Mid posted.


"Dale Henderson" wrote in message
...
"NetMax" writes:

"Dale Henderson" wrote in message
...

I am trying to perform a fishless cycle on my aquarium. Currently I'm
adding 1/2 teaspoon of ammonia nightly (enough to bring the
concentration to 2ppm) and the next day my ammonia level is zero.

This is good.

My concern is my Nitrite. About two weeks ago it spiked to 5ppm and
recently (about 5 days ago) it has fallen and held steady at
2ppm. So my question is how long should I expect the nitrite to be
this high?

Either your filter is too small, or the presence of ammonia is
inhibiting
the bacteria which consume the nitrite. I would stop adding ammonia.


My aquarium is a 20 gallon with an undergravel filter and a power
filter. Each big enough for the aquarium.

After I read this post I looked at my filters. I first noticed I was
getting no flow through the power filter. After cleaning the rocks out
of the impellar and putting it back toghether It worked perfectly.

Then looking at the undergravel filter I noticed very little air
escaping from the top of the tubes. And realized that the airstones
are clogged and need replaced. So I removed the airstones and I seem
to have good flow. (I plan to buy new airstones when I get the
chance)

Check out my post (a long time ago) on google groups by going to google
groups and searching for "Two helpful tips - spread the word" and clicking
on the second article. It details my method of renewing airstones with just
a bicycle pump and some water. It will let you use airstones for years at
the very least and you only have to do minimal maintenance. This way you
will never have to buy another airstone ever again. Airsrtones just plain
look better than plain bubbles and sometimes there are other reasons to use
Airstones (i.e. if you want less turbulence, say if you are aerating a tank
with a beta bubble nest containing baby fry for example). Good luck ad
later!

..But now I'm curious as to whether the airstones are really
necessary and what function they perform.

When I was in high school I ran old style box filters (air powered) without
airstones for 4 approximate years straight, only occasionally cleaning the
media and paying no attention to the air line tube what so ever. You do need
filtration almost certainly but you don't necessarily need aeration
(although the other filtration methods have there own aeration methods (i.e.
turbulence on the water surface from a power filter outtake for example) so
maybe you always need aeration of some kind or another). Good luck (I use
airstones and love their look for what it's worth) and later!



I also reread the fishless cycling pages and raised my temperature to
~90F. So now I can wait and see.

I am a little leary of stopping the ammonia. I'm concerned that my
ammonia-eating bacteria will starve.