Oops, somehow I missed your comment. I was wondering about that - I only reduced my ammonia dose by 1ppm... Do you think I should just do a huge water change and redose ammonia to about 2~3ppm and see what happens?
Fishless Cycle Log
- Thread starter frida
- Start date
Oops, somehow I missed your comment. I was wondering about that - I only reduced my ammonia dose by 1ppm... Do you think I should just do a huge water change and redose ammonia to about 2~3ppm and see what happens?
anon02
Fishaholic
I shouldn`t like to call that one frida ... if you do a pwc you`re resetting all the numbers, but hey it`s your tank and your time
Well, ammonia is being processed by 12 hours 
Nitrite is still high so I'll probably just add 2ppm of ammonia tomorrow.
I'm not sure what is up with the nitrate.
My suspicion is that it's still off chart but it might be worthwhile trying to find another nitrate test kit just to check what levels I get...
Nitrite is still high so I'll probably just add 2ppm of ammonia tomorrow.
I'm not sure what is up with the nitrate.
My suspicion is that it's still off chart but it might be worthwhile trying to find another nitrate test kit just to check what levels I get...anon02
Fishaholic
That`s how I saw it, you could just wait a day to adjust the dosage
The Tetra nitrate test only goes to 100ppm, I haven`t tried any others
The Tetra nitrate test only goes to 100ppm, I haven`t tried any others
After thinking long and hard about this one, I've decided I'm going to do a huge water change today before my ammonia dosing time. As anon02 mentioned, it will "reset" the numbers but I've decided that it's not a big deal because: once the ammonia is dosed, my A-bacs will quickly process the ammonia into nitrite and in a few days, I'll be back to having a big nitrite spike.
The most important thing I feel at the moment is getting rid of the really high nitrate as I think read somewhere that too high a concentration of nitrate is thought to stall the N-bacs that process nitrites.
Anyway, through my reasoning of the limited knowledge I have of the bacteria in the filter (!), I think it should be fine and will give it a go
EDIT: the nitrate readings were off scale as I had suspected - I just diluted 0.5ml of tank water with 4.5ml of tap water in the test tube and the test comes out as: 80ppm!! So it is worth remembering for anyone who has high nitrates in the future: with the API kit, the addition of bottle #1 drops will make the tube immediately light beige/brown (like the 5ppm colour) if the nitrates are off chart. Normally, if it is within the scale, it should be yellow.
The most important thing I feel at the moment is getting rid of the really high nitrate as I think read somewhere that too high a concentration of nitrate is thought to stall the N-bacs that process nitrites.
Anyway, through my reasoning of the limited knowledge I have of the bacteria in the filter (!), I think it should be fine and will give it a go
EDIT: the nitrate readings were off scale as I had suspected - I just diluted 0.5ml of tank water with 4.5ml of tap water in the test tube and the test comes out as: 80ppm!! So it is worth remembering for anyone who has high nitrates in the future: with the API kit, the addition of bottle #1 drops will make the tube immediately light beige/brown (like the 5ppm colour) if the nitrates are off chart. Normally, if it is within the scale, it should be yellow.
waterdrop
Enthusiastic "Re-Beginner"
Your graph shows you to be clearly in the nitrite spike stage but the fact that nitrates are going quite high and that mature media was introduced (I believe your chart says that) could mean that you are farther through the nitrite spike stage than you would have been without the mature media. Excess nitrate I believe carries two potential issues, it doesn't stall the N-Bacs per se, but just slows their growth down a bit off the optimal rate. And of course the other issue is that excess nitrate carries a higher nitric acid component, which can build and suddenly drop the pH if the KH is low (in your case pH appears to have stayed high, which means you probably have high KH and are not going to be as prone to the pH-crash issue.) Your progression looks pretty normal.
~~waterdrop~~
~~waterdrop~~
Hi Waterdrop,
Thank you so much for your comment - it's really helpful to get a feel for what is happening from an expert
Yes, I think the mature media confused me a bit - I was just not expecting nitrates to increase so much so fast!
Anyway, I'll keep my eye on the pH then (although as you say, it seems like I won't be too affected by this), and hopefully things will move on without issues.
Thank you again for all your help!!
Thank you so much for your comment - it's really helpful to get a feel for what is happening from an expert
Yes, I think the mature media confused me a bit - I was just not expecting nitrates to increase so much so fast!
Anyway, I'll keep my eye on the pH then (although as you say, it seems like I won't be too affected by this), and hopefully things will move on without issues.Thank you again for all your help!!
So 12 hours after my massive water change and dosing of 4ppm ammonia my readings are:
0ppm ammonia
off chart nitrite
30ppm nitrate
What threw me was the drop in pH to 7.6 - got me wondering how that happened when nitrates are at normal tap water levels until I checked the pH of the tap water and looks like it's gone down to 7.6. Seems like things are just trying to keep me on my toes!!
0ppm ammonia
off chart nitrite
30ppm nitrate
What threw me was the drop in pH to 7.6 - got me wondering how that happened when nitrates are at normal tap water levels until I checked the pH of the tap water and looks like it's gone down to 7.6. Seems like things are just trying to keep me on my toes!!
Okay, so today:
ammonia 0ppm
nitrite off chart
nitrate off chart (that was fast...)
and pH is back to 8.2 -
what??
I've given up trying to understand this - I'm probably over-analysing everything a tad too much as well... So I'll just wait until nitrites are 0 and only worry if the pH crashes to 6 or so.
Today I've dosed 2ppm ammonia instead of the 4ppm, hope that's okay
ammonia 0ppm
nitrite off chart
nitrate off chart (that was fast...)
and pH is back to 8.2 -
what??I've given up trying to understand this - I'm probably over-analysing everything a tad too much as well... So I'll just wait until nitrites are 0 and only worry if the pH crashes to 6 or so.
Today I've dosed 2ppm ammonia instead of the 4ppm, hope that's okay
anon02
Fishaholic
I`ve just shuffled across to make room for you in my boat
You`ve come to the exact same conclusion as me
(Thank goodness for waterdrop eh !!!)
You`ve come to the exact same conclusion as me
(Thank goodness for waterdrop eh !!!)
I`ve just shuffled across to make room for you in my boat
You`ve come to the exact same conclusion as me
(Thank goodness for waterdrop eh !!!)
Hahah, yeah! I hope the cycling completes successfully for both of us, and hopefully before Christmas!
waterdrop
Enthusiastic "Re-Beginner"
In phase one sometimes the ammonia just sits there and doesn't go down.
In phase two sometimes the nitrite just sits there and doesn't go down.
In phase three sometimes the number of hours to zero ppm just sits there and doesn't go down.
In phase four sometimes the water just stays crystal and the fish just stare at you.
In phase two sometimes the nitrite just sits there and doesn't go down.
In phase three sometimes the number of hours to zero ppm just sits there and doesn't go down.
In phase four sometimes the water just stays crystal and the fish just stare at you.
hahaha, I like that
In phase one sometimes the ammonia just sits there and doesn't go down.
In phase two sometimes the nitrite just sits there and doesn't go down.
In phase three sometimes the number of hours to zero ppm just sits there and doesn't go down.
In phase four sometimes the water just stays crystal and the fish just stare at you.
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