Cycling, lots of pH crashes, will that happen too when I get fish?

Yes now that you said it was Salvinia I found the actual name, Salivinia Cucullata. It's mentioned that it's a great nitrate absorber. I just hope the separate leaves won't die, they were so interesting with four together as a kind of star.

 

Good to know then most of the leaves aren't dead, just a few at one edge of each cluster. I tried to plant plants in the sand yesterday but they keep floating back up! Can I use those lead weight strips directly on the plant or does it need that foam they had around it from the fish store?

 

Thank you for chiming in TJ203 and Eaglesaquarium.

@Tj203: I'm worried about the pH because my pH keeps going to 6.0 every day or every other day, and at 6.5 the bacteria stop their growing, so it means i can't get caught up with my ifshless cycle. That is why I even have to test pH every day, not just every few days. I understand it will be a lot less crashy when it's ready for fish and it's not having that amount of pure ammonia to process anymore, though I still will keep testing a lot!

@eaglesaquarium: Thank you for explaining. I wonder if you've ever seen a type of bacteria processing nitrite to nitrate that always leaves 0.25 ppm nitrite in the water, no matter how many nitrites there were to process? I've dosed with 1, 2 and 3 ppm and each time there is 0.25 ppm of nitrites left after 24 hours. The ammonia is reduced to 0 in that period. Do I simply not have enough of the nitrite to nitrate bacteria yet or do you think there might be something else going on? My tap water has no nitrites in it (not right away and not after 24 hours), my other tank which is a betta tank of 5.5 gallon I'm cycling has the same issue, I was wondering if my test kit was broken so I got another one and it's showing the same amount. I dosed with Dr Tim's One and Only when I started, but that didn't seem to have a lot of effect at that point. I'm at day 29 so it's possible I just need to wait longer. I've been doing quite a few large water changes with my pH issues, so the nitrate amount in the water is not super high if that makes a difference.

 

@Colin-T: Thank you! I was trying to plant my stem plants, and using the weight strip they came with has made it a lot easier! Any idea how long it usually takes for them to take root so I can take it off again?

 

@eaglesaquarium: Thank you!! Yes I'd been redosing the full amount of 3 ppm (2 ppm for my betta tank) when the ammonia hit 0. I was following this from the 'Cycling a tank' how to ("Whenever ammonia is again at .25 ppm or less and nitrite is clearly under 1 ppm, add the full amount of ammonia (Dose #5) and test in 24 hours. Follow this pattern of testing and adding (this would be Dose #6, #7 etc.) until both tests do read 0 ppm within 24 hours. ") I started cycling before I found this place so I started with 4 ppm. But when I found this forum I went to 3.

I will definitely test the nitrities diluted with tap water tomorrow! Byron said I should not be dosing ammonia while my plants are growing but the guy at the fish store who told me about his own tanks at home said it was fine, they can handle 3 ppm. So I've been dosing more like 1 ppm the last days in my planted tank, I don't want to harm the plants and I don't want to kill my beneficial bacteria! But I didn't put plants in my Betta tank and I kept dosing that and it's showing the same pattern. I will follow your pattern, that is different from what I did and I'll be glad if it works!

@Colin_T: About a month, thank you! I can see by then if they're ready.

 

@eaglesaquarium: Oh my goodness you were right about the 'greying out'. I had previously tested the color both with the old and the new and it seemed the same, butt today when I tested there was almost the same color for the diluted water (1:4) then the normal water for the new kit and the old kit showed the 0.25 ppm color for the diluted water (1;4) and darker for the normal water! The test bottle for the nitrites had gone bad after all! I am glad I got a whole new testkit a week or two ago because I thought the nitrate bottles were bad, mine were about a year before expiration date but that means they'd been open for a while (when I had my first fish several years ago). So my nitrites are now off the chart high. I could have sworn I had 0.25 ppm, and it is so in both tanks. Various sources disagree on whether or not high nitrite levels could slow the growth of nitrite processing bacteria, In your experience, should I do a water change to lower them to 5 ppm? Also because my pH is creeping down again.