Annoyed.com

[oswoldy]

Hi All,
Im sure your all fed up of me by now but im confused/annoyed here are my fishless cycling readings

Day 1

Ammonia 0
NitrATE N/A
NitrITE N/A

Day 2

Ammonia 0
NitrATE N/A
NitrITE N/A

Day 3

Ammonia 0.5
NitrATE N/A
NitrITE N/A

Day 4

Ammonia 1
NitrATE N/A
NitrITE N/A

Day 5

Ammonia 4
NitrATE N/A
NitrITE N/A

Day 6

Ammonia 4
NitrATE N/A
NitrITE N/A

Day 7

Added Mature Sponge Media

Ammonia 4
NitrATE N/A
NitrITE N/A

Day 8

Ammonia 4
NitrATE N/A
NitrITE N/A

Day 9

Ammonia 4
NitrATE N/A
NitrITE N/A

Day 10

Ammonia 4
NitrATE N/A
NitrITE N/A

Day 11

Ammonia 4
NitrATE N/A
NitrITE N/A

Day 12

PH 7.6 - Tested just incase
Ammonia 4
NitrATE 10 - Tested just incase
NitrITE 0 - Tested just incase



Now looking at other peoples cycling Diaries they have AN Ammonia drop within two-three days but it obviously takes longer for it to reach zero however my Ammonia has been 4 for the past 8 days am I doing something wrong. The other thing im slightly concerned about is at the start of this process my tank was cloudy (Bacterial Bloom) this cloudyness has now almost completely gone which im assuming means the speed of bacteria growth has slowed quite a bit? I was under the impression aswell that adding mature media (1 side of the Fluval 3+ filter) would help speed things up. This has been in for 5 days and still no change.

Why is it sooooooooo slow.

Many Thanks
Mike

 

[JenCliBee]

do a water change and redose, beens you havent had an ammonia drop at all it wont do any harm and just see how it goes. Ammonia IMO can take a while 2 process, however if muture media is used then i would of imagined some sort of drop by now ?

 

[oswoldy]

whats your PH?

7.6 I have tested it today.

Mike

 

[JenCliBee]

whats your PH?

7.6 I have tested it today.

Mike

sorry i edited my original 1 lol i didnt see the PH reading

 

[oswoldy]

whats your PH?

7.6 I have tested it today.

Mike

sorry i edited my original 1 lol i didnt see the PH reading

Ah right, lol.

How much of a change should I do?

Mike

 

[paulbr1]

Daft Q, but where is your ammonia coming from as your first few days quote Zero?

Are you adding ammonia or flake?

My cycle seems to be going quite well now (no brag) day13 but i did add mature from the start and have been using pure ammonia -well 9.5%, plus a few days ago I gave my other filter media a good wash in the new tank to try and add more bacteria.



Nice plec Jen!

 

[oswoldy]

Daft Q, but where is your ammonia coming from as your first few days quote Zero?

Are you adding ammonia or flake?

My cycle seems to be going quite well now (no brag) day13 but i did add mature from the start and have been using pure ammonia -well 9.5%, plus a few days ago I gave my other filter media a good wash in the new tank to try and add more bacteria.

I was initially using flake in a net to get Ammonia to 4 as I could not track down household Ammonia. I have since tracked it down but have not had the chance to use it yet. So basically I WAS using flakes but plan on using 9.5% Ammonia when/if it ever drops

Mike

 

[paulbr1]

Hi again, did you check your ammonia for bubbles ie gave a good shake and any bubbles should dissapear within a second or so, I tried three different ones until I was happy - although the staff at Homebase must have thought I was a wierdo they could only see the hand movements!!

 

[oswoldy]

Hi again, did you check your ammonia for bubbles ie gave a good shake and any bubbles should dissapear within a second or so, I tried three different ones until I was happy - although the staff at Homebase must have thought I was a wierdo they could only see the hand movements!!

I have not had chance to use it yet, but mine is also the homebase 1.

Mike

 

[paulbr1]

Just a thought but I would vac out any remaining flake that is on the bottom - it will more than likely feed a bloom of algae (mine did first time) and doesn't look nice.

Anyway good luck.

Paul.

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, I agree. Most stories we hear of trying to use flakes come out really weird. I'd do a large (90%) gravel clean water change and carefully use the new ammonia to bring the tested ammonia level up to about 4-5ppm and consider it a fresh start. I didn't realize you were using flakes!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[oswoldy]

Yes, I agree. Most stories we hear of trying to use flakes come out really weird. I'd do a large (90%) gravel clean water change and carefully use the new ammonia to bring the tested ammonia level up to about 4-5ppm and consider it a fresh start. I didn't realize you were using flakes!

~~waterdrop~~

I did a 50% change earlier today before your post, would this suffice?

Mike

P.S Is the fact I was using flakes likely to have killed the mature media?

 

[oswoldy]

I may have found the reason it was taking sooooo long. I have changed 40% of the water so I assume the Ammonia should have dropped, correct?

This test was taken about 1-2hours after the change. It is a diff colour than the tests before so maybe I was off the scale!

Does this look like 4 to you?

Mike

 

[JenCliBee]

yep looks like closer to 8 to me still m8 anythink about 8ppm i think stalls a cycle i would do a huge water change and start over with ammonia in the bottle method

jen

 

[paulbr1]

Difficult to see properly but I would agree at around 4 - same test kit as mine

I would leave for an hour after doing the water change before testing - as you may have for a more accurate read, so if you did wait that should be ok.

How is the tank water looking - clear, cloudy or murky? mine goes cloudy for a few hours after adding the ammonia.

Paul.