Cycle Questions?

[HayzH]

ok..so Tank 2 was on a roll...bit confused with it all at the moment..if someone could take a peek at my log for some feedback? much apreciated.

my questions are:

Tank 1: how can the NitrItes spike without the Ammonia reducing alot?

Do you recommend a waterchange to get the Ammonia to drop a little? its been this high for over 2 weeks!

Tank 2: After a good start..it seems to have gone a bit haywire...

It can cycle 3ppm of Amm in 12 hours during the day...but not at night?

the BIG PH drop last night to 6.4??? added 1 tsp of Bicarb..took it to 7.3..is this enough?

Both Nitrites and Nitrates have both spiked this morning...feeling i am added toooo much ammonia too soon and its
overloading the filter?!! forget this one....i have just read another post and everytime my amm goes to 0 i dose it again..so i am dosing every 12 hrs not 24! ... shall i waterchange

having problems reading the PH charts...my colour isn't on either of the charts which ever bottle i use (PH or
higher range)



I am really struggling with only 4 test tubes...so if anyone has any spare they want rid of...please let me know. I did google them and it all seems to be US companies... any UK companies sell them in pks of 1000??

any feedback would be appreciated x

 

[KittyKat]

Tank 1: how can the NitrItes spike without the Ammonia reducing alot?

Do you recommend a waterchange to get the Ammonia to drop a little? its been this high for over 2 weeks!

For every 1 ppm of ammonia which is used, 2.7 ppm nitrite is produced. The randomness is probably more to with you misreading the test results than actual fluctuations. From what I have seen, changes in pH stall bacteria, so that's probably why your cycle is going so slowly. I recommend you go even so far as to overdose on the bicarbonate of soda so there are no pH crashes, because every time there is a crash, the cycle will stall. I suspect that in the long term you aren't planning to buffer up your pH? I recommend that you make sure it is lowered gently, once the cycle is over.

Tank 2: After a good start..it seems to have gone a bit haywire...

It can cycle 3ppm of Amm in 12 hours during the day...but not at night?

the BIG PH drop last night to 6.4??? added 1 tsp of Bicarb..took it to 7.3..is this enough?

Both Nitrites and Nitrates have both spiked this morning...feeling i am added toooo much ammonia too soon and its
overloading the filter?!!

having problems reading the PH charts...my colour isn't on either of the charts which ever bottle i use (PH or
higher range)

Take a photo of both pH results.

Too much ammonia is over 5 ppm at any one time, but I also believe in letting nitrite drop to 0 ppm before re-dosing ammonia (otherwise you're just constantly increasing it). See above about pH crashes.

Does anything change at night?

 

[HayzH]

Tank 1: how can the NitrItes spike without the Ammonia reducing alot?

Do you recommend a waterchange to get the Ammonia to drop a little? its been this high for over 2 weeks!

For every 1 ppm of ammonia which is used, 2.7 ppm nitrite is produced. The randomness is probably more to with you misreading the test results than actual fluctuations. From what I have seen, changes in pH stall bacteria, so that's probably why your cycle is going so slowly. I recommend you go even so far as to overdose on the bicarbonate of soda so there are no pH crashes, because every time there is a crash, the cycle will stall. I suspect that in the long term you aren't planning to buffer up your pH? I recommend that you make sure it is lowered gently, once the cycle is over.

Not being funny but...i am going going by the chart...i can see the colours properly..the PH in THIS tank are stable, so i am NOT changing it.

Tank 2: After a good start..it seems to have gone a bit haywire...

It can cycle 3ppm of Amm in 12 hours during the day...but not at night?

the BIG PH drop last night to 6.4??? added 1 tsp of Bicarb..took it to 7.3..is this enough?

Both Nitrites and Nitrates have both spiked this morning...feeling i am added toooo much ammonia too soon and its
overloading the filter?!!

having problems reading the PH charts...my colour isn't on either of the charts which ever bottle i use (PH or
higher range)

Take a photo of both pH results.

Too much ammonia is over 5 ppm at any one time, but I also believe in letting nitrite drop to 0 ppm before re-dosing ammonia (otherwise you're just constantly increasing it). See above about pH crashes.

