Cycle Log

[Tathar]

Getting some really odd readings now... everything is going up and down, maybe some of the results were contaminated or something?

20-Nov 4.0ppm n/a n/a
21-Nov 4.0ppm n/a n/a
22-Nov 4.0ppm n/a n/a
23-Nov 4.0ppm n/a n/a
24-Nov 4.0ppm n/a n/a
26-Nov 1.0ppm 1.0ppm n/a
27-Nov 8.0ppm 0.25ppm n/a
28-Nov 2.0ppm 2.0ppm n/a
30-Nov 1.0ppm 0ppm 0ppm

I dont quite understand, any ideas?

 

[Tathar]

Date Ammonia Nitrite Nitrate
28-Nov 2.0ppm 2.0ppm n/a
30-Nov 1.0ppm 0ppm 0ppm
04-Dec 4.0ppm 0ppm 0ppm

I know it didnt test for a while when I really should have, as I added the ammonia on the 30th after doing the test. it appears the Ammonia has held steady for 4 days. I dont understand. Why hasnt the nitrite gone up? Why hasnt the Nitate gone up? The water is also looking cloudy, should I do a water change, or leave it? Thanks.

 

[Skins]

Date Ammonia Nitrite Nitrate
28-Nov 2.0ppm 2.0ppm n/a
30-Nov 1.0ppm 0ppm 0ppm
04-Dec 4.0ppm 0ppm 0ppm

I know it didnt test for a while when I really should have, as I added the ammonia on the 30th after doing the test. it appears the Ammonia has held steady for 4 days. I dont understand. Why hasnt the nitrite gone up? Why hasnt the Nitate gone up? The water is also looking cloudy, should I do a water change, or leave it? Thanks.

You may not be seeing nitrites in your tests because the N-bacs are colonising quicker than your A-bacs, this happened to me. When you next do your nitrate test give bottle 2 of the nitrate liquid test a few taps on a hard surface followed by a really good shake(has been known to require a good stir up), make sure your test tubes are clean. Another possible reason for not seeing nitrates would be having live plants in the tank.
No need to worry about water changes at this stage that may come later in the cycle, when either pH crashes or you have to much nitrogen in your waters chemistry. The cloudy water you are experiencing is proberly down to a bacterial bloom.

Skins.

 

[Tathar]

Date Ammonia Nitrite Nitrate
28-Nov 2.0ppm 2.0ppm n/a
30-Nov 1.0ppm 0ppm 0ppm
04-Dec 4.0ppm 0ppm 0ppm

I know it didnt test for a while when I really should have, as I added the ammonia on the 30th after doing the test. it appears the Ammonia has held steady for 4 days. I dont understand. Why hasnt the nitrite gone up? Why hasnt the Nitate gone up? The water is also looking cloudy, should I do a water change, or leave it? Thanks.

You may not be seeing nitrites in your tests because the N-bacs are colonising quicker than your A-bacs, this happened to me. When you next do your nitrate test give bottle 2 of the nitrate liquid test a few taps on a hard surface followed by a really good shake(has been known to require a good stir up), make sure your test tubes are clean. Another possible reason for not seeing nitrates would be having live plants in the tank.
No need to worry about water changes at this stage that may come later in the cycle, when either pH crashes or you have to much nitrogen in your waters chemistry. The cloudy water you are experiencing is proberly down to a bacterial bloom.

Skins.

Ok then. I suppose I should see my ammonia start going down and the nitrite start going up again, right? I'll make sure I do the Nitrate test as such next time, just in case. At what level should the nitrate be with 0ppm ammonia and nitrite in order to do a water change and declare the tank cycled?

 

[Skins]

Date Ammonia Nitrite Nitrate
28-Nov 2.0ppm 2.0ppm n/a
30-Nov 1.0ppm 0ppm 0ppm
04-Dec 4.0ppm 0ppm 0ppm

I know it didnt test for a while when I really should have, as I added the ammonia on the 30th after doing the test. it appears the Ammonia has held steady for 4 days. I dont understand. Why hasnt the nitrite gone up? Why hasnt the Nitate gone up? The water is also looking cloudy, should I do a water change, or leave it? Thanks.

