Just Set Up First Tropical Tank...excited.

[waterdrop]

Don't worry, you'll get it, its easy in the long run.

 

[LilyRose Tank]

so why is it, although I have a science degree and understand the principle of the nitrogen cycle, and cycling a tank, why can't i tell the difference between 2 and 4 ppm on the test chart?! lol gonna do first test to see what we got back in about 10 mins
By the way, what do I do if it shows higher than 4ppm

 

[OldMan47]

We do not have a full cycle in our tanks, as I am sure you already realize. It is just what we call it. A full cycle is something that we can't do on such a small scale so we establish enough of the cycle to move past the more dangerous chemicals, then we do a water change to just remove the nitrogen that remains. On many charts, the color differences can be subtle, that has nothing to do with education. A quick hint here, use the hue, not the saturation of the color when judging a sample.

 

[waterdrop]

I'm sure you're talking about when you'll get back on and report results but just in case, I'll mention that the timing during the tests themselves should be followed per instructions. I use one of those little digital kitchen timers that hangs around your neck so you can do other things but still come back and read the result at the right time.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[LilyRose Tank]

OK done it.. reading 4ppm i think. what do you think?

 

[waterdrop]

Yea, looks fine. Technically it doesn't really work to judge that sort of thing with pics over the internet but if you think its 4 then I think its 4

 

[LilyRose Tank]

ok, so how long will it take to drop to 0ppm (a week)and how many ammonnia additions, and nitrite/nitrate testings should be done

 

[OldMan47]

I'm going to agree with that LilyRose. By blowing up the picture I almost feel confident enough to call it from the colors on my screen.

 

[LilyRose Tank]

om47 thank you for boosting my confidence on that. newbie and all. i can't wait to get the fish in. i'm jayne and my autistic daughter lily loves fish hence the name...its her tank for her 4th birthday.
i love guppies, platys, which is what i'd love to get. mickey mouse platiesm in oranges, reds yellows, and fantail guppies of any bright colours. lily is very sensetive to visual stimulus, shes already standing by the tank looking for her fish! bless

 

[waterdrop]

Jayne, Its extremely unpredictable how long it will take a tank to fishless cycle because the two species of needed bacteria can be present in any given persons tap water in wildly different starting numbers.

After you put the first dose of ammonia in the tank, it usually just sits there and may not drop at all for the first week or two (we've even seen a few cases of 3 weeks or more.) Then finally the ammonia drops to zero ppm and begins to get processed down to zero in a day. Meanwhile, about the same time, we usually see a little nitrite begin to appear. Actually, a little nitrite(NO2) is probably being processed into nitrate(NO3) from the beginning but the ammonia to nitrite(NO2) becomes faster and the nitrate to nitrate can't keep up. Soon there is so much excess nitrite(NO2) that you reach the second phase, which we call the "nitrite spike", where nitrite goes above what the test can measure and nitrite just seems spiked at 5+ppm all the time.

The 3rd and final phase of fishless cycling comes when nitrite(NO2) finally drops to zero ppm one day and begins to drop once a day, taking more than 12 hours but less than 24 hours to fall go down to zero ppm. During the 3rd phase it becomes important to test at both the 12 hour and 24 hour marks and often either the nitrite or the ammonia will "stick" at 13 or 14 hours and frustrate you because it can't make it in 12. But finally both ammonia and nitrite(NO2) will go from 4-5ppm ammonia added to both being zero ppm in 12 hours or less and you'll be able to start your qualifying week, hopefully watching it repeat that feat for the better part of a week.

Once you qualify and finish, you remove all the bacterial-growing-soup-water from the tank via a 90% water change and get a large stocking of fish within that same day or so and begin the clock on normal tank maintenance with fish.

You only ever add ammonia on your set 24-hour mark (most people establish it at morning or evening such that they can do a 12 hour test at the opposite end of the day.) You only add ammonia if ammonia reached a true zero sometime in the previous 24 hours and it doesn't matter if it reached zero a many hours previously, you only add at your regular time. This helps to hold the excess nitrogen to a minimum over time.

The ideal temp, I feel, is 29C/84F and its important to post up your pH reading every other time or so, not quite as often as your ammonia and nitrite(NO2) readings. Nitrate(NO3) is not as important and can be an occasional measurement.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[LilyRose Tank]

Thanks guys, you've been a great help. I shall start logging my test results in another post. once again thank you x

 

[rebrn]

The colours on the chart can take some getting used to, and I still have trouble telling the difference between 2 and 4 ppm of ammonia. But agree, the picture looks like 4ppm. It does vary quite a lot in the time it take to drop ammonia, in my experience I had a drop of ammonia from 4 to 2 relatively quickly but than it sat at 2 ppm for quite a long time before it dropped again. Keep us all posted.