Cycling Woes

[Salam]

I started cycling a dwarf puffer tank four weeks ago. For the last two weeks 4ppm ammonia is being processed within 12 hours. Good! Now the bad - nitrites are off the charts and there is no nitrate at all. I have done two almost 100% water changes in the last 48 hours and the nitrates are still off the charts and I still don't even see a trace of nitrates. Why on earth is it not being processed? I really don't know what else I can do, any suggestions?

 

[The Taffy Apple]

What is your PH level? What temperature is your tank at? What test kit are you using?

Terry.

 

[pdludbrooke]

I started cycling a dwarf puffer tank four weeks ago. For the last two weeks 4ppm ammonia is being processed within 12 hours. Good! Now the bad - nitrites are off the charts and there is no nitrate at all. I have done two almost 100% water changes in the last 48 hours and the nitrates are still off the charts and I still don't even see a trace of nitrates. Why on earth is it not being processed? I really don't know what else I can do, any suggestions?

I done water changes like you and my tank took 6 weeks before I saw my nitrites start to go down, ideal PH is 8.2 anything under PH 6 will cause a crash in your cycle, best temperature is 30 C

 

[pdludbrooke]

I started cycling a dwarf puffer tank four weeks ago. For the last two weeks 4ppm ammonia is being processed within 12 hours. Good! Now the bad - nitrites are off the charts and there is no nitrate at all. I have done two almost 100% water changes in the last 48 hours and the nitrates are still off the charts and I still don't even see a trace of nitrates. Why on earth is it not being processed? I really don't know what else I can do, any suggestions?

I done water changes like you and my tank took 6 weeks before I saw my nitrites start to go down, ideal PH is 8.2 anything under PH 6 will cause a crash in your cycle, best temperature is 30 C

Oh and if using the API to test your NitrAtes then you really need to bang the bottle number 2 on a table hard 10 or so times to get it to mix while shaking for 1 min

 

[Salam]

Thanks all for replies. PH is 8, temperature is 30. I'm using API, will check nitrates now with banging the bottle while shaking. Should I also vigorously shake bottle 1?

Hm, six weeks? I am so impatient, but I am hanging in there.

 

[The Taffy Apple]

Thanks all for replies. PH is 8, temperature is 30. I'm using API, will check nitrates now with banging the bottle while shaking. Should I also vigorously shake bottle 1?

Hm, six weeks? I am so impatient, but I am hanging in there.

A good little tip is to 'play the drums' with both bottles. Find a hard surface (i use the granite tops out the kitchen) and play along to the radio for a whole song. Once done, give them an extra 30 seconds shake and then do your tests.

Terry.

 

[Salam]

Woohoo! The grand shake-off has worked I drummed and shook and I have 10-20 nitrate! Those colours are so close to each other, can't work it out, but at least I know that the filter is doing something. Thanks again, will do the magic shaking from now on. Let the home-run begin

 

[The Taffy Apple]

Woohoo! The grand shake-off has worked I drummed and shook and I have 10-20 nitrate! Those colours are so close to each other, can't work it out, but at least I know that the filter is doing something. Thanks again, will do the magic shaking from now on. Let the home-run begin

Another good little trick- give your NitrAte bottles a shake every few days...i check my water twice a week (only testing for Ammonia and PH) and each time i do them i shake my NitrAte bottles, saves me spending time 'shake, rattling and rolling' when the time does come that i decide to do a NitrAte test.


Terry.

 

[Salam]

Thanks, will do that

I really didn't think a good shake would make such a difference but now I know better.

 

[OldMan47]

Salam where you are right now is in in the nitrite spike phase. What happens in that phase is that every 1 ppm of ammonia that you add becomes 2.7 ppm of nitrite. Since we can only measure about 5 ppm of nitrite, it quickly overcomes our ability to measure it. That is where you are finding yourself. If you are willing to do truly huge water changes, you may be able to read your present nitrite levels but that may take several 90+% changes to actually see nitrite concentrations that we can measure.

 

[Salam]

Thanks for the info, oldman.

I think I worked out why I have so much nitrite bar a normal nitrite spike. So far I have been testing my ammonia with nutrafin (the rest API) because at that time they didn't have API in my shop and I just got it. Yesterday I got an API ammonia testing kit as I am running low on the other. Checked then with the API last night and it was 8ppm ammonia! This morning it is 1ppm, so it is going down. I also checked ammonia with the nutrafin testing kit this morning and that shows me 0ppm. So, I am wondering if the nutrafin is just less accurate and I have dosed too much ammonia in total. As I said, it was 8ppm on the API, far more than needed. And obviously with your info, oldman, that each 1ppm ammonia becomes 2.7ppm nitrite it makes sense that this spike is not going down as I am overdosing on ammonia. Does that all make sense?

Anyway, sticking to API now, once it is down to 0 with that (probably tonight) I will do a proper dose of 4ppm ammonia rather than banging it up sky high thinking there isn't enough in as the nutrafin showed barely any ammonia even after the recommended dose and I often added a bit extra.

Nitrates were 40ppm this morning, so I am getting somewhere.

I suppose in the long run it is good that I have overdosed ammonia for a while considering dwarf puffers are messy little buggers. Will be worth it in the end the the media will be able to handle the poo load

 

[OldMan47]

At 8 ppm, you are likely producing mostly the wrong bacteria in your filter. The bacteria that grow at that high concentration is more suitable to a sewage treatment plant than an aquarium. In a mature aquarium the ammonia will be too low for us to easily find it with our tests. As the concentration increases above around 4 or 5 ppm, the bacteria present in high concentration wastes tend to dominate your bacterial colony while the ones that work better at low concentrations of ammonia drop off. Either do a 50% water change or simply wait until your ammonia drops down to zero then only add a half dose to bring it back to around 4 ppm maximum. This way you will start moving to the right A Bacs.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

The other problem is that at over 5 ppm both ammonia and nitrite begin to work work counter to the cycle. They can inhibit or even kill bacteria. It is best to work to hold both ammonia and nitrite levels no higher than 5 ppm. A cycle will complete much faster this way. If you keep ammonia dosing in the 2 -3 ppm range it is also easier to control nitrites when they appear.

 

[Salam]

I know, I know, I was dosing far too much ammonia...

Anyway, last night the ammonia was down to 0 so I brought it back up to 4ppm (checked straight after to make sure I got the right amount this time). Those 4ppm were 0 again this morning, yay! I just did another 90% water change and the nitrite is finally readable! I don't like the colour chart, but it was more purple than pink so I'd say 1ppm. Let's hope it is on its way down now. Will keep checking twice a day and dose the right amount from now on and hopefully an end will be in sight soon.

 

[Salam]

Whoop whoop! Home-run, here I come

Ammonia 0, nitrite 0.50 (finally going down), nitrate 80.

I'm getting there, at last!