You may not be seeing nitrites in your tests because the N-bacs are colonising quicker than your A-bacs, this happened to me. When you next do your nitrate test give bottle 2 of the nitrate liquid test a few taps on a hard surface followed by a really good shake(has been known to require a good stir up), make sure your test tubes are clean. Another possible reason for not seeing nitrates would be having live plants in the tank.
No need to worry about water changes at this stage that may come later in the cycle, when either pH crashes or you have to much nitrogen in your waters chemistry. The cloudy water you are experiencing is proberly down to a bacterial bloom.

Skins.

Ok then. I suppose I should see my ammonia start going down and the nitrite start going up again, right? I'll make sure I do the Nitrate test as such next time, just in case. At what level should the nitrate be with 0ppm ammonia and nitrite in order to do a water change and declare the tank cycled?

Yes thats the pattern you want to be observing with your ammonia/nitrite tests. As for your nitrates there is not really a concern yet at this stage of the cycle, thats if its not effecting your pH levels. As nitrate levels rise and depending on your waters chemistry you may encounter a pH crash which could result in slowing down the cycle's progress. Avoiding a prolonged pH crash is to simply monitor your pH level and not to let it get lower than 6.8, keeping it between 7.6-8.4 is a good marker to aim for when fishless cycling.
A fully cycled tank is when it can process 4-5ppm ammonia/nitrite in 12hrs.

 

[Tathar]

Tested today and got the following readings:
Ammonia-0.5ppm
Nitrites-0ppm

Nitrates I didnt see the need to test yet.

pH is at 7.6 currently.

How is it that the ammonia can go down, but the nitrites wont go up? They were there before, but not anymore? I guess I'll just does back up to 2-3ppm of ammonia and wait it out?

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, this happens to some beginners. There can be just enough N-Bacs that the nitrite gets processed before they test and then sometimes they perform their first nitrate(NO3) tests and the testing itself doesn't perform properly (they are difficult sometimes) and it all seems confusing. Don't worry about it, just keep a steady log and hold your dosing to as regular a 24hour point as you can and just keep going forward. If anything, add a little to the shaking times in the nitrate testing instructions and follow them very carefully. Keep your temp at 29C/84F.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Tathar]

Temperature has been kept at 29C since I began. I still dont quite understand how this is working, but I'll keep waiting for the nitrites to go up and keep adding ammonia until they do. Currently the results for today sit at:

Ammonia-2.0ppm
Nitrite-0ppm

Dosed up the ammonia last night. Everything still being weird. Any ideas? Just keep going?

 

[waterdrop]

Just keep going. It's not chemistry, its biology, the numbers will not all balance each other as in a controlled chemistry experiment. WD

 

[Tathar]

Successfully managed to move the tank onto my new cabinet. Test results for today are...

Ammonia:2.0ppm
Nitrite:0ppm

Looks like the Ammonia is holding steady now... guess I have to keep waiting around for a nitrite spike, yes?

Also, tank in its new place:

 

[waterdrop]

The surf buggies kind of go along with the aquatic scene, lol.

 

[Tathar]

The surf buggies kind of go along with the aquatic scene, lol.

Had a feeling someone might say that, lol.

 

[Tathar]

Ok so today:

Ammonia: 2.0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm

All i wonder is what happened to my previous nitrite spike? Maybe the time I overdosed the Ammonia messed everything up?

The ammonia has been holding steady for about 5 days now, I guess I should see a Nitrite spike soon? It takes about a week right?

 

[waterdrop]

Watching a fishless cycle is like watching paint dry. It can take two or three weeks sometimes to see much of anything at all but finally it kicks in a starts to become understandable. Every cycle is different as there are a huge number of variables. Everyone has vastly different water chemistry on the micro scale and vastly different mixes of the hundreds of types of bacteria in the water, all having an influence on each other. Out of all that complication we are hoping to coax two particular species to grow and flourish in a particular filter and the filters we see here on the forum are all different types and designs too, lol!

You haven't done anything wrong yet that I can see. The 8ppm have have slowed things a tiny bit but is no big deal really. Hang in there and keep giving it time and attention to the data.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Tathar]

Alright, thanks, I'll test again later and see if the ammonia needs a dose, if not, then I'll just have to keep waiting