Fishless Cycle - Am I On The Right Track?

[davidjp1982]

Hi I was wondering if any of the more experienced members here would care to look over the log I have kept of my fishless cycle so far and confirm if I am on the right track as a few things have had my scratching my head. The tank is a FishBox 64 Litre with Interpet PF2 filter. I removed the carbon from the filter and replaced it with a second normal sponge. I also added ceramic noodles to the top section and squeezed in a PF1 filter pad which I had had running in my 10 gallon established tank for about a week. Also every week when I do a water change on my other 10 gallon aquarium I squeeze the filter pad into the tank I am cycling to try and help it along. Temp is set at 87F. Tap water is 7.4 - 7.8PH, 0 Nitrite, 5 Nitrate. Substrate is play pit sand.

Below is my daily log - can anyone tell me if I'm doing things right and if it looks like I am on track - thanks

Tank set up 21/05/2013 - Added Dechorinated water & 20ml API Quick Start. Dosed to 2ppm Ammonia

22/5 - Ammonia - 2ppm (redosed 2ml). Nitrite - 0. Nitrate - 5.
23/5 - Ammonia - 1-2ppm. Nitrite - 0. PH 8. Added 3 pieces of driftwood.
24/5 - Ammonia - 2ppm (redosed 3ml)
25/5 - Did not test.
26/5 - Ammonia - 4ppm. Nitrite 5ppm. Nitrate - 10-20ppm.
27/5 - Ammonia - 4ppm. Nitrite 5ppm. Nitrate - 10-20ppm.
28/5 - Ammonia - 2ppm
29/5 - Ammonia - 1ppm. Nitrite 5ppm. Nitrate - 40-80ppm. Redosed 5ml Ammonia. Added 10ml API Quickstart and small piece of floating water sprite.
30/05 - Ammonia - 0.5ppm. Nitrite - off the chart. PH 6.4. Added 3 bunches floating water sprite. Redosed to 1ppm Ammonia.
31/05 - Ammonia - 0.5ppm. Nitrite - off the chart. Redosed to 2ppm Ammonia.
1/6 - Ammonia - 1ppm. Redosed 6ml.
2/6 - Ammonia - 2ppm. Nitrite - Off the chart. Topped up 8 litres evaporated water.
3/6 - Ammonia - 0.5-1ppm. nitrite - Off the chart. Nitrate - 0-5ppm

A few things that are confusing me are the sudden drop in Nitrates BEFORE and drop in Nitrites? Is this due to the addition of the floating plants? I was of the understanding that adding plants wouldn't have a large enough effect on Nitrate consumption to affect your readings?

Also concerned about the drop in PH. I actually want to have a soft acidic blackwater amazon tank here. Could the bogwood have made such a drastic and sudden change in PH ? Or has my PH crashed due to the cycle?

Any other pointers or tips at this stage would be hugely appreciated!

Many thanks

 

 

[the_lock_man]

You are going in the right direction, but I'm confused as to why you keep dosing different ammounts of ammonia. You want to be dosing to the same level each time.
 
The pH has probably dropped due to the nitrate converting to nitric acid. I also suspect that your nitrate reduction is a dodgy test, especially if you are using the API liquid tests. Do a large water change now, to try to get your nitrite back to a readable level, and add bicarb until your pH reads 8.2-8.4 then redose ammonia with 2ppm. Don't dose again until ammonia is 0ppm. When ammonia is consistently processing all 2ppm in 24 hours, then drop your dose to 1ppm. Do that every day, until the nitrite is processing in 24hrs.
 
Then up your dose to 2ppm, daily, until both are being processed in 12hours.
 
Once you get there, do another water change (ie 100%) and set the tank up as you want it, and add fish.
 
The problem you may experience is that you have a high pH. WHilst it isn't always true, a high pH, you are also likely to have a high KH, carbonate hardness. Water with a high KH is incredibly difficult alter the pH, as the hardness buffers the pH. My tapwater comes from the South Downs, a range of chalk hills in southern England. Obviously chalk, calcium carbonate, dissolves into the water, meaning I have a high KH. I have 3 pieces of bogwood in the tank, but my pH remains rooted at 7.8.
 
You would still be able to have low pH type fish, but possibly not particularly fussy species.

 

[davidjp1982]

Great thanks for the response  

 

[Essjay]

I can confirm that high pH doesn't always go with high KH. My tapwater has a pH of 7.4 (after standing 24 hours) and a KH of 3.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Stop dosing ammonia until your nitrites clearly drop under 1 ppm on an API type test kit. All you are doing is making more nitrite than the bacteria can handle. This can slow or even kill the cycle, especially when you have no idea what level it is really at.
 
The ammonia oxidizing bacteria establish sooner and faster than the nitrite oxidizers. So you reach a point where a tank is able to process ammonia into nitrite before it can handle that nitrite. The nitrite oxidizers need the same chance to build up that the ammonia ones did. In fact the nitrite ones need even more time. When one keeps adding ammonia, as you are doing, you risk overwhelming the nitrite oxidizers. In essence one is making more nitrite faster than can be handled.
 
You can get a better idea of where your nitrites are by diluting the tank water with deionized water and then testing the diluted solution. Mixing the water 50/50 and testing means you multiply the result by 2. If this is still off the scale, dilute the sample so it is 1/4 tank water and 3/4 deionized and multiply the result by 4. It is important when using this method that you have accurate measurements. A good way to minimize the potential for measurement error is by using larger quantities. Instead of trying to be precise at the ml level, you can work with a 1/4 cup of tank water mixed with 3/4 cup dilution water. The you take 5 ml of this to be tested. The potential for error will be much smaller.

 

[davidjp1982]

Thanks for all the responses here - what I actually did was a 99% water change as the PH had crashed - I found that I was converting 5ppm ammonia completeley to Nitrate in 12 hours but for whatever reason I assume I was overdosing the tank before as the readings were off the scale. I let this carry on for about 5 days to confirm and did another water change and stocked. Now have a happy tank