Here We Go Again!

[waterdrop]

Keep an eye on the new plants and trim them of debris if necessary - they can begin to add ammonia that you are not planning for if they don't take will to your tank and start to break down.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[locust267]

Plants came yesterday - All looking good.

Only had time to do about a 60% water change as 260l takes ages!

Anyway about 14:00 yesterday I topped the tank back up to 4ppm ammonia (it was down to 1ppm after water change).

Today it reads 2ppm, also checked the nitrite and nitrates and it appears the water change has really taken these down as they are now only no2 = 0.25 and no3 = 7.5.

Should I be seeing the ammonia drop each day from now on and what are the reasons for a stall?

Many Thanks

Vicki

 

[Miss Wiggle]

you'll probably find it takes a day or two before it redcovers to dropping in 12 hrs.

there's a number of things which can stall a cycle, most notably a pH crash, too much ammonia or too much nitrite. yours is most likley the latter.

 

[locust267]

Ok thanks will keep an eye on it and will post back in a few days

 

[waterdrop]

agreed, it may take a day or two to settle down from the water change

keep good logs of your morning and evening testing - trends make it a little easier to understand than individual days

~~waterdrop~~

 

[locust267]

I'm getting a little disheartened now, yesterday the ammonia still read 2ppm, nitrite 0.10, nitrate 7.5 and Ph 7.6.

Today the ammonia is still 2ppm and the nitrite seems slightly higher, perhaps 0.15.

Yesterday I took a little filter media out of my 56l tank (very small amount) I also squeezed it into the new tank. The tank looked murky after this which I thought was a good thing but since then the water has cleared and the ammonia hasnt gone down.

It'll be 3 weeks on monday since I set up my tank and the ammonia hasn't dropped below 1.5 ever, I cant tell you how much I'm looking forward to seeing even a lime green colour!

As I only have really small tanks set up I cant really take that much media out of them and there isn't anyone local to me who donates their media.

Anything else I can do?

Can I/Should I swap to add daily?

Vicki

 

[Miss Wiggle]

If the cycle did stall the other day it’ll take a little while to catch up so I’d suggest giving it until after the weekend before making any decisions.

The nitrite rising is a good sign, it means ammonia is being processed. There’s an equation for this which I can’t remember exactly but it’s something like this 1ppm of ammonia converts into 3ppm of nitrite which then converts into 5ppm of nitrate…… can’t remember the exact figures but you get the jist anyway. This means that sometimes the nitrite produced is enough to register but the ammonia consumed isn’t enough to register a drop.

So if the nitrite has risen that’s a good sign that things are starting up again.

If you can get any media at all from another tank that would help, even if it’s just 1cm of sponge or something it will speed things along because it’s a mature established colony, a mature bacteria colony can reproduce and grow significantly faster than a new colony….. not sure the science behind it but even a small amount will give things a boost.

 

[waterdrop]

Often somewhere around 21 days (3 weeks) or so the fishless cycle will take a turn toward the second phase. Your particular case has had a bit of a stall, so seeing the signs may take a little longer. Just steel yourself to the fact that being methodical, no matter what happens, will eventually win out.

As MW says, detecting a bit of rising NO2 is a good sign that the A-Bacs are slowly building up and processing more ammonia. Eventually they will "gobble up all the green!"

~~waterdrop~~

 

[locust267]

Still on 2ppm - I've slowed the current down on the filter in hope that the water not running so fast through will disturb the growing bacteria

 

[locust267]

Ammonia still stuck, nitrite is now at 0 and Nitrate at just slightly under 10...

:cry:

 

[locust267]

Todays results are more of the same thing, should I do another (larger) water change?

Vicki

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yes, do as close to 100% as you can (i.e. just leave water in the gravel and external filter if you have one)

want to rule out all outside factors which could be contributing now, can you confirm your test results for pH, GH and KH.

Can you confirm exactly what chemicals you are adding to the tank, any dechlor etc?

Can you confirm what decor you have in the tank, bogwood, rocks and what sort?

