Confused By Water Tests - Help

[Evie1901]

Hi Guys
I've just bought my first tank and i'm a bit confused by everything. It's a 54litre Juwel Korall with heater. The shop i got it from told me to fill it up and turn on the filter and heater after adding stress coat and quick start to the water. I then needed to wait 24 hours before adding fish. So i went home and set it up and added the stress coat and quick start as per the instructions. I then did a little research on the net about what fish we might like. Thats when i read about cycling.
So, the tank has been up and running with no fish for a week now and despite reading loads of stuff i'm still confused. I think its a case of information overload. I went back to the shop for advice and was told i needed to test the water and let them know the results so that they could tell me what treatments i need. Before i go back with my results, i thought i'd ask on here as i dont want to be sold a load of stuff i dont need.
The PH level is 7.6 high ph 8.0
The ammonia is 0.25ppm
The Nitrite is 0
The nitrate is zero.
The booklet that came with the kit isn't that helpful so any advice much appreciated.
We were hoping to have fish by the weekend as the tank is a christmas present but if the water isn't right then we will wait.
Thanks in advance
Evie

 

[the_lock_man]

As you have read, cycling is the process of growing two colonies of bacteria in your filter. Quick Start is supposed to do that for you, only many people, myself included, have had bad results by relying on these types of products. If the QuickStart had successfully grown bacteria, and had fed them, you would have seen a result for Nitrate. THe fact that you don't leads me to suspect that the QuickStart has done nothing.

So, assuming I'm right, you have no bacteria in your filter, therefore you have nothing to process the ammonia produced by fish.

So you have two options.

You can either add some fish, and monitor the ammonia and nitrite levels daily. You will probably have to do water changes every day, probably large ones, in order to keep the ammonia and nitrite levels down at a level where the damage to the fish is minimised. This will take a number of weeks, typically 6-8 weeks.

OR

You can obtain some household bottled ammonia, and follow the fishless method. This has a number of advantages. First, no fish are harmed in this process. Second, it's a lot less work for you, because you don't have to do daily water changes. It's likely that you would only have to do 1 or 2 changes during the entire cycling process, which is also generally quicker than by using fish. The last advantage is that once the cycling process is finished, you can add your full stocking of fish in one go.

The major disadvantage of this method is that people keep asking you when you're going to get some fish into your otherwise empty tank. This can be rather irritating, but you do have the warm and fuzzy glow inside of doing the right thing (IMHO!)

I'm sure you can't wait to buy some fish, who could blame you for that, but I can't recommend enough going fishless.

If you do go fishless, you can count on the support and advice of the experienced members of this forum, who will be happy to give you all the support you need.

If you decide to go fish-in, you can still count on the support and advice of the experienced members of this forum, who will still be happy to give you all the support you need, along with a few "Told you so, ner, ner ne-ner ner"s from the really childish ones, (ie me!) if you do encounter problems.

Have a quick read of this thread, it shows the problems that can occur, although in fairness this person haddn't done as much research as you obviously have.

We were all beginners once, and most of us are still young enough to remember what it was like - so please ask any questions you need, however dinny they might seem to you. The only stupid question is the one that isn't asked.

 

[KCB]

I cannot stress enough how much better a fish-less cycle is compared to fish-in. Like lock man said, if you did a fish-in cycle then your fish will suffer some degree of ammonia and nitrite poisoning until your cycle is complete. This can cause a lot of damage to the fish and who wants that? .

Here is a guide to fish-less cycling: http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/113861-fishless-cycling/. All you need is a bottle of pure ammonia (can be purchased from many DIY shops) and an API test kit. That is it! Then after a few weeks you can add your whole stock of fish and they will be happy you did a fish-less cycle!

 

[ColR1948]

There is another way that hasn't been mentioned yet. (IF) you know someone with an established tank or even the fish shop (Might) give you some media from their tank and put it in your filter, it will cycle a lot quicker.

 

[the_lock_man]

There is another way that hasn't been mentioned yet. (IF) you know someone with an established tank or even the fish shop (Might) give you some media from their tank and put it in your filter, it will cycle a lot quicker.

