InaneCathode
Fishaholic
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Ive had this tank for about 2 months now, been fishless cycling with unadulterated ammonia chloride. It went unchanged for the first 2 weeks, but for the past 4 weeks or so the ammonia levels (read from an ammonia alert card [occasionally double checked with regular drop tests]) have dropped several times. Every time i add half the amount it takes to bring it up to 5ppm (10 drops).
Currently:
10 Gallon all-glass(tm) tank
Generic HOB filter
Genaric glass heater
Epoxy gravel substrate
One lizard tail ivy
It took about 3 days to reduce 2.5 ppm ammonia to 0 the first time, every time it drops it seems to be taking shorter and shorter time. Recently, it takes a little shorter than 24 hours.
HOWEVER, i'll admit i havent been up on the testing, and have added ammonia when the alert card says to, so part of the problem i'm about to explain could be due to that.
I understand the ammonia dropping, but what DOESNT make sense, is that the nitrite never went sky high like the fishless cycle thread said it should. It's still kinda high at about .5 ppm, but i expected through the roof readings. They've been about as high as they are now for the whole cycle.
Whats even MORE weird, is that the nitrates are very, very high. Over 100. (i have well water, no nitrates [very hard, very basic])
One time i added ammonia to the filter for some god forsaken reason, i think this may have nuked some of the nitrite loving bacteria?
I also added a couple of packets of hagen cycle earlier in the game, perhaps i had nitrite eaters already when the ammonia eating bacteria developed?
Why is my cycle taking so long, or perhaps it IS cycled, and i'm psychotic?
Rest of the water stats:
pH: 8ish (as high as 8.4 when i first started)
Hardness: Very hard, almost off the chart
Ammonia: Currently .5ppm>
Nitrite: .5ppm ish (im terrible with colors, could be higher)
Nitrate: 100ppm (again, ish. not only am i terrible with colors, the color card is rather vauge)
Like i said, i have well water. No chlorine, no chloromine, no nitrates. High ph (not sure why) and very hard (lots of minerals)
PS Sorry if the post is a bit cluttered, my brain isnt working right this week...
Currently:
10 Gallon all-glass(tm) tank
Generic HOB filter
Genaric glass heater
Epoxy gravel substrate
One lizard tail ivy
It took about 3 days to reduce 2.5 ppm ammonia to 0 the first time, every time it drops it seems to be taking shorter and shorter time. Recently, it takes a little shorter than 24 hours.
HOWEVER, i'll admit i havent been up on the testing, and have added ammonia when the alert card says to, so part of the problem i'm about to explain could be due to that.
I understand the ammonia dropping, but what DOESNT make sense, is that the nitrite never went sky high like the fishless cycle thread said it should. It's still kinda high at about .5 ppm, but i expected through the roof readings. They've been about as high as they are now for the whole cycle.
Whats even MORE weird, is that the nitrates are very, very high. Over 100. (i have well water, no nitrates [very hard, very basic])
One time i added ammonia to the filter for some god forsaken reason, i think this may have nuked some of the nitrite loving bacteria?
I also added a couple of packets of hagen cycle earlier in the game, perhaps i had nitrite eaters already when the ammonia eating bacteria developed?
Why is my cycle taking so long, or perhaps it IS cycled, and i'm psychotic?
Rest of the water stats:
pH: 8ish (as high as 8.4 when i first started)
Hardness: Very hard, almost off the chart
Ammonia: Currently .5ppm>
Nitrite: .5ppm ish (im terrible with colors, could be higher)
Nitrate: 100ppm (again, ish. not only am i terrible with colors, the color card is rather vauge)
Like i said, i have well water. No chlorine, no chloromine, no nitrates. High ph (not sure why) and very hard (lots of minerals)
PS Sorry if the post is a bit cluttered, my brain isnt working right this week...
) that the nitrite eating bacteria are inhibited by very high levels of nitrate and it slows down their development. Quite a few people have had trouble with them developing very slowly during fishless cycling.
