Are My Ammonia Bacteria Established?

[Maxta]

Hi again.

Slowly since Monday the 12th March my ammonia has been going down and nitrites slowly creeping up. Check my table:

Yesterday night (day 8 ) my ammonia finally reached 0, so i topped the ammonia back up to 2 ppm. Today (day 9) i checked at dinner time out of curiosity and my ammonia levels again were 0, so i topped it back up again to 2 ppm. I checked half an hour ago (9pm - my usual checking time) and astonishingly the ammonia was at 0.25.

Are my ammonia consuming bacteria efficiently established? They brought the level down from 2 ppm to 0.25 ppm in only 9 hours!!!!!

So guess all im waiting on is my nitrite consuming bacteria to establish, and my nitrite levels to fall to 0 then im done. Correct?

 

[newtotropical]

Are you using test strips? Careful if you are they arent very accurate. Your ph seems low.

 

[Maxta]

No, im using the API Freshwater Master test kit.

I heard pH above 5.5 is fine apparently. I havent tested my pH for days now, but the last time it was 6.8, my dads tank downstairs which he did a fishy cycle - the pH is around 7.0.

Maybe its my water i dont know. But my pH is in the range of keeping the fish i want. Iv read these forums and people have said to others that if the pH gos below 6, then thats when you should start worrying (when fishy cycling that is).

 

[Tessla]

More important than a high or low pH is sufficient buffers to keep your water at a stable pH. Do you find that your pH changes frequently? I'd test your tap water's GH (general hardness) and KH (carbonate hardness/buffering capacity) since you have such low pH readings.

 

[rdd1952]

You had your ammonia bacteria established but you didn't mention what your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate have done since day 9. Have you continued to add ammonia everytime it drops back to zero? If not, then your ammonia processing bacteria are dying off. You have to keep them fed. The nitrite will take approximately twice as long to drop to zero as did the ammonia. Keep adding ammonia until the nitrite spike ends and then you will be finished.

Edit: Don't worry about your pH while cycling. It will fluctuate and isn't important anyway since you don't have any fish in the tank.

 

[Maxta]

You had your ammonia bacteria established but you didn't mention what your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate have done since day 9. Have you continued to add ammonia everytime it drops back to zero? If not, then your ammonia processing bacteria are dying off. You have to keep them fed. The nitrite will take approximately twice as long to drop to zero as did the ammonia. Keep adding ammonia until the nitrite spike ends and then you will be finished.

Edit: Don't worry about your pH while cycling. It will fluctuate and isn't important anyway since you don't have any fish in the tank.

Yes i added ammonia on day 1, to a level of 6 ppm. I waited and it took almost a week for it to drop down right back down, i was planning to feed more ammonia when my levels went to 1 ppm, but overnight it went quicker than expected so it went down to 0 ppm, i added more ammonia to 2 ppm on day 8, on day 9 at dinner time my levels had dropped to 0 again, so i topped it upto 2 ppm again. At 9pm on day 9 my levels had dropped to 0.25, so i topped ammonia back upto 3 ppm.

So yes iv continued to add ammonia. Oh, so its going to take me 2 weeks for my nitrite bacteria to form, aww. Guess il have to keep testing then and feeding ammonia.

PS. Dont know how to check for GH and KH.

 

[Maxta]

HELP!

I just did a pH check out of curiosity and its around 6.0.

WHAT SHOULD I DO.

I dont want to have to do this cycle all over again!!!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

your ammonia spike is done and the nitrite spike is beginning, expect nitrite to take roughly twice as long as ammonia. you need to be patient with it now.

and stop flapping over your pH. It's fine, see my response on your other post.

 

[Maxta]

As i said in my other post. Thanks again. People make me panic telling me my pH is low. I had a pH of 6.8 and they said it was low, so when i tested and found it to be 6.0 it made me think it was extremely low.

By bacteria sure are hungry for ammonia. I cant keep up with them. Im having to add ammonia every 12 hours....is this usual? Im going to be testing like 5 times a day, just to check what levels its gone down to overnight, then to try and get my ammonia back upto a higher level, then doing the same later on. Im probably going to have to buy another ammonia bottle!!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

ha ha sounds about right!

 

[Maxta]

Oh cmon. I only added ammonia at 8am this morning to a level of ~2 ppm, iv checked 12pm when i got back in and the levels are at 0.50.

Looks like im feeding them every 5 hours the rate theyre going at. Iv already lost 2cm of water over a week from water tests lol.

Good thing though, my nitrites are starting to drop i think, just checked and they were around 2 ppm, yesterday they were 4. But maybe the bacteria havent gave out all the nitrites yet.

Raised the levels upto 4 this time.

 

[scorphonic]

I'm so happy to see your data in the pic...I think my tank is doing the same thing at the moment. I think the ammonia is decreasing now but there is no nitrite just yet...the test kit cant register the slight changes just yet...hopefully tomorrow is a better day!!

 

[Tessla]

Here's a good article on GH and KH as it applies to the aquarium. The pH changes are normal when cycling, but to have such a low pH in the presence of ammonia I wonder if you have sufficient buffers. A few pH tests on your more mature tank would be helpful, as would GH and KH readings (you can get test kits for these, possibly even ask your LFS to test a sample). You may have a low KH, which will make your tanks more likely to fluctuate in pH (the dangerous bit) but is easily fixed by the addition of bicarbonate of soda. As is, your pH tells us nothing.

 

[rdd1952]

Don't waste your test supplies on pH tests. The pH will all change when you do your big water change after the fishless cycle is over. It will return to very close to what it is out of the tap since you will be replacng 75 to 90 percent of the water with tap water again. Once you have your KH & GH tested (any fish store can test itfor you) you will know how much buffering capacity you have and have a better idea of where you pH will level out..

 

[Maxta]

Well the pH of the tank downstairs i around 7.0

So i guess il be aiming for around the same for my tank.