Help With Cycle

[Bojangles]

Been cycling my 60 liter tank for 3 weeks now ammonia was going within 12 hours Nitrite within 24 hours i had to do a water change yesterday because the smell from the tank was awful

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showto...3681&st=100

So i changed the water yesterday morning at 10:30am added ammonia at 11 am as normal then tested again at 11 pm and there was still high ammonia readings 2ppm+ and nitrite was off the chart when normaly nitrite is around 1 ppm and ammonia is gone has changing the water messed my cycle up?

 

[doresy]

Hi, a cycle can stall for no apparant reason sometimes.

If you raise the ammonia level too high that can do it. Also watch your PH level .

I have to ask the obvious.....please tell us you de-chlorinated your water when you did that water change, if not then you could be back to the start again (no offence but you have to ask )

 

[Bojangles]

Hi, a cycle can stall for no apparant reason sometimes.

If you raise the ammonia level too high that can do it. Also watch your PH level .

I have to ask the obvious.....please tell us you de-chlorinated your water when you did that water change, if not then you could be back to the start again (no offence but you have to ask )

Yeah i de-chlorinated my water first

I think i might have put a little bit to much ammonia in the tank so hopefuly it will work itself out in the next 12 hours

 

[waterdrop]

These kinds of abrupt setbacks are why we try so hard to take care in "qualifying" the ending period for a fishless cycle. They can just surprise you and better for it to happen before you have switched over to fish!

Now there is a bit of controversey among the lot of us over water changes during fishless cycles. Certainly, water changes during the first phase when you are mostly trying to grow the bulk of the A-Bacs and are waiting for ammonia to drop faster is going to do nothing but slow the cycle down and should not be done except in the case of a clear pH crash down to 6.2 or below.

But in the second phase where you are either getting the nitrite(NO2) spike or have already had it and are watching nitrite drop in between 24 hours and 12 hours, there are mixed bits of information about the usefulness of water changes. On the one hand, there is some evidence that -anytime- you do a water change during a fishless cycle, you will get a sort of "pause" in the growth curve of the bacteria, that you've disturbed their environment somehow and that they are going to take a day or two to get back to being themselves, so to speak. There is actually some sense to this in that all bacterial colonies have to set up just the right conditions for optimal growth and if those are disturbed, there is a "lag phase" prior to "growth phase" begin restored.

But there are also some compelling reasons to consider water changes (under the right circumstances of need) during this second phase of the fishless cycle. The one I consider the most scientific (even if it requires an element of trust from us hobbyists) are the statements of Tim Hovanec (both in his published papers and in discussions, I believe) that there is evidence of slowed N-Bac growth if nitrites(NO2) and/or nitrates(NO3) are at some (unspecified) "too high" level. Another advantage (though not helpful to the cycle speed) is that water changes can drop the nitrite(NO2) levels down within the range of measurement that the tests can handle, so you can potentially see the up or down direction of nitrite from your next couple of readings. Yet a third advantage of a few large gravel-clean-water-changes nearing the latter stages of fishless cycling is that it gives the new beginner some very real practice at doing this essential maintenance process prior to having to perform it with his/her precious fish in there!

So, admittedly, at the risk of slowing down the overall fishless cycle time (but also the possibility of helping it!) I am one who doesn't see a problem with one or more large (90%) gravel-clean-water-changes during the nitrite-spike period and later in a fishless cycle and the case at hand seems a good one for them. After all, the bacteria we care about do not reside in the water and after the gravel is cleaned and 90% of the water is changed, there will be less nitrate and nitrite and the ammonia (and baking soda, if required) can be brought right back up to optimal levels for the bacterial feeding.

~~waterdrop~~