Does anything change at night?

the Ammonia never gets over 4ppm and on this tank its always around 3ppm. Only thing changes at night is that its dark?! and we sleep in the same room as the tank?
as i have edited the above post..i have been redosing ammonia when it drops to 0 or 0.25 ppm, and thats been doing it in
12 hours..as thats what i was told to do...i wasnt taking the Nitrites into consideration. So do i waterchange to lower Nitrites and Nitrates..or just leave it for a while?

 

[Tizer]

Does anything change at night?

It gets dark

 

[HayzH]

Does anything change at night?

It gets dark

hubby will be pleased if i have to leave the light on!! pmsl

 

[KittyKat]

the Ammonia never gets over 4ppm and on this tank its always around 3ppm. Only thing changes at night is that its dark?! and we sleep in the same room as the tank?

…and you just pointed out that there are two CO[sub]2[/sub] producing machines in the room for the night I doubt that would have any effect on the tank whatsoever though. Your hubby doesn't get annoyed by the filter noise and switch it off for the night, does he? The tank is not on some power strip which gets switched off for the night? You didn't plug the filter into the light timer, did you? Not that you should be using any lights while cycling…

as i have edited the above post..i have been redosing ammonia when it drops to 0 or 0.25 ppm, and thats been doing it in
12 hours..as thats what i was told to do...i wasnt taking the Nitrites into consideration. So do i waterchange to lower Nitrites and Nitrates..or just leave it for a while?

There's no harm in a water change with warm, dechlorinated water, as long as you remember to buffer up the pH. I like to be able to monitor the changes in nitrite, as otherwise I wouldn't know what's going on.

 

[HayzH]

the Ammonia never gets over 4ppm and on this tank its always around 3ppm. Only thing changes at night is that its dark?! and we sleep in the same room as the tank?

…and you just pointed out that there are two CO[sub]2[/sub] producing machines in the room for the night I doubt that would have any effect on the tank whatsoever though. Your hubby doesn't get annoyed by the filter noise and switch it off for the night, does he? The tank is not on some power strip which gets switched off for the night? You didn't plug the filter into the light timer, did you? Not that you should be using any lights while cycling…

the filter is an aqua flow 200, so its just the buzz and the spraybar is under the surface so virtually silent, no he doesnt touch the tanks!! I made sure of that in the very begining!! lol and no timers or lights nothing switched off.

as i have edited the above post..i have been redosing ammonia when it drops to 0 or 0.25 ppm, and thats been doing it in
12 hours..as thats what i was told to do...i wasnt taking the Nitrites into consideration. So do i waterchange to lower Nitrites and Nitrates..or just leave it for a while?

There's no harm in a water change with warm, dechlorinated water, as long as you remember to buffer up the pH. I like to be able to monitor the changes in nitrite, as otherwise I wouldn't know what's going on.

the Ph before the cycle started was 7.5..so no need to buffer up!

 

[KittyKat]

as i have edited the above post..i have been redosing ammonia when it drops to 0 or 0.25 ppm, and thats been doing it in
12 hours..as thats what i was told to do...i wasnt taking the Nitrites into consideration. So do i waterchange to lower Nitrites and Nitrates..or just leave it for a while?

There's no harm in a water change with warm, dechlorinated water, as long as you remember to buffer up the pH. I like to be able to monitor the changes in nitrite, as otherwise I wouldn't know what's going on.

the Ph before the cycle started was 7.5..so no need to buffer up!

But your KH is low, which is why it's crashed already. If you don't add a buffer *before* it crashes, it will only do so again.

 

[HayzH]

as i have edited the above post..i have been redosing ammonia when it drops to 0 or 0.25 ppm, and thats been doing it in
12 hours..as thats what i was told to do...i wasnt taking the Nitrites into consideration. So do i waterchange to lower Nitrites and Nitrates..or just leave it for a while?

There's no harm in a water change with warm, dechlorinated water, as long as you remember to buffer up the pH. I like to be able to monitor the changes in nitrite, as otherwise I wouldn't know what's going on.

the Ph before the cycle started was 7.5..so no need to buffer up!

But your KH is low, which is why it's crashed already. If you don't add a buffer *before* it crashes, it will only do so again.

ok..whats a "buffer" ? and how do i know my KH is low? because the ph dropped? I thought i dropped in a cycle anyway?

