Cycling ....nearly ...but!

[keithd]

Hi, I have a wall hung 80L new aquarium which I started a fishless cycle on 3 weeks ago. I recognise the limitations with a wall hung aquarium but it is exactly what I want to keep some small and active fish.
I am using API master freshwater kit for testing.
The tank has two good size filters 95mm x 125 mm in area in built and as well as filterpads there are bio ball things! the flow from the filters is what I would describe as strong not waek and I also have an air curtain. The substrate is sand
In the Aquarium I have two plants plus one peice of wood with a plant attached, these were obtained from a local shop. Not only do they look nice but was hoping would add some media to the process.

I am following Miss Wiggle's fishless cycle process (many thanks for that!)

After 1 week the ammonia reached 0 and I started dosing topping up at about 4ppm daily.
A further 10 days later the nitrites reached zero and the nitrates were about 40 ppm, however the ammonia when checked was still about 4 ppm so I stopped dosing ammonia for a few days. The nitrites stayed at zero but the ammonia continued at about 4 ppm. The PH had fallen to about 6.2 from 7.6.

I then did a 75% water change. I used Safe Guard to dechlorinate the water. Immediately after the change ammonia was zero, nitrites also zero and nitrates probably around 15 ppm. I dosed ammonia to about 3 ppm.
I decided one of the plants was not looking too healthy (not too bad either) so removed that from the tank and did a further 20% water change (dechlorinated).

What has happened since is the ammonia is around 3ppm, nitrites have risen and now are 1 ppm, nitrates are up around 40 ppm and the PH is 7.2 Temperature is 80 degrees

Although I am new to the hobby, there does appear to be some conflicting messages coming out of the testing! My concern is that even when not dosing ammonia it never goes to zero. So why then should nitrites start to increase after a number of days at zero. At the same time nitrates have increased.

I would appreciate some input on what to do next. Should I be dosing ammonia etc ? Thanks, Keith

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, pH of 6.2 is the "stall point" for a fishless cycle. The cycle process will stop when the pH gets that low. You have done the right thing to do a water change and bring the pH back up that way. Otherwise things sound fine. I'd probably raise the temp up to 84F/29C. If we find your pH continues to drop too fast and crash, it will be time to consider some baking soda to buffer the higher pH of your tap water.

Do you have any bogwood in there?

~~waterdrop~~

 

[keithd]

Yes, pH of 6.2 is the "stall point" for a fishless cycle. The cycle process will stop when the pH gets that low. You have done the right thing to do a water change and bring the pH back up that way. Otherwise things sound fine. I'd probably raise the temp up to 84F/29C. If we find your pH continues to drop too fast and crash, it will be time to consider some baking soda to buffer the higher pH of your tap water.

Do you have any bogwood in there?

~~waterdrop~~

waterdrop, thanks for your response.

I more or less repeated the cycling. The ammonia dropped in a couple of days and the nitrites spiked and have now dropped to zero again. However, the ammonia has crept back up to about 2 ppm. More or less where I was before!! The Ph has dropped from 7.5 ish to about 6.0.

I do have a peice of bogwood, with a plant attached got from a local shop. This is quite small at 20cm (8 ins) x 6cms (2 ins) x 8cms (3 ins) high. You have me intrigued on this question.

Can you be more specific about baking soda , like how much, when to add, how to add etc.

Very much appreciate your help.

Thanks, Keith

 

[drobbyb]

For baking soda adding I would recommend this: http/dataguru.org/misc/aquarium/calKH.asp