I Think Im Nearly There!

[DJ_$ure$hot]

I am getting a nitrite reading which is almost bright blue, but has the very faintest bit of purple, reading between 0.00 & 0.25 after 24 hours (roughly). Does this mean that the light @ the end of the tunnel is upon me? If so, I'm going to hit the roof with joy!!!!!!!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yeah not far off now, when it's dropping down in 12 hrs then your cycled, i always recommend continuing adding ammonia for 1 week after you've finished to give a bit of extra stability. But yes light is definatley at the end of the tunnel

Gone pretty smoothly for you.

 

[DJ_$ure$hot]

i always recommend continuing adding ammonia for 1 week after you've finished to give a bit of extra stability.

But Im cycling with fish remember

 

[Miss Wiggle]

oh yeah, sorry..... two heavy nights out for me..... can't rememeber everything

 

[DJ_$ure$hot]

So does that mean I just leave it for another week after Im getting readings of 0 Nitrites then?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

once nitrite and ammonia are both steady at 0 then the cycle is done, keep monitoring them both daily and if you get any readings then do some more water changes, but if they both stay stable at 0 which they should then your are all done cycling and can relax and enjoy your fishkeeping!!

what i will say is don't be in a rush to go out and get some more fish as soon as the cycle is done, give the bacteria a chance to stabilise so leave it a month or so before adding fish and then only add a few at a time.

 

[DJ_$ure$hot]

once nitrite and ammonia are both steady at 0 then the cycle is done, keep monitoring them both daily and if you get any readings then do some more water changes, but if they both stay stable at 0 which they should then your are all done cycling and can relax and enjoy your fishkeeping!!

what i will say is don't be in a rush to go out and get some more fish as soon as the cycle is done, give the bacteria a chance to stabilise so leave it a month or so before adding fish and then only add a few at a time.

Thanks MW

Do you think its still worth doing a water change tonight or just leaving it & testing the water when I wake up in the morning?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

when you would normally do a water change this evening just test the water, if it's 0 then leave it, if it's anything else then do your change.

 

[waterdrop]

DJ,

When cycling with fish, you determine whether or not to do a water change by whether you are seeing any ammonia or nitrite when you test. Often it is difficult to ever get one or both of them down to zero and you will see (on API) a tiny bit of greenish(for ammonia) or purplish(for nitrite.) If that is the case (difficult to get to zero) then people often say to just accept 0.25 or less and wait until the next day for another water change. If it heads up to what you judge to be 0.75 or definately 1.0 then you really need to do another water change (assuming the usual one hour min wait) to protect the fish.

Just because you see the nitrite tests get down to zero in a fish-in cycle is not really too much reason to celebrate yet, as it can still take a long time for the filter to be doing the nitrites itself. Usually the test is whether the filter itself can keep them down to zero for two days running (pretty hard test and often comes only after 4 weeks of fish-in cycling...)

~~waterdrop~~

 

[DJ_$ure$hot]

DJ,

When cycling with fish, you determine whether or not to do a water change by whether you are seeing any ammonia or nitrite when you test. Often it is difficult to ever get one or both of them down to zero and you will see (on API) a tiny bit of greenish(for ammonia) or purplish(for nitrite.) If that is the case (difficult to get to zero) then people often say to just accept 0.25 or less and wait until the next day for another water change. If it heads up to what you judge to be 0.75 or definately 1.0 then you really need to do another water change (assuming the usual one hour min wait) to protect the fish.

Just because you see the nitrite tests get down to zero in a fish-in cycle is not really too much reason to celebrate yet, as it can still take a long time for the filter to be doing the nitrites itself. Usually the test is whether the filter itself can keep them down to zero for two days running (pretty hard test and often comes only after 4 weeks of fish-in cycling...)

~~waterdrop~~

Thanks WD, Just to clarify...

I just did another 25% water change & tested straight after. It read what pretty much looked to me like a very close 0.0 result. I will test again when I get up in the morning. My cycle has been running for exactly 4 weeks & 2 days If Im reading a clean result in the morning, I'll then closely monitor this for a couple of days to see if the colonies are sufficient enough to eat all that crappy nitrite

 

[Miss Wiggle]

sounds good, pretty straight forward from here on in. test regularly, anytime you get a reading that isn't 0, do a water change.

 

[DJ_$ure$hot]

Just to keep you posted...

I got up this morning (8 hours after my last post) & tested the water to get a BIG FAT BLUE 0.00ppm of nitrites Have just tested it again (13 hours after my test this morning) & still 0.00ppm... BOOYAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'll be keeping a very close eye on this, but I think I have 1 foot out of that cycling tunnel, Im so stoked

& on a side note, thanks to all the peeps on these forums that have been so helpful in the last couple of weeks, Miss Wiggle & Waterdrop to name but a few... Im going to continue on here as a member for a long time me finks

 

[Miss Wiggle]

brilliant news

well you seem to have it all under control now, as you said keep monitoring it but it should stay fairly steady now.

no problem at all, we do it cos we like to learn and like to help, but it's always nice to be appreciated.

Hope you do stick around

 

[DJ_$ure$hot]

Hope you do stick around

I will, I promise

I'll pass on what I've learnt to the newbies that come on here coz I know what its like when you're stuck & need a quick informative answer!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

all about give and take isn't it.