Recent content by Kris T

I'm up to day 50 now. I haven't been posting constant updates cos I must be boring! (and because nothing much has changed recently). For the last 10 days or so, ammonia has been going down from 5ppm to zero in 12 hours, but in that time, nitrite hasn't budged. At 12 hours, the nitrite is always...

Day 35 (12 hours after adding) Ammonia: 0.25ppm Nitrite: 5.0ppm Day 35 (24 hours after adding) Ammonia: zero Nitrite: zero Close! Tomorrow I think I'll finally see all the ammonia go in 12 hours...

Thanks Robyn, that makes good sense! Day 34 (24 hours after adding) Ammonia: zero Nitrite: zero Added it to 5ppm again. fingers crossed for the 12 hour test tomorrow!

Dat 34 (12 hours after adding ammonia to 5ppm) Ammonia: 0.75ppm Nitrite: 5.0ppm That looks like a nitrite spike! Hopefully tomorrow the ammonia will be going in 12 hours...

Day 33 (24 hours after adding ammonia to about 5ppm) Ammonia: zero Nitrite: zero PH: 7.6 So it#s processing it all in under 24 hours. Added it back up to 5ppm again and will cross fingers for the 12 hour check in the morning :)

Day 33 (12 hours after adding ammonia to about 5ppm) Ammonia: 1.0ppm Nitrite: 2.0ppm PH: 7.8 Almost getting rid of the ammonia in 12 hours...

Thanks for the reassurance! I'm not sure about 12 hours. I've always thought there was still ammonia left, so I've only been doing 24 hour testing. I've just added ammonia to about 5ppm, so I'll check in 12 hours and see how much it can process in that time! I really struggle to tell some of...

My ammonia is still taking so long to go away. It seems to go from 4.5ppm down to almost nothing in 24 hours, then it gets stuck on 0.15 for *days.* I'm over a month in now, and I don't know why it's still getting stuck like this. Even when it's gone down to zero I havent been sure it has...It...

Day 25 (3 days after adding ammonia to 4ppm) Ammonia: zero! :D Nitrite: zero Nitrate: 80 So, just over 4ppm of ammonia gone in 3 days! I added it back up to just over 4 again. Hopefully it'll continue to progress well!

Day 24 (48 hours after adding ammonia to 4ppm) Ammonia: 0.25ppm Nitrite: 1.5ppm Nitrate: 60ppm Finally getting some good movement! 2 days and the ammonia is almost at zero...Hopefully that means the next ammonia add will be gone in a couple of days...

Excellent advice as always, waterdrop. Thanks! Does that mean I could also do two 25% water changes each week? Or best to do them same day an hour apart? Okay, back to the cycle. Day 22 (5 days after adding ammonia) and the ammonia levels were almost zero - about 0.05 I'd say. so I added it...

Day 21 (4 days after ammonia add) Ammonia: 0.15 Nitrite: zero Nitrate: 60 My ammonia never ever goes below around 0.15...I tested my tap water tonight, and that is also right on 0.15. Does that mean that 0.15 is as good as zero for me? When I add tap water during water changes in the future...

Day 20 (3 days after adding ammonia to 4.5ppm) Ammonia: 0.75 Nitrite: 0.5ppm Nitrate: 50-60 (too hard to tell colour difference - somewhere between 40 and 80)

Thanks, Chrissi! Nice to know I'm not alone! I've seen people with exactly the same set-up as me finish the entire cycle in 19 days!

Day 19 (48 hours after adding ammonia to 4.5ppm) Ammonia: 1.5ppm Nitrite: 0.5 Nitrate: 40ppm This is getting seriously tedious now. I've never seen anyone else's cycle go this slowly...The ammonia is taking longer to go this time that it did a week ago...Is that normal? Maybe I put more...