About To Hit Another Hiccup In My Cycle

[P&J]

I'm fishless cycling, and my ammonia is processing in about 24 hours (4ppm-0ppm), but I'm about to go out of town Fri. morning until Mon. afternoon. This will be the third time this has happened, and each time my bacteria died off and I basically had to start over. Thankfully, my nitrite was still through the roof, so I didn't actually lose any time (the time spent re-establishing the ammonia-processing bacteria would have been spent waiting for the nitrite-processing bacteria anyway).

This time, I think my nitrite should be close to cycling as well, so I'm more nervous about everything dying off. What can I do?

I've read on here that high levels of ammonia (approx. 6ppm or higher) is "bad" for cycling. What does this mean exactly? Will it kill my bacteria, or just slow things down? If I can overdose my tank on Friday morning and basically put everything on hold, then do a water change on Monday and kickstart everything right from where I left off, I think that would be great.

I've also periodically had my cycle stall because of low pH. Can I artificially drop my pH to stall things?

Basically, I need a way for my bacteria to live through the weekend. Any thoughts?

-P

 

[doresy]

Scarey as it may sound but is there anyone you can trust to add the ammonia daily while you are away?

 

[rabbut]

I'd throw in a generous pinch of fish food to keep things ticking over while you are out. Overdosing ammonia will either slow the multiplication of the filter bacteria, or kill it depending upon the scale of the overdose. I wouldn't risk overdosing TBH. Crashing the pH also isn't advisable, and the buffering capacity of the water would probibly bring it back up again within hours anyway

All the best
Rabbut

 

[littlest]

I went away for a few days while cycling and was advised (by people on here) to put some fish food in a (clean) stocking/tights and hang it in the tank. I put quite a bit in, and it didn't seem to affect my cycling any.

 

[doresy]

In the absence of a trustworthy ammonia monitor then I would second the motion of adding some flake food.

Be sure to add it a few days prior to your leaving (while still adding the ammonia) to allow it to rot.

Good luck

 

[P&J]

Thanks, I'll try adding some food. As for someone coming to add it for me, that won't really work out as I only have one key! (A daily fear of mine is locking myself out... I really need to make a copy! ).

On the other hand, it seems that my pH is crashing on its own again. Every three days or so, it drops from 7.4 (tap reading) to about 6 and stalls my cycle. Should I let it go and see if it saves my weekend?

-P

 

[rabbut]

I'd rescue it, and add the fish food

All the best
Rabbut

 

[backtotropical]

I'd rescue it, and add the fish food

All the best
Rabbut

Agreed. I'd use frozen food rather than flakes though. It will begin to break down quicker and produce more ammonia.

 

[P&J]

Update!

I didn't get the advice about fixing the pH problem in time, so I arrived home today to find the pH at 6, max, possibly lower. I had added the pinch of food and brought the ammonia back up to 4ppm on Thursday night. Today, it was still at about 1.5 or 2. So, I changed 60% of the water to get the pH back up and added some more ammonia. I'll test again tomorrow and post the results.

-P

 

[P&J]

Glorious success!

My tank has processed 4ppm of ammonia in less than 24 hours! It seems that the pH issue successfully stalled the cycle without letting the bacteria die. I don't know if that's a stable enough solution for others who find themselves in the same predicament, but it worked wonders for me.

Thanks for the help everyone!

-P