Fishless Cycle -early Days

[Rubyuk]

Hi everyone.

I'm just 3 days into fishless cycling and wanted to share some initial readings with you as i'm not sure whether there is anything to be alarmed at or not.

My readings out of tap taken weeks before I even set up tank were

Ph 6.5
Ammonia 0 (ish)
Gh 80 ppm
Kh 30ppm
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 0

Set up tank test readings (artificial deco and plants,1 piece mopani wood (Soaked,washed and cleaned),some live plants,gravel substrate with Carrib Sea Eco layer underneath for live plants

Ph 7.0 to 7.5 (couldn't really tell difference between two colour blocks (Nutrafin Liquid test)
Nitrates 0.5 (v slight pink showing on test,could have been virtually 0)
Gh 80ppm
Kh 50ppm

So both Ph and Kh have increased from my tap water readings

Possibly due to action of plants and all the minerals etc in the carrib Sea eco?

Then added 7ml of ammonia to start the cycle

Tested for ammonia 1 hr later and reading of 4.9 ish

Day 2 Ammonia reading in the 2.4 to 4.9 colour blocks

Day 3 (today)

Ammonia same reading as yesterday
Ph now 8.0
Kh now 70ppm

So both Ph and Kh are on the up.Why? is this normal or do I need to do anything?

From previous advice taken on here we were maybe expecting a Ph crash during cycling due to my low Ph and Kh readings on my tap water but things seem to be going the other way.

 

[Paavn]

the rise in pH is probably from the ammonia and from the minerals you put in there, and the rise in Kh is from the minerals as well that you added.

 

[Rubyuk]

the rise in pH is probably from the ammonia and from the minerals you put in there, and the rise in Kh is from the minerals as well that you added.

So need to panick then?

 

[Paavn]

no you have no need to worry at all, pH in the 8 - 8.4 range is optimum for the bacteria growth, and your tap water had a really low pH as well. when the ammonia levels go down the pH will drop a bit.
you'll only have to worry about the pH of the tank after you decide what fish you want to have, your water is pretty soft too
my tap water comes out at 8 degrees of water hardness.
generally if your water is harder you have less pH fluctuations as well

just try to maintain your tank at 80 - 84 degrees or between 26 - 28 Celsius
pH: try to keep it above 7.5, if it goes too low the bacteria become dormant

 

[onebto]

Looking good

 

[Rubyuk]

Thanks for the reassurance guys.

I'll keep the forum updated