Cycling Question

[EmmaNic286]

Have you tested for nitrate ?

Yup. For some time now results have been showing levels as being exactly the same as what's already in our tap water. So I'm pretty sure that's the only source any in the aquarium is from right now.

 

[waterdrop]

To me, a lot of this thread is explained by the tank volume being about 4 US gallons. It will be very hard to "read" a fish-in cycle in a tank that small. Instead you will be more or less "seeing" the daily waste fluctuations of the fish and bacteria and they will be bouncing about wildly because the volume is not large enough to smooth things out and exhibit the same sorts of patters we discuss with larger tanks.

Its even more important with smaller tanks like this to be skeptical. All the tests should be the API liquid ones (toss those strips or put them in a cabinet for some emergency situation when you're totally out of liquid kit material some day.. strips lead to wrong decisions) and you should keep one-line log entries of test results daily in your aquarium notebook so that you can look back and understand trends better later. Even when you get a series of zeros you just have to keep watching and being careful as small tanks will show you more zero series even when they are not really cycled.

The great thing is that big water changes on a tank like this are easy and fast, so you'll have less resistance to doing them!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[EmmaNic286]

Heya Waterdrop, many thanks for responding

To me, a lot of this thread is explained by the tank volume being about 4 US gallons. It will be very hard to "read" a fish-in cycle in a tank that small. Instead you will be more or less "seeing" the daily waste fluctuations of the fish and bacteria and they will be bouncing about wildly because the volume is not large enough to smooth things out and exhibit the same sorts of patters we discuss with larger tanks.

Really appreciate you taking the time to answer in here and try to help. ;-) But I don't see how in this instance that can apply, as right now nothing is fluctuating or bouncing about wildly water parametre wise. If anything it's the opposite! Has been for over 4 days straight, though it wasn't before. This is why I've been so puzzled!

The great thing is that big water changes on a tank like this are easy and fast, so you'll have less resistance to doing them!

Umm...I'm not sure why it is you think I've got resistance to doing big water changes? I don't have any problem with doing big water changes. As already mentioned, I started out doing just this and normally would still be doing this. But as my master test kit results are now telling me there is no ammonia or nitrite to clear out of the tank (or any extra nitrate that's not already in our tap water) - and have been saying that for a while now - I've cut back on the frequency just for the time being. Although I've not discontinued water changing altogether and should at any point ammonia or nitrite levels spike again then I will be starting up the big water changes again as needed to keep them down.

Is even more important with smaller tanks like this to be skeptical. All the tests should be the API liquid ones (toss those strips or put them in a cabinet for some emergency situation when you're totally out of liquid kit material some day.. strips lead to wrong decisions) and you should keep one-line log entries of test results daily in your aquarium notebook so that you can look back and understand trends better later. Even when you get a series of zeros you just have to keep watching and being careful as small tanks will show you more zero series even when they are not really cycled.

Thanks for the advice there. Will bear that in mind! For the ammonia, nitrite & nitrate testing, I have been using the API liquid tests. I've also used strip test kits for the same purpose recently just to see if they match up with the liquid results. So far they have been. Although there I'm sure you're right and that in general API liquid test results are the more reliable. Thanks again.

 

[EmmaNic286]

There is one thing I didn't think to previously mention in here! As well as using Safestart last week - and assuming since it must have been removed from the water after a water change - last Thursday I did add just a little of something else to the water called Filter Start, just after the new tank filter was set up. Having reason to believe this would help speed up the cycling process somewhat (though certainly didn't expect anything like what's happening right now to come out of it). However, after since finding out using stuff like that doesn't always work I decided not to continue to keep adding it - as the instructions said to - and just to see how things naturally proceeded cycle wise without it.

However, on another site - similiar to this one - someone told me today that the use of the second product might be what's leading to the strange test results at the moment, and if so possibly after another week or so results should return to what would normally be expected at such an early stage of the cycle. As the bacteria are supposed to die off after so long. I'm going to see what happens over the next week to see whether or not this happens. If it does, then thinking in that instane the Filter start must have had something to do with this.

 

[EmmaNic286]

Something else strange happened this morning!

Suddenly my API master kit nitrate test solution is coming up as an orangey brown colour with just the very top and bottom of the test tube consistently showed it as being red (whereas before over the past couple weeks the whole test tube showed up as red - which according to the colour chart is the colour for 80ppm, which is what my strip test kit has also been saying the nitrate is).

Can it be that my API master test kit has gone funny/unreliable?

If this further information helps at all, I've been keeping all the master kit stuff stored at room temperature up to now - as as far as I could tell there was nothing in the test kit instructions I received that indicated I should do otherwise. Also one of the nitrate solution bottles it says it was manufactured in November 2009. While all the other solutions were manufactured in early 2010. Every time I've used one of the glass test tubes for testing during these two weeks, I've rinsed it out with clean tap water afterwards as I thought this was what I was supposed to do. Though maybe there's something I've been overlooking that I should or shouldn't have been doing all this time? (which might well explain why I've been getting the other strange results I have if that's the case).

 

[ZoddyZod]

What 'plec' do you have in there? Plecs are massive waste producers which will make maintaining ongoing water quality very difficult in just 4g.

Also, even the smallest of plecs will reach 4-5" so should not really be kept in such a small tank.

 

[EmmaNic286]

Thanks for your concern on the plecostomus. ;-) But those things aren't issues at this stage (you might want to read through previous posts of mine to see why). What I'm asking for now is for feedback as to whether or not my API master test kit has gone wrong given the nitrate readings I got this morning.

Can anyone help on this at all? Would really appreciate feedback! Will requote what I'm specifically referring to:

Something else strange happened this morning!

Suddenly my API master kit nitrate test solution is coming up as an orangey brown colour with just the very top and bottom of the test tube consistently showed it as being red (whereas before over the past couple weeks the whole test tube showed up as red - which according to the colour chart is the colour for 80ppm, which is what my strip test kit has also been saying the nitrate is).

Can it be that my API master test kit has gone funny/unreliable?

If this further information helps at all, I've been keeping all the master kit stuff stored at room temperature up to now - as as far as I could tell there was nothing in the test kit instructions I received that indicated I should do otherwise. Also one of the nitrate solution bottles it says it was manufactured in November 2009. While all the other solutions were manufactured in early 2010. Every time I've used one of the glass test tubes for testing during these two weeks, I've rinsed it out with clean tap water afterwards as I thought this was what I was supposed to do. Though maybe there's something I've been overlooking that I should or shouldn't have been doing all this time? (which might well explain why I've been getting the other strange results I have if that's the case).