 

[Katch]

Your KH will be 1 or less. Devon and Cornwall have ridiculously soft water. You can buffer with bicarbonate of soda. Just add a couple of teaspoons and test your pH. Repeat till your pH is up to around 7.8.

 

[HayzH]

Tank 1: how can the NitrItes spike without the Ammonia reducing alot?

Do you recommend a waterchange to get the Ammonia to drop a little? its been this high for over 2 weeks!

For every 1 ppm of ammonia which is used, 2.7 ppm nitrite is produced. The randomness is probably more to with you misreading the test results than actual fluctuations. From what I have seen, changes in pH stall bacteria, so that's probably why your cycle is going so slowly. I recommend you go even so far as to overdose on the bicarbonate of soda so there are no pH crashes, because every time there is a crash, the cycle will stall. I suspect that in the long term you aren't planning to buffer up your pH? I recommend that you make sure it is lowered gently, once the cycle is over.

Tank 2: After a good start..it seems to have gone a bit haywire...

It can cycle 3ppm of Amm in 12 hours during the day...but not at night?

the BIG PH drop last night to 6.4??? added 1 tsp of Bicarb..took it to 7.3..is this enough?

Both Nitrites and Nitrates have both spiked this morning...feeling i am added toooo much ammonia too soon and its
overloading the filter?!!

having problems reading the PH charts...my colour isn't on either of the charts which ever bottle i use (PH or
higher range)

Take a photo of both pH results.

Too much ammonia is over 5 ppm at any one time, but I also believe in letting nitrite drop to 0 ppm before re-dosing ammonia (otherwise you're just constantly increasing it). See above about pH crashes.

Does anything change at night?

taken just now..i would say its 7.4 ??

 

[Katch]

7.6-7.4 is what that means, which is fine. You'll know when it crashes because your pH test will be yellow. With water as soft as our you will see it happen quite quickly.

Go get some bicarb and buffer up till you get the next shade up in the high pH test.

 

[HayzH]

Your KH will be 1 or less. Devon and Cornwall have ridiculously soft water. You can buffer with bicarbonate of soda. Just add a couple of teaspoons and test your pH. Repeat till your pH is up to around 7.8.

hi...so will this just be during the cycle or forever now? How often do i check it? Tank 1 Ph is 8.0 again after dropping to 7.4....will this one crash too??

 

[Katch]

Just during the cycle. When cycling you add more ammonia than a normal fish load. As a result more nitrite is produced and in turn nitrate.

Nitrates build up causing bioacidification. In hard water areas this means your pH slowly drops. In softwater areas this drop is significantly quicker.

Once cycled its best not to mess around buffering and select fish that suit your local water. So look for fish that are comfortable in soft water and avoid hard water species. Keepers down here that want to keep hard water fish need to closely monitor their water and treat each water change with chemicals to keep it in the right range. The same is true of keepers from hard water areas that keep softwater species. They need to use specially filtered (RO) water in their tanks. As a beginner, much better to work with what you have.

You also need to be proactive in your tank maintainence. If you leave the tank for a long time it will become very acidic. If you then do a large water change it shocks the fish often killing them. So weekly 50% WCs are desirable and weekly gravel vacs.

 

[HayzH]

Just during the cycle. When cycling you add more ammonia than a normal fish load. As a result more nitrite is produced and in turn nitrate.

Nitrates build up causing bioacidification. In hard water areas this means your pH slowly drops. In softwater areas this drop is significantly quicker.

Once cycled its best not to mess around buffering and select fish that suit your local water. So look for fish that are comfortable in soft water and avoid hard water species. Keepers down here that want to keep hard water fish need to closely monitor their water and treat each water change with chemicals to keep it in the right range. The same is true of keepers from hard water areas that keep softwater species. They need to use specially filtered (RO) water in their tanks. As a beginner, much better to work with what you have.

You also need to be proactive in your tank maintainence. If you leave the tank for a long time it will become very acidic. If you then do a large water change it shocks the fish often killing them. So weekly 50% WCs are desirable and weekly gravel vacs.

so going back to the cycle....do u think this drop in ph was the reason for going haywire or the fact i was adding amm every 12 hrs not 24 hrs??