Berbies Fishless Cycle

[berbie38]

ha ha, maybe i could sacrifce a small lamb to the bacterial gods.

 

[Miles_hot]

Sorry no - beginners mistake; it would promote entirely the wrong sort of bacteria. Try a fresh water prawn or two - Tesco's Finest of course to show due respect (or maybe Waitrose?)

Miles

 

[KittyKat]

Re-dose at most once every 24 hours. Do *NOT* dose on the 12 hour mark.

 

[berbie38]

ok will do

 

[Aqua Tom]

It is dose at 24 hours, test at 12 hours.

Example

Dose at 8am

Test at 8pm (do not redose here regardless of test results)

Dose at 8am

Test at 8pm

repeat


Tom

 

[berbie38]

ok thanks for your help

 

[Miles_hot]

Tom, obviously you would test at 0800 before dosing and only dose at 0/0 (i assume!)
Miles

 

[dtaylor21184]

As far as I can tell I maybe wrong you should be testing ever 12 hours but still dosing every 24 hours

 

[berbie38]

Hi all
I have tested my water this morning 12 hrs after redosing to 4ppm. My Ammonia is 0.5 my Nitrite seems to have dropped a bit 5-10 but my nitrate has also dropped dramatically to 5-10 where as yesterday it was about 80 is this correct? I thought Nitrates could only be taken out by a water change. PH is 8.
any help appreciated
best wishes
berbie

 

[KittyKat]

Nitrates should be higher.. clean your test tubes extra well with tap water and give the reagent bottles a really good shake (the ones which say they may need it).

 

[berbie38]

ok i retested after cleaning and shaking but still the same results.Its a very dark yellow colour. Could it be off scale as yesterday it was dark red? i am u8sing an api test kit
regards
berbie

 

[berbie38]

ok i just found this on another forum:

If I recall my nitrates would do the same when they were extremly high...after putting the first agent it it would turn a brownish color...then after the second agent it would show a color that looked between 5-10ppm. But it wasnt the case....I did a test only putting acouple drops of tank water in and then the rest just tap water and then it would show a color that was readable on the color chart...so I knew my nitrates were so high that it was off the color chart.

This is exactly what mine is doing

seems like maybe im off scale.If this is verified i may put it as apost of its own as it could be of help to people and save a lot of head scratching.
Best wishes
berbie

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Do a test to get it onto your scale for yourself. Add 2.5 mL tank water and 2.5 mL tap water. Complete the test as usual. That should give you an amount that is exactly HALF of your actual value.

 

[berbie38]

THATS A GREAT IDEA! OK I DID ITV AND GOT A READING BETWEEN 20-40 SO THERE IS NITRATE THERE
THANKS
BERBIE

 

[eaglesaquarium]

So, you can safely assume that your nitrates are close to 80ppm or higher. congrats.