I've been doing the fishless cycling for my first betta fish and shrimp tank (30L Aquael) and am not sure if I'm doing something wrong. During the initial setup I added the water conditioner and 30ml of JBL Dinitrol. Since then I've been adding a pinch of fish food and 3ml of the Dinitrol daily.
Testing on Day 10:
My ammonia is at 0mg/lit (even though it looks like there's still a lot of unbroken plant and fish food matter). I also did a water test with the JBL EasyTest 6 in 1 test strips. The pH is at 6.4 (was 7 when I started), KH around 3°d, NO2 over 10mg/l and NO3 at 250mg/l. These readings I guess are far outside the expected range at this stage. The temperature has been maintained at 26°C with a heater.
There's lots of algae growth everywhere, including plant roots and some white fuzz around. Am I doing something wrong? Would you suggest I continue adding more fishfood, or do a partial water change to bring the levels back under control.
I also noticed two baby snails around. Guess they hitchhiked along with the plants.
https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1mw4ihv
Posted by Natural_Error_2122
1 Comment
When im doing a fishless cycle with fish food, rather than doing pinches I just drop a considerable amount of food and let it sit. No testing or anything, just occasionally adding even more food. By the time the cycle is finished, everything is gone and cleared up.
There’s really not much that can go or be done incorrectly in cycling. (Excluding people who think cycling is just letting the water sit for a few days with the filter running lol)