Fishless Cycle Question

[waysgoose]

Hi Guys,

I'm very much a noob at fish keeping and have been lurking here recently. I'm about 4 weeks into fishless cycling a 38 litre tank. It took a long time for the tank to start processing ammonia, nearly 3 weeks I think, and then overnight it dropped to zero. So now I have ammonia, nitrites (off the scale I think, since my API nitrite test turns purple in the bottom of the test tube when I put the drops in) and also have nitrates, in fact I have some brown algae growing. Anyway, just over the last couple of days the speed of processing ammonia seems to have dropped off, taking approx. 2 days to process 4ppm back to zero. I tested the pH of the tank. It's 6.2. My tap water is 6.4. I added blue mineral salts to the water when I added it to the tank, and haven't changed any water since beginning the cycle. Am I correct in thinking the low pH can affect the growth of the beneficial bacteria? Should I perform a PWC, and if so how much?

So much to learn, but a really interesting hobby.

BTW a great forum with lots of knowledgeable people who seem really friendly and helpful.

Thanks for your help,

Justin

 

[Dieses Madchen]

Yes you are correct. Low pH can affect the cycle. Use bicarbonate (baking soda) to raise the pH, or get some crushed coral or limestone from your LFS. You can also get different chemicals from your LFS to raise pH.

I would go for crushed coral or limestone though, as these will buffer the water and the pH should not drop with either in your tank.

 

[the_lock_man]

The algae is there because of the high ammonia levels - so nothing to worry about.

You are spot on about a low pH causing cycling problems. Do a big water change, and then add some bicarbonate of soda, little by little, keep testing, until you see the pH around 8.0. The bacteria seem to like a high pH to grow quickly. They will stay alive just fine once your cycled, and are not adding the bicarb. You do use a dechlorinator as well, yes? It's just that you mentioned some mineral salts, but not dechlor.

The other thing you can do, is to reduce your ammonia dose to about 3ppm - it just reduces the load on the N-bacs, stops overwhelming them, whilst keeping the A-bacs fed. Once you have got your first set of double zeros (0ppm ammonia and nitrite) after 24hours, you then put the dose back up to 4 or 5ppm, and test every 12 hours.

And lastly, keep the tank nice and warm, up around the 80degree mark.