Kmur's Cycle Journal

[kmur]

Ok. Today marks my official start of my tank cycle! Here is the beginning situation! Hopefully it doesn't flood the forum too much if I post every few days, that way if something it going awry, I can know before it's too late

Tank: 32 gallons.
Substrate: Sand
Temperature: 88 (for cycle, not forever )
Filter: 210 GPH over-the-top, with a washable mechanical filter and a filter with removable filter-filler stuff.
Tank using all new media - Though, not entirely by my will, my friend gave me some plants from his tank which I have put in mine (since I had nowhere else to put them.) I am watching them closely for death/rot and will remove them, and while I doubt the water from a mature tank would make a difference in bacteria growth, I am putting this here just incase things do go along quicker than planned so that I have an explanation

Tap water conditions:
pH: 8.7 (that's pretty high, isn't it? =/)
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0

Tank has been set up for about a week. I ordered testing supplies online, and they hadn't come in yet, so I decided to go ahead and set up and put it my first 4ppm of ammonia. I figured, even without being able to test: Best scenario is that I give myself a little head start, and worst scenario is that I have to do a huge water change. I did about a 30% water change yesterday and tried my best to get it back to about 4ppm. (I think I might be over though, I don't know the conversions.) I have been testing the ammonia daily (that's the only kit I had that I didn't order online) but have not been recording it because the change was so slight. It has gone down a tiny bit, I think it started about 4mg/l. (I'm not a master of reading the color yet, I got the test kits where you mix chemicals and compare colors. I just installed a natural white light two days ago and before then the color-reading conditions were less than optimal. Now I'm all set for clear color readings!)

Alright, to the important part.

Current tank specs (10/27/10)
Ammonia: 3mg/l
pH: 7.5
Nitrite: 0.1mg/l
Nitrate: 0

From what I gather, it's only important to test the ammonia until that is dropping regularly, and then you start testing everything else. I wanted to make sure I had a good baseline in the beginning though.

 

[anon02]

Welcome to the forum

There`s a calculator button at the top of the page which will take you to a conversion/calculator page, the ammonia dosage calc is at the bottom of the page

btw all else seems fine, but I wouldn`t expect to see much for the first couple of weeks

 

[Harlequins]

Looks like you're getting off to a good start with fishless cycling

There's nothing in your friends tank water that will help your cycle along but if you could get a bit of his mature sponge from his filter to put in yours that would certainly kick start something off

Good luck with your cycle.

What type of fish were you thinking of?

 

[kmur]

Fish selection is killing me. I knew for sure what I wanted before I started, that's WHY I started. Then I decided I wanted to do something different. Like, four times. So I don't even know where I am! I know for a fact that I want a shoal of Celestial Pearl Danios, that's the only thing I've been dead set on. Probably 10 or 12 of them. Past that, I have a lot of ideas and don't know what ones to go with! I am basing the tank design/water parameters/heat and filtering around the danios since that's my only for sure. Probably a small group of kuhli loaches, and maybe a single, pair, or small group of some of the gentler gouramis that prefer the top of the tank. I brainstorm every day, I figure I have a good 6 to 12 weeks before I have to decide

 

[kmur]

Ok, a quick update - Levels are still holding at about the same. A slight ammonia drop, but nothing to write home to mom about.

BUT... I have had a TERRIBLE outbreak of brown algae! In the last few days, it's come to coat just about anything! I've read that this is somewhat normal, but I am curious if it really signifies anything, and if I should try to do something to remove it or leave it be.

*brown algae as in 'the algae is brown,' not as in 'this is the type of algae it is.'

 

[Timmy_Bee]

how long do you leave your lights on? or is the tank in direct sunlight?

I dont think it should affect anything, but if you want to kill it off, cover the tank in a rug / cardboard / whatever so no light can get in. This will kill the algae in a few days or so.

Obviously you still need access to the tank to add ammonia and run tests, so don't board it up too much!