 

[toshapetriji]

Don´t get disheartened with the cycle. In the long run it´s the best way to go. I too had my troubles along the way but finally got there and you will too.

 

[locust267]

yes, do as close to 100% as you can (i.e. just leave water in the gravel and external filter if you have one)

want to rule out all outside factors which could be contributing now, can you confirm your test results for pH, GH and KH.

Can you confirm exactly what chemicals you are adding to the tank, any dechlor etc?

Can you confirm what decor you have in the tank, bogwood, rocks and what sort?

Hi MW,

Right well I haven't got a GH and KH test, went to pets at home and southern aquatics today and neither of them had any in. Although I already know the water in my area is hard.

With regards to the other levels today it read:

Ammonia = 2ppm
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = 7.5
pH = I think about 8, although it's usually 7.6 the colour didn't seem to match any on the chart but was a much lighter version of the brown that represents 8.

With regards to chemicals I double up on the Aquasafe as I fill up using a hose straight from the kitchen tap (hose only ever used for this purpose).
Within the last week I have also added Seachem flourish as I added live plants last tuesday.
I also added some Tetra Bactozym as I had some spare from when I first started fish keeping back in Jan, as expected this done nothing. Again this was only added within the last week.
I also have a TetraPlant substrate underneath the gravel.

Decor: I have aquarium gravel over the plant subsrate, this was washed until clear and didn't cause any cloudiness when I filled up.
2 x Large pebbles bought from LFS and washed before adding
3 x peices of mopani bogwood, boiled for about 2 weeked before adding.
1 x home made cave using washed rocks and aquarium silicone
Juwel textured background stuck on with aquarium silicone.
Other than that just the plants, filter input and output, heater and therm.

When I do my change in a bit do you recommend filling back up to 5ppm again or shall I keep it lower this time at around 2-3ppm?

Cheers

Vicki

 

[LionessN3cubs]

yes, do as close to 100% as you can (i.e. just leave water in the gravel and external filter if you have one)

want to rule out all outside factors which could be contributing now, can you confirm your test results for pH, GH and KH.

Can you confirm exactly what chemicals you are adding to the tank, any dechlor etc?

Can you confirm what decor you have in the tank, bogwood, rocks and what sort?

Hi MW,

Right well I haven't got a GH and KH test, went to pets at home and southern aquatics today and neither of them had any in. Although I already know the water in my area is hard.

With regards to the other levels today it read:

Ammonia = 2ppm
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = 7.5
pH = I think about 8, although it's usually 7.6 the colour didn't seem to match any on the chart but was a much lighter version of the brown that represents 8.

With regards to chemicals I double up on the Aquasafe as I fill up using a hose straight from the kitchen tap (hose only ever used for this purpose).
Within the last week I have also added Seachem flourish as I added live plants last tuesday.
I also added some Tetra Bactozym as I had some spare from when I first started fish keeping back in Jan, as expected this done nothing. Again this was only added within the last week.
I also have a TetraPlant substrate underneath the gravel.

Decor: I have aquarium gravel over the plant subsrate, this was washed until clear and didn't cause any cloudiness when I filled up.
2 x Large pebbles bought from LFS and washed before adding
3 x peices of mopani bogwood, boiled for about 2 weeked before adding.
1 x home made cave using washed rocks and aquarium silicone
Juwel textured background stuck on with aquarium silicone.
Other than that just the plants, filter input and output, heater and therm.

When I do my change in a bit do you recommend filling back up to 5ppm again or shall I keep it lower this time at around 2-3ppm?

Cheers

Vicki

Im no expert ...I just wanted to mention something. My fishless cycle took MONTHS and part of the reason for that was that when I started, the water out of my tap was a nice PH of 7.6 and at least 15 hard. I never checked it again until...I had a PH crash and couldnt figure out why. Turned out that something changed the water out of my tap to a PH of 6.0 and almost NO hardness. Bearing that in mind, dont rule out that the water out of your tap might have changed for some reason. I kept doing big water changes as your talking about, but ended up having to use baking soda to keep my ph stable.