycled? Are you.. by any chance adding ammonia to the tank with the axolotl still inside it? Reading that other post and then reading this one made me wonder if you had the axolotl tubbed in a separate container while you were adding ammonia to the 10 gallon, or if you are keeping the axolotl in the 10 gallon while adding ammonia to cycle it...
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I am not adding ammonia to the 10 gallon. The 10 gallon is a quarantine tank while the main 20 gallon tank cycles. I'm not adding more pure ammonia atm to the main tank. Do I need to continue to dose it?
 
Slash-GNR said:
I am not adding ammonia to the 10 gallon. The 10 gallon is a quarantine tank while the main 20 gallon tank cycles. I'm not adding more pure ammonia atm to the main tank. Do I need to continue to dose it?
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Ahhhh good! Soo there are a few ways to cycle a tank. I prefer the ghost feeding method of adding fish food to an empty tank. It takes a few days before the fish food breaks down and creates ammonia, but I find it an easier method that works for me. Personally if it were my tank I would add some fish food and let it rot in there. (I am assuming you don't have aquasoil in the 20 gallon). Then keep tabs every few days to see when you get zero ammonia. Are you checking for ammonia with a liquid test kit or strips?
 
I've tried to rotting food and waited like a couple of weeks, and nothing happened, so I got a bottle of pure ammonia and dosed it to like 4 ppm, a little over... now it has gone down but the other parameters have remained constant and within the right range.
 
Slash-GNR said:
I've tried to rotting food and waited like a couple of weeks, and nothing happened, so I got a bottle of pure ammonia and dosed it to like 4 ppm, a little over... now it has gone down but the other parameters have remained constant and within the right range.
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It's good you are seeing less ammonia, but it needs to be zero before it's safe to add animals. Is this tested with liquid test kit or strips?
 
Oh of course! I wouldn't put an animal in the tank until ammonia is 0. Also, so sorry for not answering that question. My brain skipped over it. I use a liquid test kit. I was also wondering if the hardness of water really matters? My tap water is naturally moderately soft, and all the ways I've seen to harden the water also affects the Ph, which I don't want to do because it's perfect. Will softer water hurt my axie?
 
Slash-GNR said:
Oh of course! I wouldn't put an animal in the tank until ammonia is 0. Also, so sorry for not answering that question. My brain skipped over it. I use a liquid test kit. I was also wondering if the hardness of water really matters? My tap water is naturally moderately soft, and all the ways I've seen to harden the water also affects the Ph, which I don't want to do because it's perfect. Will softer water hurt my axie?
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Ah Good! The liquid test kits are the way to go, the strips are useful for quick checkups but not useful for exact measurements.

Soooo yeah you always need a source of ammonia to maintain your cycle. When your cycle is 'complete' and you put an animal in there it will be leftover food and poop that create ammonia. That's why food is a good option (my personal belief) because its a slow release of ammonia. Even if you didn't detect any, trust me it was there. Either way if this tank has been hanging out for a month then you should be seeing that ammonia going away soon.
 
minorhero said:
Ah Good! The liquid test kits are the way to go, the strips are useful for quick checkups but not useful for exact measurements.

Soooo yeah you always need a source of ammonia to maintain your cycle. When your cycle is 'complete' and you put an animal in there it will be leftover food and poop that create ammonia. That's why food is a good option (my personal belief) because its a slow release of ammonia. Even if you didn't detect any, trust me it was there. Either way if this tank has been hanging out for a month then you should be seeing that ammonia going away soon.
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It is going away currently. Do I need to continue to dose the water with ammonia though or no?
 
Slash-GNR said:
It is going away currently. Do I need to continue to dose the water with ammonia though or no?
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It depends on when you introduce the axolotl. If it goes down to zero then one way to test if its cycled is to dump in some of that pure ammonia you have sitting around, enough to get it to .5ppm. It should fairly quickly (within a day) go down to zero again. Now you know you have it cycled. I'd do a big water change, then introduce the axolotl and monitor to make sure you don't have any more issues.
 
minorhero said:
It depends on when you introduce the axolotl. If it goes down to zero then one way to test if its cycled is to dump in some of that pure ammonia you have sitting around, enough to get it to .5ppm. It should fairly quickly (within a day) go down to zero again. Now you know you have it cycled. I'd do a big water change, then introduce the axolotl and monitor to make sure you don't have any more issues.
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Ok, thank you so much! I never realized cycling a tank could be so confusing for the first time. Hopefully it'll cycle soon enough.
 
You are done cycling when you can add 4ppm of ammonia for 3 days in a row and it completely convert to Nitrates in each 24 hr period and then redose.

You need toi have a heavy strong beneficial bacterial bed to handle axolotl waste
 
Calgarycoppers said:
You are done cycling when you can add 4ppm of ammonia for 3 days in a row and it completely convert to Nitrates in each 24 hr period and then redose.

You need toi have a heavy strong beneficial bacterial bed to handle axolotl waste
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Oh ok! Do I start doing that now?
 
Calgarycoppers said:
If you have pure ammonia or ammonium chloride I would test ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, record results, dose ammonia to 4ppm and wait 24 hours then repeat.

My handout has a tracking sheet you can print and use it helps to really see your trends.
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Thank you so much! One more question, do you change out the filter cartridge during cycling, or do you wait like a month after you've put the axolotl in when done cycling?
 
honestly you don't want to be using a filter with replaceable cartridges. that cartridge is literally your whole cycle. You want sponge and bio media that you only rinse in old tank water every other month if that. Never during cycling.

Slash-GNR said:
Thank you so much! One more question, do you change out the filter cartridge during cycling, or do you wait like a month after you've put the axolotl in when done cycling?
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Calgarycoppers said:
honestly you don't want to be using a filter with replaceable cartridges. that cartridge is literally your whole cycle. You want sponge and bio media that you only rinse in old tank water every other month if that. Never during cycling.
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Oh geez. I wish I had read that somewhere before buying it. After reading so many sites and even on here, I've not been aware of that unfortunately. Is it possible to put a new cartridge in with the old one, and let that one grow bacteria, and then take the older one out? Or would that equally crash the cycle? Places around here don't sell sponge filters, but I'll try to get one as soon as I can. My parents aren't big fans of how much effort and money goes into keeping an axolotl, so that's why I can't get the best filter as quickly as I want to.
 
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