Fishless Cycle Log

[coldcazzie]

Fishless cycling my quarantine tank: 18" x 10" x 10". Approx 28.5L, or 7.5US Gal.
Currently only has in it a homemade filter (using gravel & sponge) and a 50W heater.
Using API liquid test kits for all. Also have Nutrafin wide range pH kit.

Water Stats
Ammonia: 0ppm. Nitrite: 0ppm. Nitrate: 0ppm. pH: 7.4. KH: 7 dH. GH: 5 dH.

Tank Stats
At Set Up - as water stats above. Dechlorinator added. Temp: 82oF.

Day 1 (24.8.09)
7pm: Added 1.25ml 9.5% ammonia (as dictated by calculator)
8pm: Ammonia: 1ppm. Added another 3ml.
8.30pm: Ammonia: 2ppm.

Day 2 (25.8.09)
9.10am: Ammonia: 2ppm. Added 4ml.
7.10pm: Ammonia: 2ppm. (Didn't add more as don't want to overdose in case I'm being thick and reading the results wrong!) Nitrite: 0ppm.

Day 3 (26.8.09)
7pm: Ammonia: 2ppm. Nitrite: 0ppm. Nitrate: 0ppm. pH: 7.6 minimum (might be higher but kit only goes up to 7.6, and the wide range pH kit I have told me my tap water was 6.5, so I'm not sure I trust it to give me an accurate result)

Not sure if I'm maybe reading the Ammonia test wrong? The colour doesn't seem to match either the 2, 4 or 8ppm colours. It's definitely not as dark as either the 4 or 8, unless I look down the length of the test tube, and seems to be closer to the 2ppm colour, but I find it hard to believe that I can add that much ammonia and not have it above 2ppm, esp in such a small tank...

Thoughts, comments, suggestions?

 

[OldMan47]

Don't try to judge the color by how dark it is Cazzie. Instead focus on matching the correct hue. A dark pink, when you are looking for pink, is still pink, not red. The hue is the thing to judge by. The saturation of the color is almost meaningless when it comes to judging a color test for concentration. The test is designed to give colors in terms of hue, not density.

 

[coldcazzie]

Thanks will test again today and see if that makes a difference!

 

[coldcazzie]

Day 4 (27.8.09)
3pm: (with another person to discuss colour results) Ammonia: between 4 and 8ppm, we think closer to 8. Did a 20% water change to make sure it's definitely not above 8.
4.30pm: Ammonia: ~3ppm.

Am happy now, will leave it for a few days and retest after the weekend.

Thanks again OM47

 

[Gr44]

Are you using the API test kit?

I'm doing my fishless cycle as well at the moment and I find the Ammonia really hard to judge as well, not well suited to trying to get 4-5ppm

Hopefully get some fish in soon!! Best of luck!

Sean

 

[coldcazzie]

Are you using the API test kit?

Yep. Might try another brand next time. Or maybe it's better the devil you know...

 

[waterdrop]

I have a lamp that's just a plain incandescent bulb in a little hood and what I always do is hold the testtube against the white portion of the card, next to the color chart and I hold the card and tube a foot or so in front of the lightbulb. I consider consistency of light and positioning to be more important than the what light I chose of small differences in judgement I make. Its hard to get the hang of what OM47 is talking about with "hue" as opposed to lightness/darkness, but its real, I was eventually able to feel the same thing as he describes. The feel for these kits also comes with time and lots of log entries and experience. I too was quite frustrated judging colors at first but I kept good logs, usually twice a day tests during cycling after it got going and eventually I became very comfortable with feeling I knew what the tests were telling me. All of our yakking here makes it all sound more scientific than it really is.. in some ways its really just dark green vs. light green vs. bright yellow! Or dark purple, light purple, sky blue! The days and days of slow growth of the bacteria makes everyone go crazy trying to read a lot into the colors I think.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[bob9009]

People going crazy while cycling? Surely not!!

coldcazzie: Have you added any mature media from your 240 to your new filter? It will greatly speed up the process.

 

[coldcazzie]

People going crazy while cycling? Surely not!!

coldcazzie: Have you added any mature media from your 240 to your new filter? It will greatly speed up the process.

No I haven't. But there is a reason - I did a kind of mini tank overhaul a couple of weeks back, removed a carbon pad and rinsed the rest of the sponges and in the process managed to send it into a mini cycle. (in hindsite am also wondering if I maybe left the baskets out of the water too long, which might have killed off some of the bacteria) I haven't taken any mature media out as I don't want to send it into another mini cycle!

My plan is to go to lfs in the next couple of weeks and get another fine sponge to cut up and put in my Rio filter so that I have small bits that I can remove if and when I need, but that's kind of low on my priority list at the moment, behind fish food (my cat stole and ate a whole tub a few days ago! ), more dechlorinator and finishing the decorating!

 

[waterdrop]

I don't know whether you will see any of the, comparing your Rio with the Qtank but one thing I always keep in mind is that as the water volume gets smaller the changes one sees can be a little more erratic. A larger body of water will be more stable and so one will see change more slowly and clearly. This extends to cycling to some extent.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[glolite]

My plan is to go to lfs in the next couple of weeks and get another fine sponge to cut up and put in my Rio filter so that I have small bits that I can remove if and when I need, but that's kind of low on my priority list at the moment, behind fish food (my cat stole and ate a whole tub a few days ago! ), more dechlorinator and finishing the decorating!

My dog does that. She once stole a whole new bag of hikari algae wafers and scoffed the lot.

 

[coldcazzie]

My dog does that. She once stole a whole new bag of hikari algae wafers and scoffed the lot.

He does it a lot - I've a child lock on the front of the cupboard, but he climbs behind the fishtank (despite the stuff I've put there to try to deter him - worked when he was a kitten but not now), goes in the back of the cupboard and takes the tubs out, then chews the lids til they pop off. I've just moved all the fish food into glass jars in the hopes that 1. it wont smell so enticing and 2. he wont be able to pick them up.

Luckily all he ate was the Tetramin tablets, not the flakes, but I felt so guilty that first day afterwards when they'd eaten their flakes and then went searching for a tablet on the gravel and looked at me so accusingly through the glass! Don't know how a fish can give you the evils when it's got no facial expression but they did lol

 

[glolite]

My fish give me evils all the time!

Shame you're not nearer or you could have some of this boys media, he makes a whole load of waste.

Good idea with cutting up the sponge, I might try that. Saves running an extra filter in case the hospital tank needs setting up.

 

[coldcazzie]

hubby just nearly wet himself when I showed him that picture!

 

[coldcazzie]

Day 6 (29.8.09)
3pm: Ammonia: close to 8ppm. Nitrite: 0ppm. Nitrate: ~2ppm. pH: 7.6+
20% water change to try to bring ammonia down (must have overdosed before) - will test Ammonia again in a bit, and change more water if necessary.