84l (22gal) Fishless Cycle With A Semi-mature Filter.

[Lazerus]

Or should add Ammonia again? To bump it back up to 5ppm?

 

[waterdrop]

Drives people crazy but you really don't have to bump it back up until it completely drops to zero, and it doesn't matter if it then dropped to zero, say, in the morning and you didn't see it until night. It can sit at zero like that with no problem to the cycle, in fact its better if you don't bump it up too quickly.

Yes, I still feel that from the time of the nitrite spike onward, it doesn't hurt to do the occasional 90% gravel-clean-water-change with ammonia (& baking soda if needed) recharge to get your nitrite and nitrate levels down and to keep your calcium and KH refreshed for the later parts of cycling. Its great practice for beginners to do the gravel clean process and refine the details of what will be an important habit before they have to worry about fish getting in the way.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Lazerus]

Grand so I'll leave it alone until I see it drop to zero.

I do intend to do some gravel cleaning in the next few days, as there was some silt thrown up and its covering my nice black gravel....and my plants, and my filter...its like a fine snow!

I haven't checked my Nitrates at all yet, perhaps I'll do that tomorrow morning....

Ok...thanks!

 

[waterdrop]

I wondered if that "silt" could have been spit out from your DIY CO2 device. Isn't it a white froth in there?

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Lazerus]

Hi again,

No definitely no froth....just like a light dusting.

It only happened both times after I did a water change....on both occasions I let the water in too fast and it churned up some of the plant substrate....and the dust settles over everything.

It clears up ok and most of it is all gone again now...only there is still a little bit of dust on the gravel.

I used the CO² today and there wasn't any further dust...but I will keep an eye on that just in case!

 

[waterdrop]

No, I meant -inside- the CO2 bottle, aren't you using fermentation to make the CO2? Sometimes little spudders of the yeast mixture get out through the CO2 line. But it sounds like you think the silt is something that's in your substrate and just dusts over after the gravel has been disturbed, right? So I guess no problem and it really won't be a problem once you settle into regular maintenance after the fishless cycle I'd think.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Lazerus]

Hi Waterdrop...Oh I know what you mean...., no, I'm using a TetraPlant CO² Optimat kit....its a canister with tubing on it, connected to an under water cylinder that when the CO² is injected into it, it administers a measured dose and diffuses the CO² slowly into the water through a mesh over the course of a good few hours.

Edited to say: My results this morning have unchanged....pH still holding steady at 7.6-7.8, Ammonia 2ppm, Nitrate a shade of purple above 0ppm.

 

[waterdrop]

Ah, I think I see... It looks like that CO2 kit is something sold by Tetra but only in Europe, can't find it in the american product list. It appears it must be the type that uses little cannisters of compressed CO2, so you must have to keep buying them to supply the CO2.

I was thinking it was one of those that are the commercial versions of the DIY CO2 setups where you put yeast and sugar (for instance in a 2-liter used soda bottle) and the mixture ferments and gives off CO2. I've seen some commercial kits that basically provide the soda bottle and hardware for you so you don't have to cobble those together.

So there's no way your CO2 could be the source of the white silt, it must be something from the substrate and I guess you've figured that out!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Lazerus]

This is the kit I have....and Yes, I do have to replace the canister every 2 months or so...a handy enough little system, if it works!

Time will tell.

 

[Lazerus]

This morning & with CO² running:
PH: 7.6-7.8
Ammonia:2ppm
Nitrate:0ppm
Nitrite: 5ppm

I'm going to cut off two pieces from each of my mature filters and stick it in with this filter now...see if it speed ups the Ammonia eating bacteria.....

 

[waterdrop]

Will be interested to hear how the two-month bottles do, whether they live up to the two months or whether they get bothersome needing replacement - have not seen that your particular product mentioned before but it looks nice.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Lazerus]

Hi all,

Okay, I need to check in with my results as I haven't posted for a few days and I’m not sure about myself and if I need to be doing anything?

I last tested the water on Saturday evening as I ran out of Ammonia tester which I just bought this morning.

Then my Ammonia was 0ppm
Nitrite was very hard to read…it could be 2ppm as it was pink…but then again it was a deep pink but yet it wasn’t the 5ppm colour either so its hard to gauge?
My Nitrate was 20ppm

On Saturday evening I had topped up the tank to 5ppm of Ammonia again along with a half teaspoon of bicarb as my pH had dropped to 7.2.


So…today:
Ammonia: 0ppm (Nice & yellow!)
Nitrite: Its hard to tell really?…might be 2ppm but it’s quite a deep pink, yet not the colour of 5ppm though.
Nitrate: 40pm (Rich Red!)
pH.7.2

So again I’ve added more Ammonia and some bicarb.

Now…at this point do I need to do a water change to level things out a bit?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

no i think you're fine doing what you're doing. if the pH was crashing then yes maybe but 7.2 is absolutely fine so if it's stable there with a little bit of bicarb then that's fine.

don't fret over not being able to judge the exact reading of nitrite and nitrate, so long as you can tell when nitrite hits 0 then that's really all you need to know for now.

 

[Lazerus]

Ok so....Grand!

Well, I suppose its just I'm worried than then I'm away from Wednesday onwards until Monday, that my Nitrates will go too high and stall the process?

So I thought a water change might dilute things a bit?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

ah yes, wasn't looking at the context of a trip away looming, if you want to do it as a preventative measure then that's fine.

there's no harm in doing it but you don't need to at this moment looking purely at your stats, but bearing in mind you're going away it could be advantageous to reduce nitrates before you go.