 

[kmur]

how long do you leave your lights on? or is the tank in direct sunlight?

I dont think it should affect anything, but if you want to kill it off, cover the tank in a rug / cardboard / whatever so no light can get in. This will kill the algae in a few days or so.

Obviously you still need access to the tank to add ammonia and run tests, so don't board it up too much!

There is NO direct sunlight - This project is in my basement I leave the light on for between 10 and 14 hours a day, depending on how early I decide to get out of bed. There are plants in the tank, and I suspect that maybe they brought a little colony with them. (It wasn't my intention to run a cycle with plants, but I couldn't say no when someone offered!)

So far, my plants are surviving the cycle. They're not flourishing, but they're not dying either. Keeping a close eye on them, I don't want a bunch of decay in the tank. The algea has LATCHED to the poor java moss, I don't think he'll survive the ordeal.

Here is a picture of the algae. Gross stuff! I couldn't even get pretty green algae.

I promise, it'll be a much prettier tank when I'm done.

(also, if anyone is curious about the big blue rubber band, I added some mesh over the filter intake, and every few days i move the rubber band up, slowly pull down the mesh, and take it out along with all the crap that's stuck to it. I didn't want a bunch of roots from my floaty plants muckin' up my filter. I check the filter flow every day to make sure it's clean and still pumping all the water it should!)

 

[waterdrop]

A new tank has zero nutrients for plants (except a few minerals from the tap water.) You are feeding the bacteria, why not feed the plants a little too? In Ohio, I would look for a bottle of Seachem Flourish Excel and a bottle of Flourish (plain). Put about 3/4 capful of Excel and less than one thread-line within the cap of the plain Flourish per day. Some of these substances may be helpful for the bacteria too, in a small way. You are leaving your lights on way too long. I'd start with 4 hours only. Clean away all the algae as best you can (you can clean algae, then do a large gravel-clean-water-change, then re-dose the ammonia.) If the restart after the algae cleaning session with less light seems to stop the algae from returning then you can very slowly add maybe an extra hour of light, then one more etc. but I would go over 8 hours of it since you know you have brown algae problems.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[kmur]

A new tank has zero nutrients for plants (except a few minerals from the tap water.) You are feeding the bacteria, why not feed the plants a little too? In Ohio, I would look for a bottle of Seachem Flourish Excel and a bottle of Flourish (plain). Put about 3/4 capful of Excel and less than one thread-line within the cap of the plain Flourish per day. Some of these substances may be helpful for the bacteria too, in a small way. You are leaving your lights on way too long. I'd start with 4 hours only. Clean away all the algae as best you can (you can clean algae, then do a large gravel-clean-water-change, then re-dose the ammonia.) If the restart after the algae cleaning session with less light seems to stop the algae from returning then you can very slowly add maybe an extra hour of light, then one more etc. but I would go over 8 hours of it since you know you have brown algae problems.

~~waterdrop~~

Thanks a lot Because the plants weren't really intentional, I wasn't super worried about them. I was more concerned about additives for the plants harming the cycle. Now that I know they won't, I'll definitely go pick some up tomorrow! I believe I saw both of those items at the LFS when I was in a few days ago. (I really just go in there and browse it like a museum )

The big problem with my lighting is that, most days, nobody is home from 9AM to 9PM, and I am only home/awake for about two hours before work and two hours after work, so it's hard to not leave it on for 12 hours. Is it important that the light is contiguous? I could leave it on for two in the morning and two at night, and then four or five hours on the occasions where I am home for that long.

Today was a BIG day! I've been testing every other day until I saw more progress, and today marks the day I need to start testing every day! I had a huge drop since my test on Friday - It went from 3.5ppm to .8ppm! HUGE! I wasn't expecting that at ALL. I'm wondering if I missed my friday test or something and just forgot and was looking at my Wednesday results I was so afraid that nothing would happen, so this has me SO psyched. I can't stop wiggling in my seat!