This is kinda supplemental to either fishless or fish-in - rather than growing the bacteria from scratch, you're expanding a small existing colony. Worthwhile finding out. Also, let us know whereabouts in the world you are, they may be a forum member local to you who could donate some media.

 

[basboi85]

as just stated above if you know anyone with a tank or better still are able to go to a fish store and ask them if they have any media that you can have/use to kick start your filer which will in theory should make your tank ready to rock and roll in under a week i would say,

i would personally put the borrowed media at the bottom of your filter as as your filter is sucking up from the bottom it will help spread the bacteria up into your own media then say after 4 weeks if you borrowed media from a friend you can return it if they wanted it back.

i did this with one of my friends to kick start his filter,

but its always good to see lfs giving awesome advice as usual

 

[Evie1901]

Thanks for all the good info. I'm in Milton Keynes and the only other person i know with a tank lives quite a long way away so i'll see if i can get some media from a shop nearby. I wish the place i'd got the tank from had been a bit more helpful in the beginning as i could've been on my second week of cycling by now if i'd known. Never mind. Father Christmas will have to leave my son an IOU this year!
With regards ammonia, i've seen some online that says its "sulphate of ammonia". Is this the right stuff or should it just be called ammonia?
Many Thanks

 

[the_lock_man]

I'm honestly not sure about "sulphate of ammonia"

The stuff they sell in Homebase, in their household cleaning section, called Household Ammonia, is the stuff I used. Just to make sure, give the bottle a shake, and make sure that the liquid doesn't froth like washing-up water. Any bubbles should just burst straight away, like if you'd just shaken a bottle of water.

And hold your nose while doing it. Jeez, that stuff is foul.

 

[ColR1948]

Some of the Maidenhead Aquatic shops give away mature media some don't but worth a check, give them a phone call, if you are lucky and get some, get it home fairly quick and put it in your filter.

 

[daizeUK]

Alternatively you can buy a bottle of BioMature, instead of pure household ammonia. Waterlife BioMature contains ammonia and nutrients for the bacteria and it's a lot easier and less smelly to use than household ammonia. I got a bottle for about £6 off Ebay.

 

[the_lock_man]

Alternatively you can buy a bottle of BioMature, instead of pure household ammonia. Waterlife BioMature contains ammonia and nutrients for the bacteria and it's a lot easier and less smelly to use than household ammonia. I got a bottle for about £6 off Ebay.

Interesting. Are you posting your daily tests as a log anywhere?

 

[daizeUK]

Interesting. Are you posting your daily tests as a log anywhere?

Not online but I'm writing down everything in a little notebook so I've got a good record. I could post a log of my results once the cycle is complete if you think anyone might find it interesting.

 

[the_lock_man]

Interesting. Are you posting your daily tests as a log anywhere?

Not online but I'm writing down everything in a little notebook so I've got a good record. I could post a log of my results once the cycle is complete if you think anyone might find it interesting.

A lot of people do post their daily log in this section. I don't normally follow them, but I would be interested to see your progress, and compare it against a "normal" fishless cycle with standard ammonia. I suspect a lot of others would also be similarly interested.

If BioMature can help achieve a quicker cycle than standard ammonia, then that will be helpful to a lot of people. I assume you're following the pack instructions - do you know how much ammonia is added in a "dose"?

 

[daizeUK]

The bottle has good clear instructions which says to add 1ml of BioMature per 30L of tank water every day. It took about 5 days of dosing to reach 4ppm ammonia when I stopped adding the BioMature, I'm now on Day 10 and still steady at 4ppm.
I will post updates in my new tank thread when my water parameters start to change.

Apologies to Evie, I didn't mean to derail your thread

 

[the_lock_man]

The bottle has good clear instructions which says to add 1ml of BioMature per 30L of tank water every day. It took about 5 days of dosing to reach 4ppm ammonia when I stopped adding the BioMature, I'm now on Day 10 and still steady at 4ppm.
I will post updates in my new tank thread when my water parameters start to change.

Apologies to Evie, I didn't mean to derail your thread

OK, so when your ammonia hits 0ppm, how much are you going to dose daily from then on?

Yeah, sorry Evie......