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Bojangles Fishless Cycle

Bojangles said:
OldMan47 said:
. You may find that very soon your levels of nitrite will be dropping by themselves because of the mature media seeding that you did.
Click to expand...

Looks like its happened ovenight :D

Day 7 of Fishless cycle

12 hour test

Ammonia - 0ppm (-2 ) added 4 ppm
Nitrite - 1 ppm (-4 ppm)
Nitrate 20 ppm
PH 7.9
High PH 8
Click to expand...


yay!!!!!!
 
Bojangles said:
Just did a quick test to see if mine go purple before capping because i know thats what was happening yesterday before the water change and now they are staying blue a few seconds before changing to deep purple

The Nitrite test card is really stupid in my opinion becuse 1.0 ppm and 5 ppm look to much like the same colour while 2.0 ppm is totaly different

My ammonia is dropping well after 24 hours and afte it dropping nearly 2 ppm overnight im going to start testing every 12 hours now and hope that Nitrite starts to follow suit
Click to expand...

IIRC, the Zero colour looks just like a diluted version of the test liquid itself. i.e. no colour change at all.
 
Day 8 Fishless cycle

Ammonia 0 (Raised back to 4 ppm)
Nitrite looks like 2 ppm
Nitrate 40 ppm
PH 7.9

Looks like my tank is getting rid of ammonia in 12 hours now will do another test tonight at 7 o clock to make sure

Quick question

There is alot of white fluff/wool stuff floating around my tank could this be a start of a bacteria bloom?
 
yay, sounds like you're flying through this cycle.

we do get some reports in new tanks of a strange white fluffy/slimy substance. i dont think anyone knows what it actually is (probably bacterial) but it doesn't harm anything, you can just wipe oit off or suck it out with your siphon or it'll go away by itself in a few weeks.
 
Schmill said:
Bojangles said:
Right i did a 70% water change waited an hour before doing another test and nitrite was high but not too high then i tested a few hours later the readings are sky high again the test is a dark purple colour so thats 5+ppm should i just wait it out till it starts to drop or do more water changes?

Im just a little worried incase my cycle stalls i read in the fishless cycle topic that the test will go green when nitrite goes of the scale so i dont know if im worry about nothing :blush:
Click to expand...

It seems from some recent tests that the API kit doesn't go green anymore. I'm not sure when the sticky was written, and I wanted some more 'observations' before I asked anyone to change it, but my results are below from when my NitrIte levels were just starting to climb:

5ml Tank Water: Drops went deep purple in bottom of tube BEFORE capping. After 5 minutes color was like the 1ppm but very 'transparent'
2.5ml Tank Water / 2.5ml Tap Water: Drops went deep purple in bottom of tube BEFORE capping. After 5 minutes color was like the 1ppm but very 'transparent'
1ml Tank Water / 4 ml Tap Water: Drops went in pale blue, (perhaps slight purple tinge), after capping and shaking still blueish. After 5 minutes 2ppm NitrIte.

So it seems that now the NitrIte tests almost go VERY purple, and then fade out if you leave it the 5 minutes when they are off the scale. If you are unsure test like above to be sure for yourself. Now I just put the drops in the tube, and if they are purple before I get a chance to cap it, then I just dump the whole lot and take it as an 'off-scale' reading :good:
Click to expand...

Just as an update on this, last night I did my nitrIte test, (which was off the scale), and left it 5 minutes. After teh full 5 minutes it was very pale purple, 5 minutes after that almost clear, 10 minutes and it had a blue tint, 15 minutes and it had gone pale green!

So it perhaps DOES goes green sometimes, but I've never seen it do it before, (and never left my tests for 20 minutes "just to see" before!), but I thought it was worth a mention. I still use the 'drops going deep purple' as a sign of 'off the scale' though :good:

With regards to the white fluff / wool, I seem to have this in my tank to, and just put it down to the 'bio-film' that seems to grow on everything whilst the tank cycles. I often see clumps / sheets of it break away from the outside of the filter pipes, or the glass, and they soon clump into a ball and float around the aquarium. I'm just ignoring them at the moment :)
 
petertr said:
Nice on matey. Looks like you're almost done. Just need that big tank now!
Click to expand...

