Fishless Cycle Log.

[waterdrop]

Its a little bothersome that we've not seen nitrites(NO2) by day 22. The pH is 7.4 so we'd expect things to be a bit slow, but...

I guess we could have the unusual case that there's just enough N-Bacs to take what the A-Bacs are dishing out and turn them into NO3 before we can see any of the NO2, but the nitrate measurements seem to just say the same old thing.

Well its early and at least we're seeing some movement in the ammonia results, so maybe we just need to be patient. I just hope we're not missing any other major things, so if any members can think of different questions for Chris here...

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Tropical_Chris]

Its a little bothersome that we've not seen nitrites(NO2) by day 22. The pH is 7.4 so we'd expect things to be a bit slow, but...

I guess we could have the unusual case that there's just enough N-Bacs to take what the A-Bacs are dishing out and turn them into NO3 before we can see any of the NO2, but the nitrate measurements seem to just say the same old thing.

Well its early and at least we're seeing some movement in the ammonia results, so maybe we just need to be patient. I just hope we're not missing any other major things, so if any members can think of different questions for Chris here...

~~waterdrop~~

Thanks for the reply mate starting to get abit lonely this cycle haha

Day 23 & 24 updated

 

[waterdrop]

Yeah, its frustrating that dog and cat and bird buyers can just take the animal home and begin managing the waste and noise whereas fish buyers need to practice this patient skill of getting a biofilter up and running first! I guess you have to think of it with a little pride later on when people walk in an see the underwater scene!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Tropical_Chris]

Day 25 updated

 

[waterdrop]

Thank gD, FINALLY, the elusive nitrite (even if it is a single molecule ) Does this mean you're shipping me a beer?

 

[Tropical_Chris]

Thank gD, FINALLY, the elusive nitrite (even if it is a single molecule ) Does this mean you're shipping me a beer?

I would do but i drank them all in celebration

 

[julsifer]

YAY!!! mini celebration dance "simples" lol

 

[waterdrop]

I hate to think of how many more smilies we'll have to post for the nitrite spike, lol.

 

[Tropical_Chris]

I hate to think of how many more smilies we'll have to post for the nitrite spike, lol.

Positive thoughts are the way forward

Day 26 updated

 

[Tropical_Chris]

Day 27 updated .. further climb in nitrite

 

[Tropical_Chris]

Day 28 updated.

 

[Tropical_Chris]

Day 29 updated.

 

[Tropical_Chris]

Day 30 updated.

Should i wait for a full drop to 0 on the ammonia before topping up or do it now?

I topped up last time before i got to 0 because things seemed to have stalled and it kick started things moving again

advise would be great.

 

[cowboy507]

I believe that at this point you can top off to 3ppm of ammonia. now you will just need to feed the nitrites
please correct me if i am wrong waterdrop

 

[waterdrop]

Correct cowboy,

Chris at this point what cowboy is saying is that the 5ppm we've been adding thus far along encourages the A-Bac population to grow big, punches it right on up there and now that that's happened, the A-Bacs are eating that 5ppm and and producing 13.5ppm of nitrite from it each time, which is way more than the slower growing N-Bac population can handle at this point so during this "nitrite spike stage" the excess Nitrite(NO2) just keeps building on and on. By easing back on the amount of ammonia we add, we can reduce the amount of excess nitrite(NO2) while still leaving enough nitrite and ammonia in there to keep both populations happy. Eventually, as soon as the nitrite spike subsides a few weeks later, we can ease back up to 4ppm.. then 5ppm and be sure that at the very end we are truly dropping 5ppm of ammonia to zero ammonia and nitrite in 12 hours, which is our test to get into the qualifying week.

So you can now change to adding whatever lesser amount of ammonia will get you to 2ppm or 3ppm concentration. It may take a couple times to get that just right but that doesn't matter.

~~waterdrop~~