0 Ammonia

[mickspark81]

hi guys, right,, ive had my rekord 800 set up now for 9 days. At first my Lfs didnt explain nothing about cycling the tank and i purchased 10 neon tetra, 1 x clown loach (only 1 in stock, im gonna get 3 more soon and when larger move to bigger tank), also purchased a common plec (again, wasnt informed of the size they grow so will be rehousing) and 1 x siamese fighting fish.

I have live plants in my tank also and obtained a decent filter squeeze from an established tank to impregnate the aquarium with that all important nitrifying bacteria.

I ordered my ammonia liquid test kit (which arrived yesterday) (still waiting on my nitrIte and nitrAte test kits), ph is 7 GH is 6 so everything seems fine (fish in realy good health)

Is it possible that my tank maybe cycled already as im detecting 0 ammonia (obviously u need the nitrIte and nitrAte readings but i dont have the kits yet (ordered both 6 days ago ;-( )

Im only asking because ive been told that the bacteria which i placed into the tank via sponge filter squeeze may help alot to speed things up

(got the bacteria into my tank in 40 mins with a bottle and a slow drip mechanism directly onto my filter)

I have spent at least 4 hours a night researching all i can about my fish types and aquarium care and already have a really good understanding of how everything works but obviously you cant beat hands on experience

lol look at me waffling on again, hehe, all i really need to know about is the chance of my tank being cycled already after 9 days?

ty for your time

 

[bagu]

well if you say you placed some sponge from a mature tank in, it must be breaking down the ammonia

just a word of advise, the neons and betta might not get on too well then neons may fin nip the betta; so just be a bit cautious

also, id say do a water change incase of any high nitrItes if any are present

glad to hear about the Plec and Clown loach ;D

Bagu

 

[mickspark81]

I didnt actually place old filter media directly in to the tank (sponge) i got a "squeeze" out of an existing sponge,,,,about 0.5 litre of greeny brown liquid containing the bacteria which i immediately dripped onto my filiter sponge

will this make a massive difference than the actual sponge it self? also, surely i should have some ammonia in there now after 9 days with all those fish and decaying fish food present for the entire duration?

(not overfeeding also)

 

[bagu]

it should aid the process, and if ammonia is zero and im guessing you have nitrites your cycle is on its way

any ammonia would be bad clown loaches have no scales so ammonia will burn them and stress them out alot; so lets just pray no ammonia or NitrItes

 

[mickspark81]

ty,,,just drove down to a friends and picked up one of those 5 in one test strips (i know they arnt very accurate),,buts its displaying around 19 mg/litre of nitrAte and 0 nitrIte so...


Ammonia 0
nitrIte 0
nitrAte 19 mg/L

cud it be that my tank has cylced in 9 days?

(im aware of adding fish slowly as to balance out the eco system as not to get ammonia/nitrIte spike)

ty again for your time

 

[mickspark81]

lol on reading my last post back over i think it looks more like a statement than a question ,

so, is it possible my tank has cycled in the 9 days ive had it?

ive learned soo much the past 9 days i know more than most of the workers in my LFS lmao (as i say tho, u cant beat experience)...




- combining my love of science with my love of tropical fish-

 

[waterdrop]

Its very good that you've put such a large squeezing from some other mature filter sponge (0.5 liter as you say, directly dripped in) into your new filter. This indeed can be a very good "seeding" for a Fish-In cycle.

But you shouldn't ever trust any new setup that's less than, say, 3 months old, because it may just not yet giving you the feedback you need to understand it. The processes are slow and you need to just keep taking feedback for quite a while to trust that you're really understanding it.

For instance: The problem with filter squeezings, as opposed to placement of actual mature media itself in the filter, is that operational colonies of Nitrosomonas and Nitrospira are composed not only of the bacteral cells themselves, but also of the very tough, almost glue-like, biofilm structures they form around themselves and and which are attached to the strands of sponge or the walls of the tiny microscopic caves in the rough surfaces of ceramic media and such. When you squeeze a filter, most of what you're seeing is the brown decaying organic matter that was mechanically trapped in the old media. Yes, there will be some of our beneficial autotrophs in there, along with pieces of their biofilm structures broken off, and there will be lots of heterotrophs and tons of big complicated organic molecules from the decaying stuff, but the autotrophs and their biofilm pieces will be but a fraction of what would be directly on the media.

Now that's not to say that squeezings are not good. If done in a big way, they are very good. In fact, the more thorough the squeezing and cleaning of the other filter into the new tank, the more effective they will be. It looks like a pretty gross thing to do to a new tank but of course all the gunk should pretty much clear up overnight.

Its a great sign that you're seeing zero ammonia, zero nitrite(NO2) and some nitrates, but I would just keep on testing morning and evening and recording your results and just see how things go in the coming weeks. You could be cycled, but you want to have plenty of verification of that via weeks of data, not just one reading from one day. The "big spike" could come along a shock you and hurt your fish otherwise! Let's hope though that that's not the case.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[mickspark81]

ty for the great advice, ive spent soo much time latetly trying to cram in all the knowledge i can into my brain. (wouldnt have happend if lfs had have explained the cycle process or even what it was for that matter) Ill do what you suggest and if any traces of ammonia show ill do daily water change until problem is solved. just need to make sure my fishies are ok


if im doing daily water tests and im showing 0 ammonia and 0 nitrItes, how long does a "spike" take to occur? ie, will it be a massive jump from to high danger levels or will daily water checks be enougth so i can catch it and act before ammonia gets to toxic level?



thanx again

 

[waterdrop]

If you come back at 12 hours, test, and find the ammonia and nitrite(NO2) levels still at zero ppm, then go another 12 hours without a water change and see what comes up on the next test.

Nitrite spikes are not always seen clearly in fish-in cycles the way they are in fishless cycles. Unfortunately, methodical testing of ammonia and nitrite during the first month of fish-in cycling is the only way to know if one of the toxins has spiked.

When you go two full days without needing to change water to maintain double-zero readings, you are probably cycled. At that point its good to simply continue testing at the twice daily rate and verify that there are no spikes for a week, after which the first small (2 or 3 fish) addition to the stocking could be considered.

~~waterdrop~~