Just made an offer for Juwel 180

Comes with
300W heater
Juwel Filter
Stand

They want £140 for it but open to offers so said i would give them £100 waiting to hear back willing to go to £120 like but over that is outa my price range till after Disneyland :(
 
Schmill said:
Schmill said:
Bojangles said:
Right i did a 70% water change waited an hour before doing another test and nitrite was high but not too high then i tested a few hours later the readings are sky high again the test is a dark purple colour so thats 5+ppm should i just wait it out till it starts to drop or do more water changes?

Im just a little worried incase my cycle stalls i read in the fishless cycle topic that the test will go green when nitrite goes of the scale so i dont know if im worry about nothing :blush:
Click to expand...

It seems from some recent tests that the API kit doesn't go green anymore. I'm not sure when the sticky was written, and I wanted some more 'observations' before I asked anyone to change it, but my results are below from when my NitrIte levels were just starting to climb:

5ml Tank Water: Drops went deep purple in bottom of tube BEFORE capping. After 5 minutes color was like the 1ppm but very 'transparent'
2.5ml Tank Water / 2.5ml Tap Water: Drops went deep purple in bottom of tube BEFORE capping. After 5 minutes color was like the 1ppm but very 'transparent'
1ml Tank Water / 4 ml Tap Water: Drops went in pale blue, (perhaps slight purple tinge), after capping and shaking still blueish. After 5 minutes 2ppm NitrIte.

So it seems that now the NitrIte tests almost go VERY purple, and then fade out if you leave it the 5 minutes when they are off the scale. If you are unsure test like above to be sure for yourself. Now I just put the drops in the tube, and if they are purple before I get a chance to cap it, then I just dump the whole lot and take it as an 'off-scale' reading :good:
Click to expand...

Just as an update on this, last night I did my nitrIte test, (which was off the scale), and left it 5 minutes. After teh full 5 minutes it was very pale purple, 5 minutes after that almost clear, 10 minutes and it had a blue tint, 15 minutes and it had gone pale green!

So it perhaps DOES goes green sometimes, but I've never seen it do it before, (and never left my tests for 20 minutes "just to see" before!), but I thought it was worth a mention. I still use the 'drops going deep purple' as a sign of 'off the scale' though :good:

With regards to the white fluff / wool, I seem to have this in my tank to, and just put it down to the 'bio-film' that seems to grow on everything whilst the tank cycles. I often see clumps / sheets of it break away from the outside of the filter pipes, or the glass, and they soon clump into a ball and float around the aquarium. I'm just ignoring them at the moment :)
Click to expand...
Yes, this is quite a good anecdote to have. Thank you for the contribution Schmill. The very occasional reports of "pale green" have appeared from time to time. Even though any good lab bench person will tell you that liquid-reagent type tests should be considered to have no meaning except at the time-mark that is instructed to be used by the test designer, we are dealing here on the beginners forum with people who come from all walks of life and often take very different messages during their beginning use of these tests. Off and on it will turn up in a thread that the beginner has a very loose idea about waiting or timing the required 5 minutes!

There also seems to be the occasional observation when nitrites are very high of the following: As the reagent drops fall through the tank water in the test tube, the are instantly deep purple and actually can have a weird dark green-blue-purple shiny appearance prior to any capping or shaking. Either this weird looking stuff or the more common very deep purple that instantly happens is a reliable sign that nitrites(NO2) are spiked and the 5-minute wait of the test need not be bothered with if one doesn't want.

Anyway, I plan to remember your observation as a potential sign when helping beginners that if we hear a pale green report, we may be dealing with a beginner who is not be honest with himself/herself about having performed the test correctly with a timer and paying attention.

~~waterdrop~~
 
 
Update

Day 8 pf fishless Cycle

First 12 hour test

Ammonia - 0 ppm (-4) raised back 4 ppm
Nitrite - 1 ppm (-1)
Nitrate - 40+ ppm
PH 7.6
High PH 8
 
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