Also, I read that mg/L is equal to ppm, and I am assuming that when I say "ppm." Please correct me if I'm wrong

 

[anon02]

You can buy a cheap timer switch to set your photoperiod

mg/L is the same as ppm

 

[kmur]

It's movin' right along! Wow!

Today, we're at 0.4 ppm ammonia.

I've also had a rise in nitrites - They're up to 10 ppm. I have only been testing them once a week, and they were at close to 0 prior.

pH is at 7.3

This is exciting. I think I'll have to add more ammonia to the tank when I get home from work; something I haven't had to do yet. I am SO PSYCHED.

 

[Timmy_Bee]

You can buy a cheap timer switch to set your photoperiod

i would recommend this.
If you have your lights on for 12h you will always be attacked by algae. Also, if you have your lights on for 2 X 2h stints, the same will happen and your plants will die.

Plants (unlike algae) need 4h of light before they can start photosynthesising [sp] (WD - do you have any scientific knowledge to back that up? i heard it from you) so its a waste to have them on for 2h.

 

[OldMan47]

There is adequate evidence that a minimum time is required before a plant begins to actively photosynthesize Timmy Bee. I have never seen any serious evidence that an algae is any less dependent on a minimum photo-period than a higher plant is. That does not mean that it is not true but I simply have yet to see any scientific evidence of it. It is widely accepted by plant people and I would hope tat by now we would see conflicting evidence if it were not true, but who knows.
Regardless of that issue, a timer for the lights is a good idea. It will let you adjust your photo-period based on whatever symptoms you see in your own tank. I usually end up adjusting my timers down based on algae in my tanks since I push toward the high end and plants always get lots of light. Other people start out with poor light and find they are increasing their light to get their plants to survive. Regardless of your situation, consistent light periods will let you make actual adjustments based on observations. If you always turn the lights on when you arrive home and turn them off as you go to bed, the photo-period will vary quite a bit from day to day. That makes adjustments almost impossible to quantify and makes it really hard to control accurately. Timers are cheap, use one.

 

[kmur]

I think that while I'm at work today (I'm a slacker I'll do some research on lighting/plant growth and decide what I wanna do. I always assumed that they more light, the better as far as the plants know, and that's why I was leaving it on for such ungodly hours. We actually have a timer, I just can't figure out how to use the darn things. (Also, I have a degree in computer science and electrical engineering. TIMERS ARE BEYOND ME THOUGH, apparently. ) I hope to break the mystery of the ancient automatic timer soon. Even if they are cheap, I'm all about reusing things whenever possible. I still have to get plant stuff at the LFS, and their plans are all amazing looking (they have a lot of display tanks that don't get touched and I think I'll ask them what they generally use. They're more competent than most of the LFS horror stories I hear on here!

Sadly, between the fact that my boss is on vacation and I've been in and out of the doctor, I just haven't had time to take care of my poor little plants. Luckily, my doctor is attempting to force me in to a vacation, which I hope to start next monday. Perfect for getting back on track!

As for tank specs, ammonia was down to 0.1ppm today, and nitrite is at 0.5pp. I went ahead and added 7mL of ammonia to the tank, make myself a nice cup of coffee and took whatever headache-stopping pills I could fine, and came back to retest. Ammonia is now at 3.8ish ppm, so I did ok with my math. Will probably add another mL or two. Also, since I recall that around this time is when I may start having pH issues, I will start testing that every few days instead of once a week. Thanks for all the advice, everyone! You're keeping me on the fast track to success!

 

[Timmy_Bee]

It is widely accepted by plant people and I would hope tat by now we would see conflicting evidence if it were not true, but who knows.

Sorry for being slow - are you saying algae do also need 4 hours?
Im quite new to the world of plants

Kmur - Hope all is well outside your tank. Sounds like its moving on nicely inside!