shakaho said:
As long as you add fish gradually, there is no reason to see measurable amounts of ammonia or nitrite during the process, and you get to enjoy your fish.
Measurable ammounts of ammonia or nitrite will be shown once the bio-filter capacity is over come. Adding fish gradually does not circumvent this fact. The fact is the bio-filtration capabilities of a pond's ecosystem is what determines how many fish that can first be introduced to a pond and determines the maximum capacity of what can thrive in a pond. Plants, algae, man-made bio-filters, and other stuff all add to a pond's bio-filtration capabilities.
I will concede that the "fishless" cycle approach is probably not the best approach for begginers, that view this hobby with a higher learning curve. Actually, I would go as far as to suggest that, if there is any hesitation or confusion at all about implementing the "fishless" cycle, then I would not recommend using it to establish your bio-filter.
shakaho said:
It is safe, if you continue to test after you put fish in. For whatever reason, in real life, as opposed to "in principle", cycle bumps are very common after adding fish. Usually you get nitrite, and those NOBs take a while to grow.
Water tests should always continue after fish are put in a pond regardless of the method used to start the pond's bio-filtration.
The "fishless" cycle is a very well understood approach. It works both in principle and in practice.
"Cycle bumps" occur whenever the bacteria colonies are inadequate or when weather or other contaminants sterilize the existing colonies. So, with the fishless cycling approach, a big enough colony was probably not allowed to grow to be sufficient for the fish stock density. I suppose this is the problem, that is all of the guessing, folk have with the fishless cycle approach.
shakaho said:
Likewise, it takes a long time -- at least in aquariums. I think that is because the nitrifiers can be inhibited by excess ammonia. I have noticed that many of the newer instructions for fishless cycling include lowering the ammonia concentration as soon as nitrites appear, which might help, but on aquarium forums I still see complaints about fishless cycling still incomplete into the third, fourth and even the fifth month.
First of all, if the cycle is still incomplete into the 3 through 5 month, then they were following bad instruction. I bet ya those aquarists that had issues with it did not dose the ammonia appropriately and did not receive nor followed good instruction.
The best instruction reference that I use is an article written by Roddy Conrad for Microbe-Lift. The article is from the 2009 spring/summer microbe-lift magazine. The PDF attached below is this column written by Mr. Conrad.
There can be too much or too little ammonia dosed. If you put too much, then you risk at harming and retarding the nitrite oxidizing bacteria. If you put too little, then you risk of growing a bacterial colony that is too small for a big fish stock density.
shakaho said:
Unless you already have stock in a holding tank and want to dump them into the pond all at once, fishless cycling of a pond makes no sense to me. All of the genera, species, and strains of ammonifying bacteria, AOBs (ammonia oxidizing bacteria), AOAs (ammonia oxidizing archaea), and NOBs (nitrite oxidizing bacteria) that will do well in your pond are coming into the water with the soil that always gets in there.
The problem when talking microbiology is that there is tremendous research done in the terresterial, soil based, environments and very little research in the freshwater aquatic arena. As far as I am aware, archaea are mostly understood in terrestrial environments and their role is still not well understood in freshwater.
shakaho said:
So if you put a couple of small fish in a new pond, they produce a small amount of exactly the same waste as more and/or larger fish will produce, and this will feed exactly the microbes that are most efficient at using that waste in your pond conditions.
I suppose the hesitation comes from the use of ammonium hydroxide to grow the pond's bio-filtration, but ammonium hydroxide comes from exactly the same chemical fish release into the water. Fish expel ammonia (NH3) from their gills and through the skin. This type of ammonia is toxic to fish. When this ammonia dissolves into water, then a percentage of it, according to water temperature and pH, instantly changes into ammonium (NH4+). Ammonium is
not toxic to fish. For ammonium to be created, it must strip a hydrogen cation from water and this creates a hydroxide, which is an anion (OH-). Put it together and the solution created is ammonium hydroxide. An ionic law of chemistry is for ammonia and ammonium to maintain an equilibrium. So, when ammonium hydroxide is put into the water, a portion of this ammonium instanty changes back into ammonia, according to the water temperature and pH. Higher pH and warmer water will have higher levels of ammonia. If the pH gets too high or water too warm, then this will deter the growth of the bacteria colony.
