OK stubedoo, clutching at straws here, try adding a plant fertisilser with iron in and increasing aeration, just about getting the optimum 'soup' for the bacteria.
i forget have you tried or managed to get any mature media from anywhere to try and kick start it?
I have tried putting in an iron supplement (
this one), although I seemed to get an outbreak of brown scudge (technical term
) in the tank, so I was a bit reluctant to keep adding. According to the directions on the bottle it suggests a cap and a half for my sizer tank, but I'm not sure how often this is. Every day? Every water change?
Aeration is something I definitely need to look at. I haven't been too keen to add an air pump, as I've read they are really only for decorative purposes. But I do understand that your surface water should be agitated, something which might most certainly isn't. You can see from the image at the very beginning of this thread that my filter outlet is only just above half way in what is a very deep tank, so it isn't disturbing the surface. I'm not sure how to rectify this although I might be able to turn the pipe round as the L shaped part of the pipe which hangs out the bank of the tank has a much shorter length on the other side.
I have put in some mature media, although I'm not sure of the effectiveness of it as unfortunately it had been either rinsed in tap water or left outside of a working filter for more tha 24 hours. I have spoken to someone else who might be able to give me some 'fresher' mature media this weekend.
Yeah, MW, I agree this seems pretty frustrating. I've looked back through the whole thread wondering if there is some major problem we've missed or not paid enough attention to. I didn't really get any great insights. One thought is that the pH just seems to be way too low for the longest time.. then finally he starts adding baking soda and it comes up a bit and perhaps the "cycle" is really starting from that point now and is possibly not very old as a result. Also, the few KH readings I see lately still seem extremely low for adding baking soda. What size tank is this again? Perhaps no where near enough baking soda is getting added. It would be nice to be pushing this pH up as close to 8.0 as possible.
I assume we reviewed all the media long ago and there are no show-stoppers like zeolite in there hopefully. Is the flow of this aqua one just not adequate or weird in some way, does anybody know?
Stub, you've been staying at 29C/84F for temp, right? And plenty of surface agitation and/or aeration, right?
I agree with MW too that its never too late to be exploring the possibilities of finding a mature media donation. Those are always great of course.
Just can't see what could be taking this tank so long!
~~waterdrop~~
The size of the tank is 300litres, I shall look into adding more baking soda to see how that effects the pH and KH although last time (pre large water change) the pH didn't seem to want to go past about 7.5 no matter how much I added.
We haven't reviewed the media at all, is there something I should be looking out for? I just have the standard media that came with the
Aqua One Advance Aquis 1250, which has a little bit of media from an old tank, and a handful of coral sand in a stocking (for raising the pH/KH)
My temperature has been around 28/29 degress although I've been having some heater problems. I kid you not I've have just sent for a third replacement heater after our last one got covered with some sort of green nastiness inside the heater. For surace agitation and media donation see comments for MW.
hi there
i've been reading your diary i have a mature sponge i can donate to you if you wish its only approx 3"x2"x1" (half a juwel sponge) but has been in the juwel tank for the last 6 months - was last rinsed 2 weeks ago - i keep them for using in hospital or quuarentine tanks
i'm in the south west too - exeter Devon pm me if you are near and need the media
Thanks Sarah x
Hi Sarah,
It is nice to know some people are keeping up with my tank problems, thanks very much for the media offer, unfortunately I live around an hours drive from Exeter so it is a little too far. Also as I've said to Miss Wiggle it looks like I might have an option to get some much more locally this weekend, fingers crossed. Thanks again.
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Phew... And finally todays results:
Day 58 (13th Feb) - 9:00am
Ammonia 2.5
NitrItes 0
NitrAtes not tested
pH 7.2
KH not tested
Quite interestingly this is the first time since I first saw signs of NitrItes that I've measured the NitrItes at 0, which must be a good thing. Now if I can just get the ammonia down much quicker.
Thanks everyone for you replies, much appreciated. I know feel much more invigorated that there are some things I can do to really help speed this process a long. Maybe even one day I'll get some fish.
