Fishywishies Fishless Cycle

[FishyWishie]

Thanks for the reply WD reason i went for it was two fold 1) it comes with mature media and 2) When using aqauvisor i was never running out of stocking space indeed i wont be going above 75% but i was running out of filtration capactity but i do agree with you points v substrate cleaning and water changes.

on another note my tetratec heater appears to have assploded whats a good brand / model to purchase as replacement ?

 

[FishyWishie]

Disaster Strikes !

Came back on thurs to find that although my neighbour has been dosing my tank at 3ppm as i asked him to my heater has assploded and died and the ammonia was through the roof I immediately did a 60% water change and got the ammonia back to 5ppm and obtained a new heater.

Im thinking as 60% was enough to get to to 4ppm colour on the chart that it's likely heater only failed in last few days or ammonia would have built up a hell of a lot more ?

I have a Fluval 4+ with extremely mature media arriving this week (to complement my fluval 405) so hopefully that will allow me to get back on track asap. The ammonia dropped from 5.0 to slightly lighter than 2.0 in 24 hours so hopefully damage isn't irepareable.

Whats the best way to proceed atm wait till its hits 0 and dose back to 2 or 3 ppm or go back to dosing to 5ppm till it can shift it all in 24 hours ?

Nitrites 0.5
Nitrates either 10 or 20 (post 60% water change so these were obv higher)

 

[FishyWishie]

Ph seems to have dropped from 7.6 to 6.4/6.6

Only addition to the tank is a planted bogwood but that was soaked and isn't releasing tanins

 

[FishyWishie]

From 10pm last night to 10pm today ammonia has dropped from around 2 to a bit lighter than 0.5 (fair bit lighter actually but not quite as light as 0.25)

 

[PDSimon]

I'd take the bogwood out, it caused a crash in my tank of 7.5 to 6pH within 24 hours. Fishless cycling does this...

Have you started using bicarb yet, i can't remember?

 

[FishyWishie]

I hadn't started but i whacked a bit in last night after reading many threads on here and got the PH back up to approx 8

Could the bogwood be sat in a bucket till the cycle is over ? It has a rather nice Annubis sp ? tied to it

 

[PDSimon]

Nice one fishy...Every time you see it drop now just add a little bit more in.

I'm not sure whether it could be sat in a bucket, I sat mine in for a few days whilst I sorted things out at the end of my cycle and there was no harm done. Longer than that might have a bad effect so can't really help you..

 

[FishyWishie]

Thanks for the feedback hadn't had any for few days thought noone was speaking to me lol

Once i check it tonight at 11pm if its cleared to 0 i think ill redose to say 3ppm or 4ppm and then once it can do that back to 5ppm Im just wary ramping it back up to quickly with the overdose of ammonia the tank had towards the tail end of my holiday due to the heater packing in.

 

[waterdrop]

You should be able to rig up a lighted bucket for the bogwood/anubias. Dose the bucket water with some ferts and change it every now and then just like you would a fish water change (since it won't have a filter.) WD

 

[FishyWishie]

I'll give that a try WD thanks.

Looks like the heater packing in has set my cycle back significantly the 2.0ppm this morning only dropped to 0.5ppm in 12 hours Ill dose it back up to 5ppm now see how long it takes to get it back to 0.

Hopefully when then the internal filter with the mature media arrives midweek ill catch back up.

 

[FishyWishie]

Dosed back to 5ppm last night and 12 hours later its down to 2ppm so possibly ive not been setback as badly as first seemed apparent ? Roll on the mature media coming is all i can say lol

 

[Twinklecaz]

I could have sworn it was you that had the really quick cycle and got fish weeks ago.

It's all the similar fish related user names lol. You should have a stupid girls one like mine *really would love to change it*!

 

[FishyWishie]

I wish i had fish lol i went on happy holidays for 2 weeks came back to find heater had packed in neighbour hadn't noticed (he doesm't keep fish so he wouldnt have known) and came back to a tank that needed a 60% water change just to get all the excess ammonia the tank couldnt proccess without heat out

That said the addition of the fluval 4+ internal with mature media (over 1 years use) should kick me right back into play i hope/pray

 

[Twinklecaz]

Yeah should do. Where'd you get that?

 

[FishyWishie]

Bought it via the classified section on this site £20 inc delivery and hes putting the media in sealed bags with water so it doesn't die.

The Fluval 405 external filter is fine but for some of my dream stock lists it would be struggling for filtration at the upper end of the stocking so i decided to add a internal to get me to 8X filtration as opposed to 4.5X