# cycling 180



## blazednosferatu (Feb 27, 2006)

Hey i have had my 180 up and running for about 2 weeks now and its still cloudy and the params are still the same ammonia-0,nitrites-0, ph-8,nitrates-10. I have 2 ac110s on it right now, one brand new and the other off of my running 75g. What should i do to get it going?


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## Uncle Jesse (Feb 18, 2007)

are there any fish in it?


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## ChilDawg (Apr 30, 2006)

Have you added ammonia?


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## coreydyck (Dec 6, 2003)

ChilDawg said:


> Have you added ammonia?


Can you actually buy a bottle of ammonia and add it?


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## ChilDawg (Apr 30, 2006)

Of course! Just make sure that it has no surfactants in it...


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## coreydyck (Dec 6, 2003)

ChilDawg said:


> Of course! Just make sure that it has no surfactants in it...


Good to to know, sure speeds up cyling a tank. Tricky part would be adding the right amount to get a sufficient colony of beneficial bacteria, but i'm msure there are instructions on the bottle.


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## ChilDawg (Apr 30, 2006)

I doubt there would be instructions on the bottle, but if you run a search for "fishless cycling", you will find all the info you need to know.


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## blazednosferatu (Feb 27, 2006)

No there arent any fish and i havnt added any ammonia, although i did put 4 silversides in there the other day to rott for a couple days to see if i can get ammonia in the water that way,


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## ChilDawg (Apr 30, 2006)

That's one way of doing it...but I think you might need more than 4 silversides in a 180.


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## blazednosferatu (Feb 27, 2006)

Ya i just dont want the water to get outa control, i really need this cycle to be as fast as possible so i can move my fish into it


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## Dr. Giggles (Oct 18, 2003)

Whatever you plan on adding to that tank you need to add the same amount of ammonia daily roughly 180 drops per day until nitrite spike and then 90 going forward till cycle is complete.


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## Aaronic (Apr 22, 2005)

How did you expect it to cycle with no ammonia source?


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## fiveo93 (Jan 19, 2004)

stock it with some cheap hardy fish and add some bio-spira!

bio spira works awesome


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## LGHT (Nov 9, 2005)

fiveo93 said:


> stock it with some cheap hardy fish and add some bio-spira!
> 
> bio spira works awesome


That's what I did for my 180 and my tank was ready for fish in 4 days. Tank has been up for almost a year and not 1 problem yet!!


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## blazednosferatu (Feb 27, 2006)

Well i think its done cycling, my params are- ammonia-0, nitrites-0, nitrates-80, ph-7.4


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## blazednosferatu (Feb 27, 2006)

Can anyone tell me if this means this is the end of my cycle?


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## Dr. Giggles (Oct 18, 2003)

Yes.


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## NegativeSpin (Aug 1, 2007)

Do you need to achieve a steady state bio-load, steady state nitrosonomas colony forming units/L, and steady steady nitrifying bacteria colony forming units/L before the tank is truely cycled? When the nitrites spike will they whack the nitrosonomas bacteria the way alcohol kills ale yeast at about 9% in brewing?


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## blazednosferatu (Feb 27, 2006)

Ok well i just did a 25 percent water change, hopefully that will take down the nitrates


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## Guest (Sep 7, 2007)

blazednosferatu said:


> Ok well i just did a 25 percent water change, hopefully that will take down the nitrates


you should do atleast a 50% water change to get rid of the nitrates.


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## blazednosferatu (Feb 27, 2006)

Thats kinda what i was thinking, since %50 water change takes your reading half way down


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## coreydyck (Dec 6, 2003)

Just make sure you keep up with regular water changes so you continue to drop that nitrate number. 25-30% twice a week.


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