Ask Questions About Cycling

[kwi]

Day 9 since adding Ammonia (Tank was set up on a Friday and Ammonia added the following Tuesday.) and no change to Ammonia or nitrites, bloom appeared really quickly and has cleared a couple of days ago.
Just keep waiting and testing every 3rd day for now?

 

[Essjay]

Yes, just wait.


It took 3 weeks for my ammonia to drop and nitrite show up.........

 

[kwi]

Yes, just wait.


It took 3 weeks for my ammonia to drop and nitrite show up.........

Well I did say I wanted to teach Khaden (My 7yo) some patience........

 

[FishBearer9845]

Hoping to finish cycling mine this week to move my cories over to a 50/50 tap water/RO set up. I did have to put dose 7 in though. Dose 6, in 24 hours, ammonia was 0 but nitrites were still 0.5! So close! I'm hoping tonight's test will be 0 of each.

 

[kwi]

Patience is a virtue.........

 

[FishBearer9845]

Good evening,
I think the tank I started a fish-less cycle on, to specifically to run on RO and tap water mix for my cories, is complete! Very much almost! I'm going to continue feeding - possibly a dose (full) Wednesday so I don't lose anything in between now and the weekend. Before I move my existing cories to the new tank, I want to add something else (researching at the moment) - would it therefore be safe to say adding fish Saturday will be safe, to enable them to quarantine before moving my existing cories across.
This is the result of testing after 22 hours from putting in a full ammonia dose

Don't worry, I'm aware the tank needs emptying and the nitrates measured the other night are off the scale! I appreciate the light is a bit dull but it is what it is.

All advice always appreciated.

Thank you

 

[kwi]

It's now been 24 days (8 tests) since my initial dose, no nitrites and no ammonia drop........when I picked the tank up Pets at home gave me a small bottle of their "Filter Boost" which I added to the tank initially, and last Wednesday I added a small bottle of Tetra quick start.
I did get a bacterial bloom very rapidly after adding the ammonia which took 9 days to totally clear, tap KH takes one drop of the API KH test, so <17.9ppm tank is currently taking 6 drops, so about 107.4ppm. pH is between 7 and 7.5 and temperature is 27C.
No plants.

Am currently thinking of draining the tank and starting from scratch, using the Tetra aqua safe rather than the Pets at Home tap safe I started with.
Or, plant out the tank and do a silent cycle.

Or should I just stick it out..........

 

[Ch4rlie]

tap KH takes one drop of the API KH test, so <17.9ppm tank is currently taking 6 drops, so about 107.4ppm. pH is between 7 and 7.5 and temperature is 27C.
No plants.

Tap kH is very low at 1dKH, for cycling tanks it’s should not be below 3dKH.

Would add some inorganic carbon (as carbonates) to help buffering and to keep your KH up.

I would start again by draining tank of water and refilling and not forgetting to add dechlorinator. 24 days is a long time without any changes.

P@H bacteria booster or whatever it is in these little sachets or bottles are not worth it at all imho.

Get a bottle of Tetra Safe Start or Dr Tim’s one and only nitrfying bacteria, either one of those bottles will help a lot in getting the tank started and on the way to cycling.

Read and re read the forum article on cycling your first tank and follow that exactly.

Took me a while to get the hang of that article when I first read it too. Only really starting making proper sense when you do it for real and seeing the test results and adding ammonia at the right stages and then you’ll get ‘ah I seeeee now, how did I not get that in the first place’ and feel a bit daft at times, well I did anyway!

 

[kwi]

Tap kH is very low at 1dKH, for cycling tanks it’s should not be below 3dKH.

Would add some inorganic carbon (as carbonates) to help buffering and to keep your KH up.

I would start again by draining tank of water and refilling and not forgetting to add dechlorinator. 24 days is a long time without any changes.

P@H bacteria booster or whatever it is in these little sachets or bottles are not worth it at all imho.

Get a bottle of Tetra Safe Start or Dr Tim’s one and only nitrfying bacteria, either one of those bottles will help a lot in getting the tank started and on the way to cycling.

Read and re read the forum article on cycling your first tank and follow that exactly.

Took me a while to get the hang of that article when I first read it too. Only really starting making proper sense when you do it for real and seeing the test results and adding ammonia at the right stages and then you’ll get ‘ah I seeeee now, how did I not get that in the first place’ and feel a bit daft at times, well I did anyway!

I actually have the cycling article printed out and could probably recite it to you.........I know the bacteria in a bottle generally isn't worthwhile, but then they're not harmful and I got the P@H one given to me when collecting the tank, I ordered online but collected it from store, good job as it arrived looking like a jigsaw puzzle, got a starter kit as an apology, that's a bag of gravel, small bottle of filter boost, small bottle of tap safe and a small tub of flake. Wasn't going to turn it down.
The tetra one I got last week out of frustration.

What would be the best way of getting my KH up?

 

[Ch4rlie]

Adding some carbonate or inorganic carbon will help raise the kH.

Not activated carbon btw though this does turn into inert carbon eventually.

Calcium carbonate may help but am unsure as to how much you should add, it’s only temporary until the cycle has been completed and then you can take the carbonate out of the tank or filter.

 

[Essjay]

Calcium carbonate is things like coral or limestone. Officially it's insoluble in water but it will dissolve very slowly.

@Ch4rlie how to you feel about using baking soda aka bicarbonate of soda for the duration of cycling only? That's soluble inorganic carbonate, and the big water change at the end will remove almost all of it before fish are put in the tank.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Calcium carbonate is things like coral or limestone. Officially it's insoluble in water but it will dissolve very slowly.

@Ch4rlie how to you feel about using baking soda aka bicarbonate of soda for the duration of cycling only? That's soluble inorganic carbonate, and the big water change at the end will remove almost all of it before fish are put in the tank.

That might work actually, never tried that personally but for a fishless cycle for anyone with low kH then that is a good possibility, perhaps something like one teaspoon for every 50 litres to raise the kH slightly, not sure how much that will raise the kH by but does not need to be a lot, just enough to raise the kH to over 3dKH for cycling.

Great idea as that’s an easily accessible element in most households, especially if one partner likes baking

And absolutely the fact the big water at the end of successful cycle remove most if not all of the bicarbonate of soda but don’t think will effect livestock much of at all even if a little is still leftover after water change as it only affected the kH short term.

Terrific tip @essjay

 

[Essjay]

I'll confess that I have low KH and I used it for a fishless cycle a few years ago. I overdid the bicarb, 1.5 x 5 ml spoonful in 25 litres raised the KH from 3 to 13 so 1 spoonful in 50 sounds about right.



Make sure it's baking soda or bicarbonate of soda - baking powder is something different and should not be used.

 

[kwi]

Make sure it's baking soda or bicarbonate of soda - baking powder is something different and should not be used.

Is that the voice of experience....

 

[kwi]

I've added the basket that had carbon back in with calcium carbonate in its place.
Tank drained and refilled with treated water, ammonia dose to 3ppm calculated on the water added, just waiting for the temperature to get back up before adding that. And then it's back to waiting. I'll test KH tomorrow to see what's happening.