Fishless Cycling - Stalling, Plants To Blame?

[Jonno]

omg just reread the original fishless post... i missed the bit about extra airation... is this 100% needed? could this be the cause of my stalling?

I'm off to get an airstone anyway incase!

 

[Leitch]

Nah its not needed. Airstones add very little oxygen anyway.

If you really want to you can do small water changes every now and again, but i doubt it is needed.

 

[Jonno]

hmmm damn

can't think of any othe reason my nitrite processing would stall?

 

[Leitch]

Ph 7-8?
Tempreture 29c+?
Did you put chlorinated water in without declor?

 

[Jonno]

Ph 7-8? 7.2
Tempreture 29c+? 30 Deg
Did you put chlorinated water in without declor? Dechlorinated.

The thing what gets me is the fact that the nitrite went down to zero in about 20ish hours after the large water change... it's now halted

i've added some extra aeration which is causing a lot more surface movement

 

[Leitch]

Yea im going to my lfs now, to get some last minute materials before i add my fish, which will hopefully be soon.
I also need some new decorations, because the strage wooden cage thing i have seems to have absorbed water and got bigger, lol.

 

[Jonno]

hmm interesting... added aeration 1.5 hours ago and it's dropped from 2ppm to 1ppm. mind you the bubbles are rising right in front of the filter entrance which should do some good! My thoughts are that the plants photosynthesizing added with the high temp have caused low oxygen levels to drop? Hence why when i did the water change (i had bubbles everywhere from adding the water) the cycle ran as expected but slowed down as the aeration dissipated. Perhaps rdd can confirm?

my tank looks really depressing, algae everywhere and the plants look a little worse for wear. the plants are shooting though so hopefully i'll have some fresh leaves soon

 

[Underwurlde]

Expect algae during the early stages of a tank setup. Algae is very adventageous. If you have lots of fast growing plants, they will soon dominate out the algae.

 

[raptorrex]

omg just reread the original fishless post... i missed the bit about extra airation... is this 100% needed? could this be the cause of my stalling?

I'm off to get an airstone anyway incase!

its the surface disruption that adds most O2 from an air stone, so placing it close to the surface of the water, not too close though, or as you have done right under the inlet of the filter. you need more O2, especially as the temp is 30 ish, the hotter the water the less O2 it can hold

Nah its not needed. Airstones add very little oxygen anyway.

If you really want to you can do small water changes every now and again, but i doubt it is needed.

surly you need to be careful with water changes during a cycle, you are chucking ammonia out as well as the N chemicals? and during this period, there are a fair few good bacteria in it too. or thats how i understand it.

 

[Leitch]

Yes , yes. You're 100% right.

Sorry i didn't stress the level of care required when changing some of the water in a fishless cycle.

 

[Jonno]

right, so if i leave this airstone in and i go from 4ppm to 0ppm nitrite/ammonia in 12 hours, i assume i am ok taking the airstone out when i reduce the temperature to add fish?

4 hours since adding extra aeration and i'm down to 0.25 nitrite

 

[Leitch]

Wow thats great!

I just bought an airstone after hearing your success, as i am almost in the exact same position as you, so hopefully it goes well for me too.

However i will be leaving my airstone in forever as it is so cool looking. Its a volcano and the bubbles are red

 

[Jonno]

Wow thats great!

I just bought an airstone after hearing your success, as i am almost in the exact same position as you, so hopefully it goes well for me too.

However i will be leaving my airstone in forever as it is so cool looking. Its a volcano and the bubbles are red

same, i have this bubble river gadget from pets at home that makes it glug from behind the rocks i have. wasn't going to add it because the pump i have is quite noisy but i may put it on a timer along with my main lights

what red light do you have? i have a blue one that i intend to use as a night light - hydor color i think mine is.

 

[Leitch]

Yea. Mines Hydor 'decoline'. Its a volcano and i think the like is called ario red.

But yea, its a hydor make.

The volcano+light+pump all came together in one box. Cost about £30

 

[Underwurlde]

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State your name.

Nemo.

Nemo! Newcomer of orange and white, you have been called forth to the summit of Mount Wannahockaloogie to join with us in the fraternal bonds of tankhood... If you are able to swim through...THE RING OF FIRE!

Sorry couldn't resist