Fishless Cycle Log

[coldcazzie]

Day 36 (28.9.09)
24hr: Ammonia: 0ppm. Nitrite: 5+ppm. Nitrate: 5-10ppm. pH: 7.6+. 1.25ml Ammonia added.

12hr: Ammonia: 0ppm. Nitrite: 5+ppm.

 

[coldcazzie]

Day 37 (29.9.09)
24hr: Didn't test ammonia. Nitrite: 5+ppm. Added 1ml ammonia.

12hr: Ammonia: 0ppm. Nitrite: still off the scale, however drops took ages to turn purple so I left it for the full 5 mins and instead of turning grey it turned a pinky grey. I'm thinking this means it's starting to drop to within the test's range again. Fingers crossed next couple of days it goes to 12 hr 0-0 because I'm due to pick up 6 zebra loaches next week!

 

[waterdrop]

good luck CC, hope its getting closer

 

[coldcazzie]

Day 38 (30.9.09)
24hr: (actually a bit late today - oops) Nitrite: 0ppm! 1.25ml ammonia added. Will test again at usual time, expecting slightly raised ammonia and nitrite as will only be a 9.5hr test instead of 12 lol.

12 (9.5!) hr: Ammonia: 0ppm. Nitrite: 0ppm. Nitrate: 160+ppm. pH: 7.6+.

Shant bother testing in the morning, will just add the ammonia and test again tomorrow evening.

 

[OldMan47]

It seems like things are finally starting to move well for you Cazzie. Keep up the good work.

 

[coldcazzie]

Day 39 (1.10.09)
24hr: added 1.25ml ammonia
12hr: Ammonia: 0ppm. Nitrite: 0.5-1ppm.

Day 40 (2.10.09)
24hr: Nitrite: 0ppm. added 1.25ml ammonia.
12hr: Ammonia: 0ppm. Nitrite: 0.5ppm.

 

[coldcazzie]

Day 41 (3.10.09)
24hr: Nitrite: 0ppm. 1.25ml ammonia added.
12hr: Ammonia: 0ppm. Nitrite: 0.5ppm.

 

[coldcazzie]

Day 42 (4.10.09)
24hr: Nitrite: 0ppm. 1.25ml ammonia added.
12hr: Ammonia: 0ppm. Nitrite: 0.25-0.5ppm. Slight improvement on last couple of days. How long does this nitrite lag usually last? Just out of curiosity...

 

[OldMan47]

The typical pattern that we see, all are sort of different, the nitrites take somewhat longer than the ammonia took. If ammonia was good at 3 weeks, the nitrites would follow at an additional 4 or 5 weeks. So much for pattern recognition, all cycles proceed at their own pace and are somewhat unpredictable.

 

[coldcazzie]

Well... seeings as this is only my quarantine tank, not my show tank, the bioload of fish is going to be relatively small at any one time...

So, could I add 2 young hoplo catfish (bout 3 inches long each) sometime this week?

I cant see them producing 4ppm of ammonia per day...

 

[coldcazzie]

Well, my fishless cycle is now ended because as of about 45 minutes ago my tank has 3 very small zebra loaches in it.

See this thread for why:

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=308578

I retract the question about the hoplos - they will have to either wait, or go straight in my Rio.

 

[waterdrop]

Well, my fishless cycle is now ended because as of about 45 minutes ago my tank has 3 very small zebra loaches in it.

See this thread for why:

[URL="http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=308578"]http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=308578[/URL]

I retract the question about the hoplos - they will have to either wait, or go straight in my Rio.

Wow, what a story! I'm feeling exactly the opposite about our cat today as he's gone and not come back the whole day so far and that's not like him, so we're feeling lonely for him to return.

~~wd~~

 

[coldcazzie]

Heh, I'm sure I could post something extremely poisonous about my cat...although it wouldn't be a patch on how I felt about him earlier!

What do you think about the tetra general tonic?

 

[waterdrop]

My cat came home so I'm happy again.

Tetra General Tonic... were you going to put that on your hand from the cat cuts? Or perhaps feed it to the cat?

~~waterdrop~~

 

[coldcazzie]

I see... don't rate it much then?!

They were all still swimming around this morning (ie. none of them snuffed it overnight thank god!) so I've decided not to bother, and went back to the shop this morning and bought the rest of his stock (which were properly acclimated!) so there's now 7 in total in there.

Tested the water this morning, ammonia and nitrite were both 0, will test again this evening just to be sure and then will start feeding them tomorrow.