Major Milestone!

[rgrrmg]

Tested the my 12 gallon tank this morning, and was ecstatic to see the following results!


Fish-less cycle, at 24 hrs.
Day 17:
PH:7.4
Ammonia: 0.0PPM
Nitrite: 0.0PPM
Nitrate:~40.0PPM

So I increased the ammonia dose from 2.5ml to 3.0ml

Thanks for everyones help.

 

[waterdrop]

Congrats!

So you are past your nitrite spike it sounds like?

Now your clear goal is to be easing your dosing up toward 5ppm and hopefully watching as it tries to process the ammonia and nitrite down to zero ppm in shorter and shorter times, culminating in the day when it can do both in 12 hours or less!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[rgrrmg]

Congrats!

So you are past your nitrite spike it sounds like?

Now your clear goal is to be easing your dosing up toward 5ppm and hopefully watching as it tries to process the ammonia and nitrite down to zero ppm in shorter and shorter times, culminating in the day when it can do both in 12 hours or less!

~~waterdrop~~

Yep! Thanks WD,
I've just added a dose of ammonia and it is at ~5ppm. I think for the next few days I will test at 24 hrs, then I will switch over to every 12 hrs to see how it's doing.
Does that sound about right?

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, sounds good! --wd--

 

[rgrrmg]

Yes, sounds good! --wd--

Thanks for all your help
RG

 

[waterdrop]

You're welcome!

I'm sure we'll be hearing from you when you get to the "sticking problem" in the third phase, just as everyone else seems to have right now!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[rgrrmg]

You're welcome!

I'm sure we'll be hearing from you when you get to the "sticking problem" in the third phase, just as everyone else seems to have right now!

~~waterdrop~~

Somehow I missed that, what is the "sticking problem"?

 

[discus_lover]

nice.now ry to cut down your ph level to 6-6.5....

 

[rgrrmg]

nice.now ry to cut down your ph level to 6-6.5....

why would I want to bring my PH so Low?

 

[fatheadminnow]

nice.now ry to cut down your ph level to 6-6.5....

why would I want to bring my PH so Low?

Your pH is perfect at 74.

A pH of 6-6.5 is way too low!

-FHM

 

[OldMan47]

You might want it that low if you were a discus lover. Discus are soft water low pH type fish that most of us do not have in our tanks.

 

[rgrrmg]

You're welcome!

I'm sure we'll be hearing from you when you get to the "sticking problem" in the third phase, just as everyone else seems to have right now!

~~waterdrop~~

Somehow I missed that, what is the "sticking problem"?

So I'm still wondering what the "sticking problem" is...anyone?

 

[waterdrop]

You're welcome!

I'm sure we'll be hearing from you when you get to the "sticking problem" in the third phase, just as everyone else seems to have right now!

~~waterdrop~~

Somehow I missed that, what is the "sticking problem"?

So I'm still wondering what the "sticking problem" is...anyone?

The "sticking problem" is my own made-up name (sorry ) to use as a bit of shorthand to describe the following: In the third phase of a fishless cycle (the period after the "nitrite spike" is over with) the fishless cycler is usually concerned with watching the -timing- of the ammonia and nitrite "drops to zero" each day. At first it takes 24 hours for the drops to occur, but gradually they begin to approach the point of only taking 12 hours to drop (which of course is the big goal!) and yet the major problem we often see is that one seems to be making steady progress, with the time getting shorter and shorter, leading to a reasonable anticipation of a day shortly ahead being double-zero at 12 hours... and then.. it sticks. It just seems to stop moving and instead shows some small amount (anywhere from a trace all the way to 1ppm) of substance still not being processed. Usually its the nitrite(NO2) that's not making it to zero but sometimes the ammonia surprises you and -it- becomes the substance that suddenly won't drop all the way to zero, even though its been doing it before! This bothersome situation, right near the very end of fishless cycling, is what I've labeled "the sticking problem."

You can see the motive to coin the term "sticking problem" as I get tired of writing paragraphs like the above for a lot of different fishless cycling cases. Let me know if the explanation is not clear. I'm still working on the best way to describe this.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[rgrrmg]

You're welcome!

I'm sure we'll be hearing from you when you get to the "sticking problem" in the third phase, just as everyone else seems to have right now!

~~waterdrop~~

Somehow I missed that, what is the "sticking problem"?

So I'm still wondering what the "sticking problem" is...anyone?

The "sticking problem" is my own made-up name (sorry ) to use as a bit of shorthand to describe the following: In the third phase of a fishless cycle (the period after the "nitrite spike" is over with) the fishless cycler is usually concerned with watching the -timing- of the ammonia and nitrite "drops to zero" each day. At first it takes 24 hours for the drops to occur, but gradually they begin to approach the point of only taking 12 hours to drop (which of course is the big goal!) and yet the major problem we often see is that one seems to be making steady progress, with the time getting shorter and shorter, leading to a reasonable anticipation of a day shortly ahead being double-zero at 12 hours... and then.. it sticks. It just seems to stop moving and instead shows some small amount (anywhere from a trace all the way to 1ppm) of substance still not being processed. Usually its the nitrite(NO2) that's not making it to zero but sometimes the ammonia surprises you and -it- becomes the substance that suddenly won't drop all the way to zero, even though its been doing it before! This bothersome situation, right near the very end of fishless cycling, is what I've labeled "the sticking problem."

You can see the motive to coin the term "sticking problem" as I get tired of writing paragraphs like the above for a lot of different fishless cycling cases. Let me know if the explanation is not clear. I'm still working on the best way to describe this.

~~waterdrop~~

You described it perfectly...Thanks!