Cycling Just Started

[ceilidhgirl]

Hi everyone

I finally managed to set up and fill my tank yesterday.

I am doing a fishless cycle and am adding flake fish food so that it'll break down and produce some ammonia to start the cycle with.

I did my first water tests today and the results gave me a bit of a shock

My ammonia and nitrite levels were as expected. no nitrite yet and a very slight showing of ammonia.

However my ph was off the scale of the high ph test at 8.8

I managed to get me calculations wrong yeterday when adding my water treatments and added 50 mls into 20 gallons instead of 30 mls.

The water is still also very cloudy which i dont think is due to a bacteria bloom as i'm not reading any ammonia breakdown on my est results.


Any advice on the cloudy water or how i could lower the ph would be much appreciated.



love

ales xx

 

[docbanzai]

Hiya!
First piece of advice... DON'T PANIC

You don't have any fish in there yet, so you can't do any harm, so take a breath and relax.

I would doubt that your flake food is going to break down so quickly and give an ammonia reading this soon, so it does look like you're getting the ammonia from somewhere else. Did you clean your tank before adding the water, and if so did you use any bleach or ammonia based products to clean it?

Your pH levels could be due to your local water supply, although that is a very high pH by anyones standards! I'd suggest a pH test on your tap water and see if it is close to your 'tanked' water levels. I suspect that there's something else in the tank that's giving you that mega high pH, and it may well be the same products that were used to clean the tank when you started. Messing with pH levels is best avoided if possible, it's like balancing on a knife edge and once you start trying to create a 'stable' pH, you'll be adding chemicals every five minutes just to keep things right. It's a road best avoided...

The clouds in your tank WILL clear!! Trust me I had the same problem when I started. How long it will take depends on the type of filter that you have. Initial cloudiness is usually caused by dirt from the substrate settling out and tiny bubbles diffusing from the water (or course in later days you have bacterial and algae blooms to look forward to... )

To be honest, it's tricky to answer your questions without a little more info about your setup so if you can please let us all know....
1. Size of your tank, perhaps the manufacturer and model name/number or, at least, the dimensions.
2. Do you know the type of filter you're using? Any clue would help!
3. Temperature you've set for the water in the tank.
4. What have you added to the water? (Oh, and to answer you question; it's virtually impossible to overdose on water treatment chems, or at least those products designed to remove chlorine/chloramine )
5. Have you added any substrate (sand, gravel etc) or decorations (natural or plastic) to the tank?
6. Test your tapwater. pH of water can vary massively, as well as nitrate levels. Sometimes you have to adapt to the water that is available. We can't always keep the fish that we'd like.

I know it's a ton of questions to answer, but the more info you can provide, the more answers you'll be able to get from the experts here. God knows I'm only a noob myself, but the vast majority of people on this forum are very friendly and really will be able to help you with excellent advice.

Good luck, it WILL be worth all the heart-ache. Just be patient.

Take care,

DB

P.s. Hope this makes sense! It's very late and I'm about to pass out. Goodnight all.... ZZZZzzzzzzz......

 

[ceilidhgirl]

hi doc

thanks for answering

my tank is 36" by 12" by 15"

i used warm salt water to clean it with and rinsed it with dechlorinated water

i have a fluval 3+ filter which i was given 2 new sponges with (no old sponges included) and a 100w heater which i've set to 79 degrees F

i added aquaplus as my water treatment

i've added 6kg of natural dark gravel but i rinsed this in dechlorinated water before adding it

the flake food i'm adding is nutrafin max and i'm adding a good pinch twice a day

my tap water ph is around 8.2

hope that gives a bit more help

many thanks everyone in advance

ales xx

 

[docbanzai]

Hiya,

Well it sounds like you've done everything right. You have an excellent filter, your temp is set nice and high and you've been very thorough with your cleaning, so no immediate problems there. Again, don't worry about the overdose of aqauplus, it's a very safe product and you won't have caused any problems.

Clearly your pH problems are due to your tap water being highly alkaline. Your tank water is probably a touch higher again due to your gravel. To be honest I don't really know what to suggest about fixing your pH. There are products that can be used but, of course, if you choose this route you're going to have to be religious about dosing your water and getting that dosage exactly right. If you have a local fish shop, then chances are they're having to deal with the same high pH problems so they may be able to advise you. If I remember correctly you can use bogwood to lower pH (or is it raise? Doh! I can't remember ) but get expert advice before you try it!!! The only other suggestion I can make would be to use bottled water, but I suspect that would cost you a bomb . Hopefully there will be a friendly brain-box on this forum who can give you some assistance.

