Fishless cycle advice please!!

[Brookes9879]

Hi,

So I started my fishless cycle 19th December however I changed my built in filter to an external filter on the 13th Jan, my nitrites were down to 0 and so was my ammonia but I can't get my PH to go up even with one big water change and then several smaller ones daily the PH remains at 6.8 which I'm not happy with for my axolotl, my nitrates also have gone down but are still at just over 40ppm, as my nitrite and ammonia was 0 I added the full dose of ammonia last night and now when testing my nitrites have gone back up to 0.25ppm with an ammonia reading of 2.0ppm so it's obviously not ready yet to house my axolotl.

I'm so stumped on my PH not raising, I've tested the water out of the tap and also when it's stood for 24/48 hours and it reads between 7.2/7.6 (ideal for my axolotl) the only thing I can think of is that I have a plant in my aquarium it is not decaying and looks healthy. Should I just take out the plant? I've also moved my filter outlet hose so that it breaks up the surface of the water for my oxygen/bubbles.

(I use seachem prime to condition the water before adding it to the tank and Dr Timms ammonia and an API masterkit tester and aps 150 external filter)
ive added a picture of the plant i have and also my water test readings

Can someone please help.
Thank you in advance

 

[seangee]

Have you tested your tap water for nitrates? In the UK the permissible limit for tap water is 50ppm that may be a bigger concern in the long term.
I would not mess with the pH. 6.8 is fine for them as long as it remains fairly stable. If you cannot be in the ideal range it is better to be low than high. The higher the pH the more toxic ammonia is. (The scientific explanation is more complex than that but I will leave it there). Unfortunately the lower pH does mean that your cycle will likely take longer than average.

 

[Brookes9879]

I haven't tested my tap water for nitrates I hadn't even considered that. I will check it thanks

 

[Deleted member 149562]

I haven't tested my tap water for nitrates I hadn't even considered that. I will check it thanks

If you go to your water company website, enter your postcode on their hardness checker you will get the full chemisty of your water...including pH, nitrates etc

When testing your tapwater, do three mugs...one mug straight off the tap, second mug after letting the water run for a few minutes (important cos when not in use, ie in flow, water can concentrate things whilst static in the pipes) and third mug leave 24 hours then test.

You might be surprised at the results of the tests versus the water chemistry work up that is on the water company website.

You might also want to add your name to the water company's "emergency email list" so that should any maintenance be planned or a mains burst/leak near your property, they will automatically let you know by email so that you can make alternative arrangements such as delaying water changes etc.

 

[Brookes9879]

That's really good to know thank you

 

[Brookes9879]

Just checked my water company. Nitrates out the tap are 50... so I'll never get my nitrates below that will I

 

[Slaphppy7]

Just checked my water company. Nitrates out the tap are 50... so I'll never get my nitrates below that will I

Live plants will help, the faster growing, the better...

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Floating plants suck up excess nitrates.

Most aquatic plants prefer ammonia as NH4- ammonium. When that is not available they will use nitrate if that is. When a plant uses the ammonia, it doesn't make nitrite or nitrate. So, the more plants you have, the less nitrate you will have. And the faster growing the plants are the more nutrients they suck up. So you should add plants.

I know nothing about axolotls so I did some fast research. More plants seem OK to add as it eats more meaty stuff if I found good info. It seems to benefit from a gravel bottom?

Anyway, you need to add more plants and they should help with nitrate and ammonia. You can continue adding ammonia, but as a test of how safe the tank is not so much as a cycling aid. Back off on the ammonia to 1 ppm until any plants added in the substrate can establish. Floaters just go in. A lot of the fast growing stem plants can also be floated.
https://www.tankarium.com/best-aquarium-plants-to-reduce-nitrates/
(Ignore these at the above link: 4. Dwarf Hairgrass, 8. Anubias Barteri, 11. Duckweed, 12. Pothos, 15. Amazon Sword, 17. Anubias Nana Petite and 18. Chaetomorpha)

​

Next, raising pH requires raising KH. Most of what is in KH in tanks are carbonates and bicarbonates. These can be found in things like crushed coral which is calcium carbonate. When this is put into acid water (i.e. pH , 7.0) it starts to dissolve. The lower the pH, the faster and the more it dissolves. So putting a bag of crushed coral into ones filter or even hanging in the tank as longe as it is where there is water movement will work. Should help to raise the pH.

To raise both GH and KH simultaneously, add calcium carbonate (CaCO3). 1/2 teaspoon per 100 liters of water will increase both the KH and GH by about 1-2 dH. Alternatively, add some sea shells, coral, limestone, marble chips, etc. to your filter.

To raise the KH without raising the GH, add sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3), commonly known as baking soda. 1/2 teaspoon per 100 Liters raises the KH by about 1 dH. Sodium bicarbonate drives the pH towards an equilibrium value of 8.2.

However, using baking soda raises sodium levels which may be undesirable for the axolotl?

The way to be sure the tank is safe in terms of nitrogen products, you can add 2 ppm of ammonia and then test in 24 hours. You are looking to see 0/0 for ammonia and nitrite. Bear in mind Dr. Timothy Hovanec is a scientist. They measure ammonia etc. using the Nitrogen scale. The API kits, and most others, measure using the Total Ion scale. This is sort of like kilometers and miles. The nitrogen scale number for any given level is always lower than the ion scale equivalent.

This means when you add 2 ppm of his ammonium chloride it will read about 2.5 ppm on the API kit. So you need to be adding 3.2 drops of the ammonium chloride per gallon instead of the 4. And that reduction will produce 2 ppm on the API test.

While waiting for the plants to establish, you can add 1.6 drop/gal. and when the tank has hit 0/0, do so again. Only do the 2 ppm test when you are seeing new growth from the plants.

Hopefully you should see nitrate go down because of the plants. and because less is being made in the tank.

Finally, nitrate is an ion, so is nitrite and even ammonium. So you can remove all the ions in the tap water by running it through a deionizing set-up. However, it would also mean removing any beneficial ions in the water. However, you do have the option of deionming water and then mixing it back 50/50 with the unfiltered tapwhich would only remove abou 1/2 of the ions. I would only comsider doing this if the plants do not solve the problem along with the crysged coral for the pH. A pinch of baking soad comnined with a bag of coral may do the trick.

 

[Brookes9879]

Thank you this info is really helpful.