Cycle Journal

[HayzH]

Argh, I managed to break TWO test tubes in the space of about 5 seconds this morning! Not happy!

I think it's gonna have to be plastic ones for me from now on.

lol... did you get your ones from that site??? i have 14 now!

 

[CezzaXV]

I got them, sorta. I ordered five but only two of them got here in one piece. I've emailed the site but they're not answering. I'm glad I paid with Paypal as it means that I'll be able to get my money back that way if the site doesnt get back in touch with me. I saw the photos of all your test tubes, it was mental!

You know, I never got my test kit from that seller! Since I ordered it seems that he's scammed a load of other people too (going by the feedback that wasn't there when I ordered). I have no doubt that I'll get my money back through Amazon, but it's annoying to think that if I didn't have any spare money to have gone out and bought another test kit, my tank would still be sat here doing nothing.

I could see a definite drop in nitrite on tonight's test results (2ppm, whereas it's been off the scale for several days now). Decided to do another half dose of ammonia tonight (1.25ml/2ppm), and expecting to get another 0 tomorrow or the day after, so will go back up to 4ppm then. At present there's 2ppm of nitrite in there, and with the extra ammonia I've added there should be 7.4ppm of nitrite. Once I up my dosage of ammonia to 4ppm, it needs to be able to process 10.8ppm of nitrite in 12 hours, so it's not terribly far off even with the half dose. I wish my test kit could read higher levels of nitrite. I'd look for one that could, but I suspect that if I ordered one I'd be past the nitrite phase by the time it got here

 

[HayzH]

I got them, sorta. I ordered five but only two of them got here in one piece. I've emailed the site but they're not answering. I'm glad I paid with Paypal as it means that I'll be able to get my money back that way if the site doesnt get back in touch with me. I saw the photos of all your test tubes, it was mental!

You know, I never got my test kit from that seller! Since I ordered it seems that he's scammed a load of other people too (going by the feedback that wasn't there when I ordered). I have no doubt that I'll get my money back through Amazon, but it's annoying to think that if I didn't have any spare money to have gone out and bought another test kit, my tank would still be sat here doing nothing.

I could see a definite drop in nitrite on tonight's test results (2ppm, whereas it's been off the scale for several days now). Decided to do another half dose of ammonia tonight (1.25ml/2ppm), and expecting to get another 0 tomorrow or the day after, so will go back up to 4ppm then. At present there's 2ppm of nitrite in there, and with the extra ammonia I've added there should be 7.4ppm of nitrite. Once I up my dosage of ammonia to 4ppm, it needs to be able to process 10.8ppm of nitrite in 12 hours, so it's not terribly far off even with the half dose. I wish my test kit could read higher levels of nitrite. I'd look for one that could, but I suspect that if I ordered one I'd be past the nitrite phase by the time it got here

im using the API for Nitrite and i got my Salifert Nitrate test through the post today....its alot easier to read then BOTH nutrafin and API.
I wish someone would look at my cycle again...i have been dosing to make ppm around 5 on all tanks now as tank 3 has caught up 1 + 2!!

should i drop the dose again...or waterchange??? someone may answer me on here...lol

 

[CezzaXV]

A water change couldn't hurt I suppose.

Others might say different, but if you did a big enough water change to get all of your tanks down to double zeros or not very far off it, all your tanks are starting with the same readings and it would probably help you to get your head around it. I've tried reading your cycle log but it makes my head spin

 

[Overload]

I got them, sorta. I ordered five but only two of them got here in one piece. I've emailed the site but they're not answering. I'm glad I paid with Paypal as it means that I'll be able to get my money back that way if the site doesnt get back in touch with me. I saw the photos of all your test tubes, it was mental!

You know, I never got my test kit from that seller! Since I ordered it seems that he's scammed a load of other people too (going by the feedback that wasn't there when I ordered). I have no doubt that I'll get my money back through Amazon, but it's annoying to think that if I didn't have any spare money to have gone out and bought another test kit, my tank would still be sat here doing nothing.

I could see a definite drop in nitrite on tonight's test results (2ppm, whereas it's been off the scale for several days now). Decided to do another half dose of ammonia tonight (1.25ml/2ppm), and expecting to get another 0 tomorrow or the day after, so will go back up to 4ppm then. At present there's 2ppm of nitrite in there, and with the extra ammonia I've added there should be 7.4ppm of nitrite. Once I up my dosage of ammonia to 4ppm, it needs to be able to process 10.8ppm of nitrite in 12 hours, so it's not terribly far off even with the half dose. I wish my test kit could read higher levels of nitrite. I'd look for one that could, but I suspect that if I ordered one I'd be past the nitrite phase by the time it got here

im using the API for Nitrite and i got my Salifert Nitrate test through the post today....its alot easier to read then BOTH nutrafin and API.
I wish someone would look at my cycle again...i have been dosing to make ppm around 5 on all tanks now as tank 3 has caught up 1 + 2!!

should i drop the dose again...or waterchange??? someone may answer me on here...lol

Are the salifert ones the marine ones? They seem to be the only ones I can find

 

[HayzH]

I got them, sorta. I ordered five but only two of them got here in one piece. I've emailed the site but they're not answering. I'm glad I paid with Paypal as it means that I'll be able to get my money back that way if the site doesnt get back in touch with me. I saw the photos of all your test tubes, it was mental!

You know, I never got my test kit from that seller! Since I ordered it seems that he's scammed a load of other people too (going by the feedback that wasn't there when I ordered). I have no doubt that I'll get my money back through Amazon, but it's annoying to think that if I didn't have any spare money to have gone out and bought another test kit, my tank would still be sat here doing nothing.