Just another quick question; How are you seeding bacteria into the tank? You need to add some 'good' bacteria to get things started. There's more info here; bacteria...
I've used stuff like 'Cycle' and 'Stress Zyme' in the past, but I'm not convinced they work very well, if at all!

*Update* Just found this interesting info about water.... Also, I may be overstating the alkalinity of your water. pH 8.5 isn't massively alkaline, but it is a bit high

Good luck! All the best...

DB

 

[ceilidhgirl]

well heres an update

i managed to find some household ammonia (no surficants or detergents) last week which i dosed my tank to 4 ppm.

I went to the lfs yesterday and got two lovely pieces of bogwood and overnight my ph has dropped to around 7.6.

i have decided to wait and let things tanke their own time and not fiddle with adding bttles of stuff to try and 'hurry up' the cycle.

no ammonia drop or nitrite readings as yet, but i noticed when i tested about an hour ago thet my ammonia has gone down very very slightly and the nitrite reading is a very slightly different colour on the test card from the 0 ppm colour indicated, but not as high as the .25 ppm so hopefully those very slight colour changes mean that things are starting to progress.

for those of you wishing to see it theres a pic of my tank on the members tanks forum.

thanks for all ur help

love

ales x

 

[ceilidhgirl]

major progress over the last couple of days guys

yesterday ammonia was at 2 ppm and nitrite at 6 ppm

tested again today and nitrite still at 6 ppm but ammonia down to 0 ppm, tok my first nitrate test and its at the highest reading on the chart 100 ppm.

also put in some more ammonia to keep the bacteria going and tested again after a couple of hours to let it all circulate and the level went back up to about 4 ppm

so hopefully things will continue to move quite quickly and i should be getting some fishies soon

very excited that my tests are showing the changes as this is my first ever tank and therefore my first ever go at cycling and water testing so hopefully these results show i'm doing something right lol


thanks for all ur support and help guys

love

ales xx

 

[ITJ]

I started my cycling on exactly the same day as you, similar situation with high pH, and lack of suitable filter material with bacteria.

I'm still waiting for my ammonia to drop, I was starting to get a bit bored of waiting, but having seen your posts, I'm hopeful that I shouldn't have to wait too long. Good luck with getting your first fish in once your done!



Ian

 

[ceilidhgirl]

hi ian

i'm sure you'll start to see things happening soon. have you taken a nitrite test?

i only asked because my nitrites started to grow before my ammonia dipped (which is the way its supposed to happen),

but seeing the nitrite tests give out larger and larger readings reassured me that i must have been doing something right lol.

my ammonia only started to drop a couple of days after my nitrites had hit the highest reading on the test.

anyways hope everything goes well for you and let me know how you get on

love

ales xx

 

[docbanzai]

Hi Ales,

Glad to hear that things are progressing and that the bogwood has helped.

Bet you can't wait! All that patience is gonna pay off very soon when ya get yer first fishy mate

All the best,

DB.

I started my cycling on exactly the same day as you, similar situation with high pH, and lack of suitable filter material with bacteria.

I'm still waiting for my ammonia to drop, I was starting to get a bit bored of waiting, but having seen your posts, I'm hopeful that I shouldn't have to wait too long. Good luck with getting your first fish in once your done!



Ian

Hi Ian,

It's a real pain having to sit around and wait for things to happen. Believe me I know what it's like especially when you can't get hold of some seed bacteria. My first ever tank took the best part of 3 months before anything even started happening!

It will be worth it in the end, and don't doubt yourself, you've done everything that needs doing and I'm sure you've done it right.

Chin up old bean, just a matter of time....

DB.

 

[ITJ]

Thanks for the advice, I've taken a full test now, and the nitrites and nitrates are up, and (trumpets!) the ammonia has fallen drastically, not quite clear but almost there.

Ian

Ian's Photos

 

[BigIan]

congrats mate i`m 1 and a half weeks into my cycle and it was only a few days ago that my amonia dropped, i added enough to take it back up to 4 ppm on sunday and today it was down to 0,25, so things are progressing very quickly for mw to

I`m allso dead excited as this is my first tank