Fishyless Cycle Log Take 2

[Aqua Tom]

maybt tomorow after noon, so if I dose now it should give it a chance to sort out by then.

 

[BIG BAD BARRY]

PHOTOS PLEASE!

 

[Skins]

maybt tomorow after noon, so if I dose now it should give it a chance to sort out by then.

Just dose 1-2ppm, keepem going sort of thing.

Keith.

 

[Aqua Tom]

maybt tomorow after noon, so if I dose now it should give it a chance to sort out by then.

Just dose 1-2ppm, keepem going sort of thing.

Keith.

to late I dosed to 4ppm, oh well, never mind.

Pictures are up on different thread now ::

 

[Skins]

maybt tomorow after noon, so if I dose now it should give it a chance to sort out by then.

Just dose 1-2ppm, keepem going sort of thing.

Keith.

to late I dosed to 4ppm, oh well, never mind.

Pictures are up on different thread now ::

I better take a look.

 

[Aqua Tom]

7/01/11

Day 56

18 hours after + 95% water change & stocking with plants.

15 hours after dose of 4.5ppm

Temp 24.5c

Ammonia 0.5-1ppm
Nitrite +50ppm
Nitrate 80ppm (tapwater is 40ppm)

I am not too worried about these results as this is exactly what happened last time I did a +95% water change & it settled down after a few days.
The High Nitrates seem to be indicative of the N-bacs producing waste.

PH 7.6
High PH 7.4

Will leave the PH alone now & see what it stabalises at.

I am going to leave it to cook for the weekend whilst putting more plants in & monitoring stats closely.

I am NOT going to say when the fish will be in so as not to tempt fate.


Tested the water agin at 21 hours after dose

Ammonia 0-0.25ppm (closer to zero)
Nitrite 5ppm

So decided to drop the dose tonight to 3ppm, tested an hour later & i have 3ppm.

 

[This Old Spouse]

I'm still somewhat of a newbie, but why are you still doing 95% water changes after nearly 2 months?

 

[shasm]

To lower his nitrates before adding his stock I believe.

 

[Skins]

To lower his nitrates before adding his stock I believe.

+1

 

[Aqua Tom]

I'm still somewhat of a newbie, but why are you still doing 95% water changes after nearly 2 months?

To lower the nitrates & remove the Bicarbonate that was in the water.

 

[Aqua Tom]

8/01/10

Day 57

0900hrs

14 hours after 3ppm dose (will up it slightly to 3.5ppm tonight)

Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite 0.25ppm

PH 8.2 has risen due to CO2 offgassing from my tapwater. Will probably stabalise at this.

Nitrate - 80 ppm this is the one reading I am worried about as every time I do a large water change it scrambles my stats. How can I lower it without changing the water?

Will look into some ferts & co2 for my plants later & hope they can use the nitrate.

 

[Aqua Tom]

Day 57

21 Hours after dose of 3ppm

Double Zero so I am happy again now. Will up the dose tonight to 3.5ppm

 

[Aqua Tom]

9/1/10

Day 58

14 hours after 3.5ppm dose

Ammonia 0.5ppm

No more tests due to family emergency



23 Hours after dose

ammonia 0ppm
nitrite 0ppm
NITRATE 80ppm +

I have a feeling the only way I am going to get rid of the nitrates is to do a 100% closely tempreture matched water change followed by imediate stocking. I am going to take a small sample bottle to my lfs tomorow & get a sample of their water to see what their nitrate reading is as mine is 40ppm right out of the tap

I desperatly want some fish in the tank now & have decided I will get a shoal of cardinal tetra in there by the end of the week. The rest of the stock i will add over the next two months.

 

[waterdrop]

It's very hard to use your "bacterial growing soup" as any kind of a predictor of what nitrates will be like after you end the cycle and have fish. I suspect your nitrate will not be as bad then. We understand you've got the 40 coming out of the tap (right?) but you probably won't have another 40 on top of that once you are not cycling.

The cardinals are still somewhat delicate but nowhere near as bad as neons, so a nicely cycled tank should provide them a good chance once they get past the transport and acclimation problems that can sometimes do them in. I hope they do great.

~~waterdrop~~