Ask Questions About Cycling

[carmstrong]

Good morning everyone, happy Father's Day to anyone who is a dad

I have another question,

I am going away for a week (Jun 25 - Jul 2) and I'm in the beginning stages of a fish-less cycle.
Today is day 4 and I'm about to go check the nitrate and ammonia levels on the tank.
By the time I leave for my trip it will be around day 14, what if going to happen to my cycle if I'm not there to give it snack doses during this process?
I could ask my mother to do this for me however I do not think she would understand it fully.
Any advice?

Thanks

 

[carmstrong]

Ok, So here's my reading for today (Day 6)
Ammonia (0.5)
No3 - Nitrate(20)
No2 - Nitrite (0)
PH (7.0)
KH (80)
GH (120)
 
So, what am I missing? 
Is it perhaps that the little bacteria that is already there is eating the Nitrite's too quickly?
 
Should I do another full dose like the forum said to do after the first dose?

 

[Taff7996]

Week 3 into planted fish less cycle and ammonia is going from 3ppm to 0.25ppm in 24 hours

But Nitries have dropped a lot but are sticking at 5.0ppm

So I decided to check my Tap Water, hay presto it 5.0ppm

So do I use that as a datum marker

So I need to take 5.0ppm off all further nitrite readings to get a true reading?

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Tap water should almost never have nitrite in it. It has to be "contaminated; for this. Do you perhaps mean nitrate? Most hobby test kits for nitrite do not go above 5 or 8 ppm, so when one gets this top reading it means one has at least that much but could have a lot more.
 
Normally less ammonia should be used when plants are involved and there should be no attempt to cycle at all for a couple of weeks afyter planting to allow the plants to settle in. At that point one should do an initial test by adding 2 ppm of ammonia. based on the 24 hour test results, the next steps can be determined.
 
Many planted tanks can simply be stocked gradually without the need for any ammonia additions. All higher light well planted tanks are like this. the reason is that plants themselves will use ammonium. And then, they also arrive with the needed bacteria on them. The result of these two factors is nitrite levels should never get all that high and may not even appear. Plants also use nitrates.
 
Are you fertilizing this tank or using any specialized plant substrate? Normally newly planted tanks need little or no ferts the first few weeks. Only the most demanding plants will need them. But then such tanks would need no cycling.

 

[n0sweat]

I'm setting up a tank I wish to establish/cycle.
 
I'm looking at this kit "API Freshwater Master Test Kit" from Amazon at £20 or so. (sorry cant do a link??)
 
Will this kit do the job? It seems to have good reviews there.
 
Any recommendations otherwise?
 
Thanks
 
ETA Sorry, just noticed the thread "Water Testing Kits" so looks like the API kit is favourite.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

The API master kit has everything you will need to test during your cycle. Best wishes for a quick cycle.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

If pressed for cash, the three test you really need are ammonia, nitrite and pH. Your store should be willing to test GH, KH or even nitrate if you ask. There is not a lot of need for those last 3 test once you know your tap water baseline and as long as no problems are encountered. The nitrate test is pretty inaccurate and regular water changes or special media that will eventually host denitrification can deal with it anyhow.

 

[stanleo]

Sorry if this question has been posed before. Am I right that the higher the pH the faster the cycle? Out of the tap, my pH is 7.6. THis is ok for cycling right?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Essentially, that is correct.  7.6 is just fine for a cycle.

 

[stanleo]

The ammonia I bought seems to be very weak. It took 32ml of it to get a 3ppm reading of ammonia when I started my fishless cycle. I am now on day 7 and the readings .25ppm ammonia, over 5pmm Nitrite, and 5ppm Nitrates. My question is for Dose #2 which according to the article I need to add today, is it safe to put the full amount in? 32ml just seems like a lot.

 

[Ch4rlie]

The ammonia I bought seems to be very weak. It took 32ml of it to get a 3ppm reading of ammonia when I started my fishless cycle. I am now on day 7 and the readings .25ppm ammonia, over 5pmm Nitrite, and 5ppm Nitrates. My question is for Dose #2 which according to the article I need to add today, is it safe to put the full amount in? 32ml just seems like a lot.

 
Does seem an awful lot of ammonia.
 
Did you use the calculator from this forum and set to 3ppm and the strength of your ammonia that should be on the bottle somewhere, usually 9.5%?
 
And how long are you leaving the ammonia in tank before testing?
Usually take a little while to get an accurate reading, I usually leave it at least an hour before testing.

 

[stanleo]

The concentration isn't listed on the bottle and I left it going for an hour or so. Yeah I used the calculator and it said to use 6.57ml for a 55gl at 9.5%. I did that and it barely registered 1ppm. That's why I am concerned putting that much in there again. I thought about doing a half dose, waiting an hour to test and see if it spikes back up to 3ppm and if it doesn't go ahead and add the rest of it. Does that sound good?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Sounds better than adding too much.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Do not wait that long. if you have any ammonia bacs in the tank now they wont wait to start using the ammonia until after you test. Give it 10 minutes tops. If you have a filter and other current makers that mix the tank water at a 10 times an hour turn over rate, five minutes is more than enough

 

[stanleo]

Do not wait that long. if you have any ammonia bacs in the tank now they wont wait to start using the ammonia until after you test. Give it 10 minutes tops. If you have a filter and other current makers that mix the tank water at a 10 times an hour turn over rate, five minutes is more than enough

I actually took your advise rom the other post and did 20ml. That did the trick it was 3ppm when I tested about 45 min later. I either miss added what I put in for the first dose or got a bad reading when I tested the first dose. Either is highly likely. Either way I tested twice this time to make sure. Thanks for the advise everyone.