Fishless Cycle

[waterdrop]

 

[julsifer]

That is really encouraging news Julsifer. It may show that you are almost done on the cycle for this tank. Have your nitrate readings been marching up about 15 ppm daily?

Its hard to tell really what with me having to do a lot of water changes, everytime i test nitrate it seems to be at around 10ppm, last time i tested was yesterday with that same reading.

Day 50
Ammonia Result 0 (12hrs)
Nitrite 1-2 (12hrs)
Nitrate 10ppm
Ph 7.6<

 

[waterdrop]

I forget, are there any plants involved? They might eat some of the nitrates.

I agree with OM, its nice to see the nitrate inch upward as the nitrites inch downward, but often we don't get a clear picture like that. Sometimes it seems like the nitrates are just a little too "flakey" to cooperate in a useful way (presumably its not that they aren't inching up like they should, its just that a particular instance of us testing them just gives inaccurate results, either because the presence of nitrite confuses the test or because the second reagent has precipitated out a bit and doesn't do as well or because the shaking somehow hasn't been as effective.. one of those possibilities if its not plants eating them.) Often we're left with the "nitrite drop to zero time" as the more clear message.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[julsifer]

No, no plants yet

 

[waterdrop]

Maybe you should take up rock collecting ... you're already good at it! Great piece of wood too! And hopefully that shell, if its real, is a conscious thing, as it would add hardness (CaCO3..) which wouldn't be bad per se, just something you have to be aware of.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[julsifer]

Maybe you should take up rock collecting ... you're already good at it! Great piece of wood too! And hopefully that shell, if its real, is a conscious thing, as it would add hardness (CaCO3..) which wouldn't be bad per se, just something you have to be aware of.

~~waterdrop~~

lol yeh those are just the rocks you can see believe me i have a cupboard full plus slate probably best to chuck em in the garden. Oh yeh and a shed full of slate chippings haha

i heard about the shells causing hardness, but i didnt think it would matter since ai live in a hard water area, or so i thought until 'OM' mentioned something about my water being soft, which i am slightly confused about.

There are only two shells in the tank the other one is at the back you cant see at that angle

 

[OldMan47]

Have you checked with your water supplier about the hardness of their water at the pumping station? It would be better than nothing if you don't want to buy a test kit.
My guess is worth nothing compared to actual data.

 

[julsifer]

This is all i could find about the hardness of the water in my area

 

[OldMan47]

Your map would seem to indicate that you are in a hard water area although water sources vary quite a bit, even in the same city, if there is more than one well being used. If you have a system relying on surface waters, it can vary a good deal from month to month as the rains get heavier and lighter and as farm chemicals run off into the rivers and streams. My own tap water varies from about 225 mg/l to about 350 mg/l and is not what I would call very hard but it is far from soft. In fish keepers terms my water is moderately hard to hard at 10 to 15 degrees GH. Your map standard would call it very hard so I guess it is a question of perspective. Your pH crashes at intervals of around a week during the nitrate spike had me thinking soft water or at least low KH water.

 

[waterdrop]

was sitting here over my morning coffee staring at Julsifer's statement about all she could find showing a big blank white space and OM saying that indicated hard water and wondering how he could read that into nothing when all of a sudden the web site decided to belatedly show the blue map of her UK area...

 

[julsifer]

Day 51
Ammonia Result 0 (12hrs)
Nitrite 0 (24hrs)
Nitrate 0ppm
Ph 7.6
Dosage 5ml

Day 52
Ammonia Result 0 (24hrs)
Nitrite 0 (24hrs)
Nitrate 0ppm
Ph 7.6
Dosage 5ml

 

[OldMan47]

If you are still dosing daily, your readings are looking pretty good Julsifer. In a few more days like that you will be looking at fish instead of silly colored cards.

I was just using my mystical insightful powers WD. Then you came along and spoiled it by having the map show up. LOL

 

[julsifer]

ok so unfortunately i cant find my fishless cycle log so i dont know what day i'm on lol but basically the readings are....

Nitrite 0 (24hrs) and 2 (12hrs)
Ammonia 0 (12hrs)
Ph i tested this yesterday or the day before and was concerned because it was something like 7.1 but today it is 7.6

i'm afraid i have completely lost track of the 4 gallon tank Ooops but i know that at 12hrs the nitrite in that one was also 2, ammonia is being added tonight so will try and remember what i'm doing from there haha.

its all getting a bit confused and muddled but i'm hanging in there just.

 

[waterdrop]

well, on Aug 25 you posted days 51 and 52 although I probably couldn't tell you -which- tank, we were hoping you'd be able to remember that part, lol

 

[julsifer]

OMG for the past 3days the tank has been cycling ammonia and nitrite in 12hrs!!! WAHOOO!!!