Lily Rose's 64L Tank Cycle

[LilyRose Tank]

errmmm....waterdrop

(I mean, hey, you didn't wring the sponges out like you were housecleaning or something, did you?)

I rinsed the sponges in aquarium water, i thought they sieved the water, i didnt think they harboured the bacteria!!! whoops..i thought the bacteria grew on noodles and i did it the same way as the last time i rinsed the filter when they were blocked with wastefrom the plants etc...... i overdid it didnt I, well welsh is welsh...duh! lol

 

[LilyRose Tank]

Well it looks like I did "kill off"bmy bacteria. and as nothing much is hapening on this tanks levels I thought I'd treat it like a new tank, and dose at 4ppm. so added another 2.5ml to bring the ammonia reading up to 4ppm

 

[LilyRose Tank]

good morning.. todays results...ammonia 4ppm nitrites 0

Good evening...this evenings results are Ammonia 4ppm, nitrite 0 pH 8

 

[LilyRose Tank]

good morning guys and gals. todays so far
Ammonia 4ppm

 

[waterdrop]

All different types of media overlap in their functions inside filters. Both ceramic noodles and open-cell sponges are among the very best providers of surface area for bacteria. The bacteria are amazingly microscopic.. really, really tiny and they fit down in the tiny holes of the rough ceramic surface or the same type holes in the material that forms the tiny solid bridge-like parts of the sponge. They aren't caught by the holes in the sponge, they actually become like a stain on the solid parts of the sponge material. Meanwhile, both types of media can be performing the entirely separate function of "mechanical filtration," which is the catching of particles. In the case of noodles, they cause the water flow to "randomize" and slow down, thus allowing larger debris particles to simply stop and "settle." In the case of sponge, the mechanical particle catching is usually of smaller particles and of course sponges catch even more of those than noodles do. Floss is an example of "fine mechanical" filtration that catches even smaller particles but is not really that good at supporting bacteria, both because its surfaces are not as much to the bacteria's liking and also because fine floss must be removed and tossed much more often, leading to the obvious loss of any bacteria in it. This is why floss should generally be a smaller fraction (or, technically, there should be plenty of other biomedia) of the overall media.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[LilyRose Tank]

Thanks waterdrop. ou'll have to expalin how to safely clean my filter so I don't make the same mistakes again
however hopefully goos news.
Ammonia 4ppm
Nitrite 0.25ppm! yeah!
Nitrate 5ppm yeah!
pH 8.4

 

[waterdrop]

Well look at that, some bacteria in there!

 

[LilyRose Tank]

Guess what waterdrop...they are hiding again!

Ammonia 4ppm
Nitrites 0ppm
Nitrates 5ppm
pH 8.4

getting fed up now...mind you its early days really

Ammonia 4ppm
Nitrites 0ppm
Nitrates 5ppm
pH 8.4

 

[waterdrop]

Its a watched pot, lol. Got to thinking today about LRose and sibs making nice colorful drawings of Nitrosomonas and Nitrospira.. they could have faces ...oooh, maybe for every day that ammonia drops they could cut out an A-Bac pic and hang it up etc.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[LilyRose Tank]

Awww bless you. She cant draw, and the others are teenagers all except one anyways ( kids ages, 16,15,15,7,4) but thanks for the support. getting fed up with this tank now. Must have killed everything off as nothings happening again
ammonia 4ppm
nitrites 0
nitrates 0
pH 8.4

 

[waterdrop]

Morning Jayne, I wouldn't worry about it. Don't forget, your time since restart is still well within the range of time we often see before first drops. WD

 

[LilyRose Tank]

last night and thia mornings results are the same
ammonia 4ppm
nitrite 0
nitrates 0
pH 8.2

WATERDROP I HAD AN IDEA....could it be when I did my sponge and carbon sponge clean (whoops) I have removed the media the N-bacs grow on......should I replace my sponges in the 64L tank ( i.e. this one)

 

[LilyRose Tank]

this evenings results were
ammonia 4ppm
nitritea 0
nitrates 0 pH 8.8.....too high....90% waterchange, reboost with ammonia 3ml and dechlorinator.

 

[waterdrop]

last night and thia mornings results are the same
ammonia 4ppm
nitrite 0
nitrates 0
pH 8.2

WATERDROP I HAD AN IDEA....could it be when I did my sponge and carbon sponge clean (whoops) I have removed the media the N-bacs grow on......should I replace my sponges in the 64L tank ( i.e. this one)

Not sure I'm following you on this one Jayne. We use the word media to refer directly to the sponge itself or the ceramic ring or piece of gravel or piece of carbon. There is no "food media" in the sense its used in a laboratory in a Petri dish or such. So if you take a sponge out of your filter and squeeze it out gently in tank water and then place it back in the filter, the media is still there because the sponge is the media! Anytime one replaces an old sponge with a new sponge, one is throwing out the bacteria with the old sponge!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[LilyRose Tank]

last night and thia mornings results are the same
ammonia 4ppm
nitrite 0
nitrates 0
pH 8.2

WATERDROP I HAD AN IDEA....could it be when I did my sponge and carbon sponge clean (whoops) I have removed the media the N-bacs grow on......should I replace my sponges in the 64L tank ( i.e. this one)

Not sure I'm following you on this one Jayne. We use the word media to refer directly to the sponge itself or the ceramic ring or piece of gravel or piece of carbon. There is no "food media" in the sense its used in a laboratory in a Petri dish or such. So if you take a sponge out of your filter and squeeze it out gently in tank water and then place it back in the filter, the media is still there because the sponge is the media! Anytime one replaces an old sponge with a new sponge, one is throwing out the bacteria with the old sponge!

~~waterdrop~~

Does that include the carbon sponge? I cant see how you are suppose to change the sponges every 3 months if thats the case. please explain all this plz. getting confused. I understand that the bacteria grown on the sponges, so wouldnt "gently cleaning" them dispel any bacteria from the sponge. I changed the carbon filter today, but kept the white one, I dont understand how the tank is STILL not processing ammonia when it was before my "big clean". I rinsed the sponges in tank water, and the noodles gently by dipping them in the tank water to rinse off the "sludge" that was clinging to the noodle basket.)when i did this big clean 8 days ago. the readings are still 4,0,0,