Fishless Cycle Log

[Harlequins]

10pm

ammonia 0.25
nitrite 0.50

It's definately slowed down and nitrites have gone up instead of down!!

 

[Harlequins]

9.30am

ammonia 0
nitrite 0.25

 

[Harlequins]

9.30am

ammonia 0.25
nitrite 1.0

I'm losing the will....since the 100% w/c,the ammonia/nitrite not clearing on 12 hr mark

 

[OldMan47]

What is the pH doing? If it has dropped for some reason, that could be why it looks like it is stalling.

 

[Harlequins]

9.30pm

ammonia 0
nitrite 0.25

9.30am
ammonia 0.25
nitrite 1.0
ph 7.8/8.0 -unsure colour between the 2

What is the pH doing? If it has dropped for some reason, that could be why it looks like it is stalling.

The ph seems to be 7.8-8.0,the browny colour between the 2,

 

[OldMan47]

That pH should be plenty to keep a cycle going well.
OK, I just read through the whole thread again and I could not find any place where you told us the nature of your filter. Early on, the first week, you were getting spotty zero ammonia readings at 24 hours, then it started resisting going quite that low but once in a while you even recorded double zeros. Now you seem to be hanging around with low levels but just not good enough. My curiosity has gotten the best of me. What kind of filter are you using and what media do you have in it? I don't care about brand names but would really like to know what we are working with here. It almost acts as if you have a chemical filter installed in a small canister but I know that is something that you would not have done if you asked advice on it here.

 

[Harlequins]

Hi oldman

It's basically a green sponge filter,the air hose attaches at the top (fed by an airpump)and water gurgles away quite merrily back out up the top!

Thats it??!!

intention was use for a fry tank,

 

[OldMan47]

Give it a good squeeze in some used tank water. It has become plugged. Those filters plug up rather quickly IME. I have a few on emergency tanks and find that they need frequent attention or the bubbles can't move the water through them properly.

 

[Harlequins]

Give it a good squeeze in some used tank water. It has become plugged. Those filters plug up rather quickly IME. I have a few on emergency tanks and find that they need frequent attention or the bubbles can't move the water through them properly.

ahh right,thanks oldman,i will go and to it now

Readings

9.30pm (last night)
ammonia 0
nitrite 0.25

9.30am
ammonia 0.50
nitrite 0.50

 

[Harlequins]

9.30pm last night

ammonia 0
nitrite 0.25

added 3ppm ammonia

9.30am

ammonia 1.0
nitrite 1.0

 

[waterdrop]

Makes sense. Giving it a good squeeze will have disturbed it and you may get a blip back up like that but its the right thing to do. Its always important that the water be moving through the filter media sufficiently.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Harlequins]

9.30pm (last night)

ammonia 0
nitrite 0.25

added 3ppm ammonia

9.30am

ammonia 0.25
nitrite 0.50

 

[Harlequins]

9.30pm

ammonia 0
nitrite 1.0

added 3ppm ammonia

9.30am

ammonia 0.50
nitrite 1.0

 

[OldMan47]

If you are dosing to about 3 ppm daily, your numbers are showing some nice bacterial colonies but not quite as big as we would like before you add in your fish.

 

[Harlequins]

If you are dosing to about 3 ppm daily, your numbers are showing some nice bacterial colonies but not quite as big as we would like before you add in your fish.

Its strange because when i first started off it was clearing 5ppm ammonia within 12 hrs by the first 5 days
Then i went down to 2ppm that was clearing in 12 hrs within another week,so i up it to 3ppm i think that was day 16 since then it has gone pear shaped!!especially since i done a huge w/c around a week ago.
Is it worth putting it back up to 5ppm of ammonia to see if does anything worth while?