Ammonia Not Budging Yet!

[stuhyde]

I know, a watched kettle and all that...

Heres my readings at the moment....

20/6 - 23.5GL water, 9ML Ammonia added
21/6 Ammonia 6PPM, Nitrite 0PPM
22/6 Same
23/6 Added heater - 84 degrees F
24/6 Same

Today, added 2 large air stones to CO2 the water and hopefully help

Maybe I'm after too much too soon, but hey I would have at least liked a 1PPM drop in Ammonia.

Anyway, will carry on waiting. I know most people say to wait 1 week before doing even the 1st check, but hey ho..

 

[ox5477]

Ya, you prob just need a little longer. Once it starts though it will go relativily quick

 

[rdd1952]

I think your problems is that the ammonia is so high, it is off the chart and although it is dropping you can't tell. The amount of ammonia needed to raise the level to about 5 ppm varies depending on the concentration of the bottle but generally, 1 ml will raise 5 gallon to about 5 ppm. Based on that, your 9ml would have put your tank over 10 ppm as you would probably only have about 20 gallo or water in your tank after you allow for displacement by substrate and other items in the tank. I would suggest a 50% water change to see where that leaves the level. You really dont' want it over about 5 ppm.

Besides that, you should raise the temperature to the upper 80s, at least 87 or 88. The current temp of 84 is really too cool for cycling.

 

[stuhyde]

There is exactly 23.5GL of water (30 gal tank) .. Its not higher than 8ppm on the API test card but certainly not 4ppm, hence I said 6ppm.

I was thinking the problem was because I didnt add the heater until 2-3 days ago as in normal cold water the cycle will not even start?

Am I correct?

Cheers

 

[rdd1952]

The temperature is definitely the issue then. It usually takes 2 to 4 days for the ammonia to start to drop any noticable amount. You are only on day 3 with the heater now.

 

[stuhyde]

OK cheers for the help, mucho appreciated

 

[doresy]

With a raise in temp. it sounds like you have everything in place. The ammonia will drop soon and then your nitItes will go up and up and up! as long as you keep your ammonia level around 5ppm by 'topping up'

Please be aware that ammonia starts to drop after about a week if conditions are right but nitrItes seem to take forever! So if you are a little impatient now then you will go later! (lol)

You could be waiting between 3-8 weeks for the cycle to complete and there is no reason or rhyme as to why some take longer than others. My last tank took nearly 8 weeks much to the amusement of fellow forum members

It is great when it is done though and when you add fish and NOTHING dies it gives you a great sense of a job well done.

Good luck and keep us posted (don't forget the invite to the cycle party !)

 

[stuhyde]

Invite to the cycle party? LOL

Yeh cheers for that, Im still a little scared to fully populate the tank after the cycle is complete.

But I suppose if I dont, the nitrites/nitrates Ive struggled so hard to get will die off and there will only be enough nitrites/nitrates as the ammonia the fish in the tank can supply?

Party on.....

 

[doresy]

But I suppose if I dont, the nitrites/nitrates Ive struggled so hard to get will die off and there will only be enough nitrites/nitrates as the ammonia the fish in the tank can supply?

Party on.....

Almost exactly right, you are not struggling to get nitrites or nitrates What you are trying to achieve is to build up a bacteria that nutrifies ammonia and produces nitrIte. Then to build up a second bacteria that nutrifies that nitrIte but in turn produces nitrAte. To keep that down it's up to you to do regular partial water changes

Once you have amassed enough bacterias to nutrify 5ppm of ammonia and the nitrite it produces in about 10 hours then you have enough bacteria to keep a fully stocked tank free of ammonia and nitrIte. If you only put in a few fish then you colony of bacteria will drop to a level needed for THAT amount of bacteria.
You can, of course let that happen but then you would have to add future fish in much smaller numbers to prevent a 'mini cycle'

 

[stuhyde]

I KNEW what I meant LOLOL

Sounds good

But what about this party sama:

 

[rdd1952]

But what about this party sama:

You didnt read that in the Fishless Cycling thread?? You have to invite all members (all 27084 of them) from the forum to your house for a party as soon as the tank finishes cycling. The food and beer are on you but each member will bring you a fish. So in exchange for food and beer, you will then have 27083 fish to stock your tank.

 

[stuhyde]

Oh fook

Better get a 50 gallon instead then

Seriously tho, thanks for your replies, much appreciated

 

[stuhyde]

OK Just tested the water again, there are now about 3-4PPM of ammonia STILL and BARELY (if any) any nitrItes?

See the dates above when I added various things, surely it should have dropped more than it has?

 

[rdd1952]

I would consider doing a water change in the 50% range to try to get things going. Sometimes it takes a while but if the ammonia has dropped some, then you should have at least a little mnitrite.

 

[stuhyde]

I would consider doing a water change in the 50% range to try to get things going. Sometimes it takes a while but if the ammonia has dropped some, then you should have at least a little mnitrite.

I suppose it HAS to be a slow process to start with, and the Ammonia has definitely dropped therefore I'm assuming there HAS to be SOME nitrItes in there (albeit very low at the moment).


I'll leave it another few days and report back