xoedusk
Fishaholic
Below is the most current water parameters. Please not that nitrate concentration levels shown are 1/10th of actual values; otherwise the graph would would very weird!
We upgraded from a 10 to 20 U.S. gallon. Decided to use the unused 10 as a quarentine tank for fishies and plants. Have only an AquaClear 20 gal filter and heater at 85 F going. What follows is a log of how things are going. I'll aso provide a link here soon to a graph of the ammonia/nitrite/nitrate levels in ppm vs time.
Day 1: (9/16/06) After much online searching and store hopping, we were unable to locate ammonia without a surfacant. I read somewhere, however, that as long as the surfacant doesn't contain phosphorus, it's okay. So we bought that. Ingredients are: Water, Ammonium Hydroxide, Surfacant; no Phosphorus.
Added a few drops (via a Q-Tip -- no eye dropper) to the tank. No noticable rise in ammonia. Added 1/4 tsp instead. Ammonia rose to about 2ppm. Added another 1/4 tsp -- rose to about 4ppm. We then just added about 1/8 tsp and called it good, assuming it had reached 5 or 6 ppm.
Also added two handfuls of gravel from our established 20 gallon tank to give the cycling a head start.
Day 3: (9/18/06) Read somewhere that ammonium hydroxide might lower pH. But shouldn't matter since we'll do a water change before we add any life to the tank. Ammonia dropped to 2.0 ppm already. Nitrites are present at 0.25 ppm. Haven't measured nitrates yet; I assume they are at 0.
Day 4: (9/19/06) Tested all 3 parameters today... surprised to see nitrates present already. Our tap water straight has 0 nitrates in it. Probably happened so fast because we seeded our tank with established rocks. Ammonia went down a bit to 1.3 (approx) and nitrites rose a bit to 0.5. Will add some more ammonia tonight to give our precious bacteria some more food.
We replaced the carbon filter in our 20 gallon established tank. Dropped the old carbon filter in to the cycling tank to hopefully add some more bacteria. Not sure if the bacteria will leave the carbon filter and spread to rest of tank, though. Will leave it floating for ~1 hour.
Day 5: (9/20/06) Lessoned learned: Never put filled glass test tubes on the carpet, especially while walking barefoot.
Apparently we're supposed to wait until ammonia goes down to 0 to add more ammonia, and not do what we did on Day 4. Don't see how this should make too much of a difference, though.
Measured pH for the first time since starting cycling; right at 7.0 (fresh tap water parameters). Added ammonia 24 hours ago (brought it up to about 4ppm). It is now down to ~1.8ppm. Nitrites to 2ppm, nitrates to 10ppm.
Day 6: (9/21/06) Ammonias were down to 0ppm today. But while nitrates are still on the rise, nitrites haven't budged from the previous day's readings. PA_fishlover was having trouble similar to this -- nitrites stuck at 2.0ppm. But hopefully just a one time fluke. Though Egmel's post below shed some light on the sticky nitrite problem. Or it could be as simple as nitrates being produced just as quickly as they are eaten.
Day 7: (9/22/06) It is extremely hard to use the API color card for high nitrates. The reading was somewhere between 20 and less than 160ppm. 20 looked closest in color, who it was probably wrong.
The nitrite is still at 2ppm. We think the API test is screwy maybe.
Ammonia went down from 4 to 0 in 24 hours, possibly faster since we didn't test in the morning.
Also, the ammonia we are adding directly to the tank now has started to foam when we shake it, which, I've heard, is bad. Haven't heard why, though. Perhaps will look harder for pure ammonia.
Day 8: (9/23/06) Surprise surprise... nitrites at 2ppm again. Not going to measure nitrates for a while until nitrites do something neat. Ammonia falling within at most 24 hours. Just waiting now for nitrites to go away.
Day 10: (9/25/06) No change in nitrites. Still at two. On the bright side, ammonia is dropping from 4ppm to 0ppm in 12 hours. Awesome. Measured nitrates for the first time in a couple of days: it appears to be on the rise! We guessed that the color card said 80ppm, but can't be 100% sure.
We're now adding 3 or 4 ppm ammonia every 12 hours.
BTW, don't leave API ammonia testing solution in the test tube over night. Still stain your tube yellow.
Day 11: (9/26/06) Yesterday we had to take our carbon insert out of our 20 gallon filter to treat some internal parasites. Put this carbon in to our cycle tank (maybe a bad idea?). Measured nitrites today, and they finally dropped down to 0.1 ppm. Finally. Give it a few days and it should be good to go!
