Tropical_fish's Fishless Cycle - Complete

[Tropical_Fish]

Day 10 - 22/07/2009 - 9.00am

Ammonia 0.25 - 0.5 ppm
Nitrite - Off the scale

I put about 2.75ml of Ammonia in to bring it back up to over 4ppm

 

[Tropical_Fish]

Evening Test

Ammonia 0.25
Nitrite - Off the Scale

I put 2.75 ml of ammonia in

 

[Tropical_Fish]

Day 15 - 27/08/2009 - 9.00pm

Ammonia - 0ppm
Nitrite - off the scale
Nitrate - 160ppm maybe more

Dose of ammonia added - 3ml

I've been away for a few days (hence no readings) I got my sister to just add 2.5ml of ammonia morning and night whilst I was away

 

[waterdrop]

From the "morning and night" comment and the 160+ppm nitrate readings I'd say you're adding ammonia a bit too often

Ammonia should only be added once per 24 hours, so that you won't build up great excesses of NO2 and/or NO3. How's your pH doing? Haven't seen any readings for that in a while.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Tropical_Fish]

whoops!

I thought the whole idea was that it reduced the ammonia down to zero in 12 hours, so you'd put some more in and that would reduce down to zero in 12 hours?!

But yes Since day 9 (when ammonia was starting to be fully processed in 12 hours) I have been adding ammonia twice a day when the ammonia was down to zero!


So the bacteria won't die off without ammonia for over 12 hours?

Should it all be ok to continue with? and now only top up each evening? Might explain why I haven't seen a nitrite drop yet!

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, you've haven't seen a nitrite drop because you've now got a mountain of nitrite in there, lol. 1ppm of ammonia is processed by the A-Bacs into 2.7ppm of nitrite and then 3.6ppm of nitrate (roughly.) Don't worry, none of this is a problem. If your pH has dropped dangerously close to 6.2 or lower then you'll have a double reason to take action with a water change, but a water change would probably be the worst thing you'd have to do as a result of your "excess." Otherwise, if pH is still high then there might not be reason to interrupt the process with a water change yet.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Tropical_Fish]

just did standard pH test as I went past the tank - pH reading was right at the top at 7.6 - will try a high range tomorrow

 

[OldMan47]

The add at 12 hours is not needed and it will make it take much longer before the nitrite can move back down to where you can read it. After all, the nitrite processing bacteria will have a lot more to overcome before you see the nitrites on scale again with all the ammonia you are converting.

 

[Tropical_Fish]

Is it worth doing a full water change then? I guess a full water change would remove all Nitrite and Nitrate, but leave the bacteria which has grown in the filter?

I would then be closer to overcoming the nitrite spike wouldn't I?

Or should I just wait?

 

[waterdrop]

Is it worth doing a full water change then? I guess a full water change would remove all Nitrite and Nitrate, but leave the bacteria which has grown in the filter?

I would then be closer to overcoming the nitrite spike wouldn't I?

Or should I just wait?

You are one of the ones who is not presenting pH in the posts, so there's not enough data to give you an answer.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Tropical_Fish]

As above the pH on the standard test is 7.6 right at the top - it has been there each and every time I have tested with the standard test. So it's high and not anywhere near the low values which cause it top stall.

My tap water is 7.0

 

[waterdrop]

Well then, despite the high NO3, I'd just hold off on any water changing for the meantime and continue letting it cycle. There are advantages to not disturbing it!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Tropical_Fish]

ok - thanks waterdrop - I'll do another test at 9.00pm and top up with ammonia (didn't put any in this morning despite it being at 0ppm)

 

[Tropical_Fish]

Test at 9.00pm 29/07/2009

Ammonia - 0ppm
Nitrite - Off the scale
Nitrate - 160ppm+
pH - 7.6
High Range pH 7.4

 

[waterdrop]

Have to say I'm wavering on this one. Its on about Day 17, right? Its possible this might be one of those cases where, since the ammonia is already processing quite well and the ammonia has been added at double the rate it should, that there will be so much NO3 and NO2 in there that the N-Bac development might be slowed and combining that with the amount in there to be processed, would take an unneccessarily long time for latter part of the fishless cycle.

So perhaps I was wrong and you should consider whether this coming weekend or such would be a good time for one or two 90% gravel-clean-water-changes to try and get all the nitrate out that will be hanging out in the gravel and the filter. You'd have to be sure to use perhaps 1.5x conditioning and temperature matching would be good but the most important part would be to not forget to re-charge the ammonia back up to perhaps 3ppm afterward. This shouldn't be too difficult a task on a 70L and we wouldn't ever really know but its possible it would clear the way for a quicker second stage in the fishless cycle.

~~waterdrop~~