Cycling Confusion

[Irf]

Hi all,

My sister has been fishless cycling. In an earlier post I reported that her cycle seemed to have stalled following her topping up the water and lowering the temperature. The advice on here was to persevere. All went well until today.

Now the ammonia is being processed within 24hrs down to zero. The nitrites are high but dropping quite quickly. All sounds good, huh? Her only concern is that in the last couple of days the NITRATES have dropped to zero.

Neither of us can understand how this can happen. Any ideas anyone?

Irf.

 

[OohFeeshy]

I wouldn't worry to much, nitrate test kits can be very innaccurate. Besides which, it's only really the ammonia and nitrite that matter (as nitrate isn't overly toxic). As soon as she's ready for fish, do a water change just to make sure nitrates are acceptable.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yup, what he said

 

[OohFeeshy]

She

 

[scorphonic]

She

Ouch!

What she said!!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

sorry!!!

you know i posted that and immediatley afterwards thought i didn't know if you are a he or a she

i shall commit it to memory now!

 

[OohFeeshy]

For future reference (and it's probably handy if everyone else fills it in too), if you've filled in the male/female box in your profile, but bringing down the 'menu' thingy under someones name, it's either pink (for a girl) or blue.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

For future reference (and it's probably handy if everyone else fills it in too), if you've filled in the male/female box in your profile, but bringing down the 'menu' thingy under someones name, it's either pink (for a girl) or blue.

so it is, learn something new everyday!

 

[rdd1952]

Nitrate test kits can lump up but if your has been working previously, then that shouldn't be a problem. It's interesting that the nitrates dropped as there is no reason they should. The only way to remove them is via water changes or with filter media like neolite or sponges that remove them.

 

[Irf]

Thanks to all that have replied with helpful comments.

Looking around perhaps the nutrafin test kit she's using is the problem. I will tell her to replace it with API.

Irf.

 

[scorphonic]

API test kits are definately the best choice. It makes testing a whole lot easier when trying to match the colours!!

 

[Irf]

I've had an idea on this.

She's coming over to my place on Saturday and I've asked her to bring the test kit with her. I'm going to do a back-to-back test with my API kit, and see what the results are on my water. It doesn't matter what the water is - the results should be the same.

If they are different I will take te kit back to Maidenhead Aquatics and complain. They can hardly argue because they can test it themselves if they don't believe me!

Anyone tried this with any LFS?

Irf.

 

[OohFeeshy]

The shop can't really do much about it, it's not their problem. They take it on good faith the kits work. You'd be better off taking it up with the manufacturer- in this case Hagen. They normally reply quickly, although from previous run ins (mainly about their mis-information on their 'goldfish tanks'), they're not always prepared to admit they're wrong. But it can't hurt to email them.

 

[vinylman]

Hi all,

My sister has been fishless cycling. In an earlier post I reported that her cycle seemed to have stalled following her topping up the water and lowering the temperature. The advice on here was to persevere. All went well until today.

Now the ammonia is being processed within 24hrs down to zero. The nitrites are high but dropping quite quickly. All sounds good, huh? Her only concern is that in the last couple of days the NITRATES have dropped to zero.

Neither of us can understand how this can happen. Any ideas anyone?

Irf.

If anything, you need to RAISE the temperature whilst cycling, that way the bacteria multiply more rapidly. Once it's cycled, don't forget to reset the heater, though.

 

[Irf]

Thanks - I know that but she was worried about the temp being too high when the cycling was finished. So she reduced it after reading something "helpful" from somewhere! Beginner's mistake...

Irf.