I could see a definite drop in nitrite on tonight's test results (2ppm, whereas it's been off the scale for several days now). Decided to do another half dose of ammonia tonight (1.25ml/2ppm), and expecting to get another 0 tomorrow or the day after, so will go back up to 4ppm then. At present there's 2ppm of nitrite in there, and with the extra ammonia I've added there should be 7.4ppm of nitrite. Once I up my dosage of ammonia to 4ppm, it needs to be able to process 10.8ppm of nitrite in 12 hours, so it's not terribly far off even with the half dose. I wish my test kit could read higher levels of nitrite. I'd look for one that could, but I suspect that if I ordered one I'd be past the nitrite phase by the time it got here

im using the API for Nitrite and i got my Salifert Nitrate test through the post today....its alot easier to read then BOTH nutrafin and API.
I wish someone would look at my cycle again...i have been dosing to make ppm around 5 on all tanks now as tank 3 has caught up 1 + 2!!

should i drop the dose again...or waterchange??? someone may answer me on here...lol

Are the salifert ones the marine ones? They seem to be the only ones I can find

no..they say Salifert Profi tests??? i gather they arent marine

 

[CezzaXV]

Went back up to my full dosage of ammonia now, as I'm happy that my tank seems to be able to process around 5ppm of nitrite at the moment.

I had a happy discovery today. Went to the LFS while I was waiting to pick my boyfriend up from the train station, and discovered that they sell the species of cory I'm after so I won't have to order them online. It's so much better seeing them in person, they're much cuter than the pictures I've seen on the internet

 

[CezzaXV]

Both happy and disappointed at my test results this morning. Still had 2ppm of ammonia after giving it a full dose last night, though I was late last night so it was only 10 hours since the last test. On the upside though, my nitrite was still in readable territory despite that big dose of ammonia so hopefully I'm getting there now.

I swear that my nitrite test is never a colour that corresponds to anything on the chart. I make an educated guess, but I'm limited to blue, immediately purple or turns purple. Those are the only readings I've ever had

 

[CezzaXV]

Had some disappointing readings on ammonia for the last two tests. Stuck at 1ppm of ammonia. The pH is 7.2 so it's not crashed and stalled, and it's still processing nitrite. I don't know if it's because I was doing half doses, but I'm thinking of doing a partial water change tonight or tomorrow anyway (some of the crud that was in the water when I put the sand in seems to have settled in piles on the bottom so gonna siphon it out).

I didnt redose ammonia last night so hopefully I'll get a good reading tonight.

 

[HayzH]

i get those 3 colours too for Nitrite...i am still yo yo'ing ammonia clear in 12hrs nitrite spiked...and ammonia clear (obviously) as well as nitrite in 24 hrs!!
hrumph!
My salifert Nitrate isnt a colour on the chart either....i think we have bionic tanks!
I'm building up Nitrates to feed an army i think!!

 

[CezzaXV]

My nitrite seems to spend more time in readable territory than not as of late so here's hoping.

Before, I could clear 4ppm of ammonia down to 0.5ppm in 12 hours but it stuck at 1ppm for the last two tests. However, I did go back to half dosing and am only just doing full dosages, plus my personal life has been getting in the way so my testing and dosing times have been about the place for the last few days. I don't think I've got a massive problem on my hands, just an annoying blip due to the aforementioned reasons.

 

[HayzH]

yes...there is that..if you change dosage times..i spose it will confuse the cycle. I'm not the most paitent ppl at the best of times, but this is ridiculous!

 

[CezzaXV]

I'm somewhat concerned. Got a reading of 0.5ppm ammonia tonight. It's really not processing fast at all. I got a 0 on nitrite which was good but if the ammonia isn't processing much then it's not such good news. When I was doing half dosings of ammonia, it was going from 2ppm to 0.25-0.5ppm easily in 12 hours. Now it's only managing 1ppm down to 0.5ppm in 12 hours. Before I half dosed, it was easily doing 4ppm in 24 hours, consistently, every day.

I did a water change anyway to get the crud out that was sitting on top of my sand and put my wood in (took 20L out, put 15L in after the wood but there's probably space for another 3 or 4 litres), and when I tested after the nitrite was 40ppm. Part of me thinks it must have been pretty high before that, but another part thinks it can't have been THAT high before as I'd only done a maybe 40% water change at most. The pH seems reasonable, no crashing, and it's still processing nitrite well.

Redosed up to 4ppm of ammonia. Really hoping it picks up now, as I'm confused what's going on and I'm getting impatient.

It's frustrating as I'm not sure what the cause is so it's difficult to fix

 

[CezzaXV]

Okay, AM test results are in. 14 hours after the last test (I needed a lie in!) I got 1-2ppm of ammonia and 2-5ppm of nitrite). It's still not processing the ammonia as quickly as it was before, but I'm happy that it's made a reasonable dent in it and done enough to keep the N-bacs working.

 

[HayzH]

Okay, AM test results are in. 14 hours after the last test (I needed a lie in!) I got 1-2ppm of ammonia and 2-5ppm of nitrite). It's still not processing the ammonia as quickly as it was before, but I'm happy that it's made a reasonable dent in it and done enough to keep the N-bacs working.

i think some ppl's cycles do from A to B to C...yours is going the LONG way round...mine...clearly is just sleeping! tut!
i couldnt even be #17##### ed to to test this morning! i know what its gonna say...i get all excited every morning about getting a double 0 in 12 hrs...it is very disheartning..i agree..
As i have been told lots of times....the tank will cycle eventually..so i'll leave it to it! (still dosing of course)
My in laws have been away for 5 weeks touring around Scotland....when they get back and find out we still havent got fish...i will be a laffing stock