We upgraded from a 10 to 20 U.S. gallon. Decided to use the unused 10 as a quarentine tank for fishies and plants. Have only an AquaClear 20 gal filter and heater at 85 F going. What follows is a log of how things are going. I'll aso provide a link here soon to a graph of the ammonia/nitrite/nitrate levels in ppm vs time.
Day 1: (9/16/06) After much online searching and store hopping, we were unable to locate ammonia without a surfacant. I read somewhere, however, that as long as the surfacant doesn't contain phosphorus, it's okay. So we bought that. Ingredients are: Water, Ammonium Hydroxide, Surfacant; no Phosphorus.
Added a few drops (via a Q-Tip -- no eye dropper) to the tank. No noticable rise in ammonia. Added 1/4 tsp instead. Ammonia rose to about 2ppm. Added another 1/4 tsp -- rose to about 4ppm. We then just added about 1/8 tsp and called it good, assuming it had reached 5 or 6 ppm.
Also added two handfuls of gravel from our established 20 gallon tank to give the cycling a head start.
Day 3: (9/18/06) Read somewhere that ammonium hydroxide might lower pH. But shouldn't matter since we'll do a water change before we add any life to the tank. Ammonia dropped to 2.0 ppm already. Nitrites are present at 0.25 ppm. Haven't measured nitrates yet; I assume they are at 0.
Day 4: (9/19/06) Tested all 3 parameters today... surprised to see nitrates present already. Our tap water straight has 0 nitrates in it. Probably happened so fast because we seeded our tank with established rocks. Ammonia went down a bit to 1.3 (approx) and nitrites rose a bit to 0.5. Will add some more ammonia tonight to give our precious bacteria some more food.
We replaced the carbon filter in our 20 gallon established tank. Dropped the old carbon filter in to the cycling tank to hopefully add some more bacteria. Not sure if the bacteria will leave the carbon filter and spread to rest of tank, though. Will leave it floating for ~1 hour.
Day 5: (9/20/06) Lessoned learned: Never put filled glass test tubes on the carpet, especially while walking barefoot.
Apparently we're supposed to wait until ammonia goes down to 0 to add more ammonia, and not do what we did on Day 4. Don't see how this should make too much of a difference, though.
Measured pH for the first time since starting cycling; right at 7.0 (fresh tap water parameters). Added ammonia 24 hours ago (brought it up to about 4ppm). It is now down to ~1.8ppm. Nitrites to 2ppm, nitrates to 10ppm.
Day 6: (9/21/06) Ammonias were down to 0ppm today. But while nitrates are still on the rise, nitrites haven't budged from the previous day's readings. PA_fishlover was having trouble similar to this -- nitrites stuck at 2.0ppm. But hopefully just a one time fluke. Though Egmel's post below shed some light on the sticky nitrite problem. Or it could be as simple as nitrates being produced just as quickly as they are eaten.
Day 7: (9/22/06) It is extremely hard to use the API color card for high nitrates. The reading was somewhere between 20 and less than 160ppm. 20 looked closest in color, who it was probably wrong.
The nitrite is still at 2ppm. We think the API test is screwy maybe.
Ammonia went down from 4 to 0 in 24 hours, possibly faster since we didn't test in the morning.
Also, the ammonia we are adding directly to the tank now has started to foam when we shake it, which, I've heard, is bad. Haven't heard why, though. Perhaps will look harder for pure ammonia.
Day 8: (9/23/06) Surprise surprise... nitrites at 2ppm again. Not going to measure nitrates for a while until nitrites do something neat. Ammonia falling within at most 24 hours. Just waiting now for nitrites to go away.
Day 10: (9/25/06) No change in nitrites. Still at two. On the bright side, ammonia is dropping from 4ppm to 0ppm in 12 hours. Awesome. Measured nitrates for the first time in a couple of days: it appears to be on the rise! We guessed that the color card said 80ppm, but can't be 100% sure.
We're now adding 3 or 4 ppm ammonia every 12 hours.
BTW, don't leave API ammonia testing solution in the test tube over night. Still stain your tube yellow.
Day 11: (9/26/06) Yesterday we had to take our carbon insert out of our 20 gallon filter to treat some internal parasites. Put this carbon in to our cycle tank (maybe a bad idea?). Measured nitrites today, and they finally dropped down to 0.1 ppm. Finally. Give it a few days and it should be good to go!
