Fishless Cycle

[Geoff1991]

Right, been going for about 2 weeks now, and im processing 5ppm of ammonia in just under 24 hours. Of course, i fish-in cycled for a bit first some this should hopfully be a quick cycle. Anyway, havent seen much of a drop in nitrites yet, it has dropped a bit and i have a nitrate reading of 20ppm.

I've run out of ammonia testing fluid, being messed around on ebay. Ordered test kit on the 15th of may, its now the 3rd of june. Still not here. But ill buy one from my LFS when i get chance and work on getting my money back for the other one.

I mainly made this thread to ask any questions i have rather than keep starting new ones.

Right, first question. As i know from previous test results that im processing 5ppm of ammonia in 24 hours or just under that, i should be ok dosing 5ppm every 24 hours until i can get hold of a test kit, right?

Also, i had a pH crash and a water change sorted that out. So i decided to test my KH and found that its 5dKH <- What does this mean?

 

[waterdrop]

If you're waiting for a replacement test kit and flying blind on ammonia measurements in the interim then I'd perhaps add a ml less than usual each day to be on the safe side. In the early stages of fishless cycling it doesn't really matter whether you put in 2ppm, 3ppm, 4ppm, 5ppm. RDD just decided to specify the 5ppm all along for simplicity sake. Its only at the very end of cycling that you want to try hard to be right at about 5ppm. So adding a little less ammonia will still accomplish exactly what you want but will be better insurance against it getting too close to the 8ppm level where the wrong species would be encouraged.

A reading of KH=5 would be seen as quite desirable by people like me who have KH=0 or KH=1 and were putting in baking soda to keep the buffering up! Once the KH passed higher than 4 I found that my pH would stay quite stable for a couple of weeks or so. The nice thing about a KH test is that it gives you a good lead time on pH crashes during fishless cycling. Just measure every couple days and when it drops below 4, to say 3 or 2, then you know its time to do a big water change and recharge with baking soda and ammonia do kick things back up in a more optimal bacteria growing range.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[drobbyb]

Also, i had a pH crash and a water change sorted that out. So i decided to test my KH and found that its 5dKH <- What does this mean?

It means you have fairly soft water. Nothing to worry about. pH crashes are common during a fishless cycle, and in your case, waterchanges are the best method of correction.

 

[Geoff1991]

Thanks for all the replies.

I will defiantly have a test kit by Friday, one way or the other.

 

[Geoff1991]

Got a test kit, tested it and had 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite.

Just put enough in that i usually do to get it up to 5ppm, about an hour and a half ago.

My ammonia is now at 0.50 and nitrite is 1.0ppm

Do you think it got through the best part of 5ppm of ammonia that quick or is something strange here...

 

[Geoff1991]

Bump?

 

[waterdrop]

When anything changes, like the test kit, you need more testing times to get the feel of what's happening. Test again and it ammonia is still pretty low then guesstimate an add or two and bring yourself up to 3 or 4ppm. Then do your 12 and 24 hour usual behaviours for a few days seeing what happens.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Geoff1991]

Cheers waterdrop,

After another pH crash... Ive done a water change and added some ammonia about 15 minutes ago. Ive just tested and i know for sure my ammonia is now 5ppm so ill see what its like in the morning.

 

[waterdrop]

 

[Geoff1991]

Ok, my pH has dropped again...

 

[Dogson]

what's it dropping to Geoff just out of interest? Is your tank becoming acidic or not quite?

 

[Geoff1991]

Yesterday throughout the day it dropped from 7.6 to 6.0.

Its currently bouncing around at around 7.0ish.

 

[Dogson]

How many times has this happened since you started ( I think you started about 10 days ago similar to me) mine thankfully is sticking around 7.6 are you're nitrites getting processed yet?

 

[Geoff1991]

Erm, about twice.

Yeah, ive had nitrAtes since day 3...

I wouldnt compare your cycle to mine though as i fish-in cycled for a bit then gave up and gave my fish away. So i started out with some good bacteria.

I saw my nitrites at 0 the other day, i got excited and havent seen it since.

 

[Dogson]

Ah I see well I'm fishless cycling but I did add some mature biorb media and mine has now started processing 4ppm ammonia around 24hrs I got a really high nitrate reading basically it went deep red but has now tailed off and looks to be around 5 so I'm hanging tight again to see some changes!
I thought cycling was supposed to increase ph rather then cause it to crash how odd