Mature Media (Starting Over)

[OldMan47]

Correct me if I am wrong Abih. I think you have been trying to recover a lost cycle for about 2 weeks now. If that is the case and you are still not seeing much reduction in ammonia after 24 hours, I must conclude that your cycle has been lost and you are starting from scratch. Please do not make things too hard on your BF, we are all glad to help when we really don't understand what we are being asked to do but the results are unpredictable. I am sure I have been equally guilty of messing things up for my "significant other" but we are still together after 40 years because she could forgive and forget.
Back to your cycle, you are facing what amounts to a starting situation. You can expect your cycle to start removing ammonia in 2 to 3 weeks after you start the cycle. Things will go much faster after the first drop that you see.

 

[abih2005]

I've no idea whether it was fiddling with the filter sponge, removing some water or vacuuming the gravel but I woke up this morning to a reading of 1ppm at 9am down from 4ppm 9pm last night. Nitrites still off the scale, could it finally be toeing the line?? It's been 19 days and it's been dropping steadily, the last few days may just have been a massive blip? Who knows!!

 

[abih2005]

AMMONIA down to 0ppm in between 15-18 hours, at last! Nitrites still off the scale high.

 

[Rainbow67]

AMMONIA down to 0ppm in between 15-18 hours, at last! Nitrites still off the scale high.

Hi abih,

No disrepect to you, but I think you are a little guilty of having a "clock watching" mentality with regard to your cycling issue.

Shin li and others here have called it right, the cycle will take time, checking the levels every 5 minutes won't speed things up any.
Be patient and test your water at much longer intervals, i.e instead of taking a new water reading tommorrow, take it next week instead. As Leon Haywood use to say : "Don't push it, Don't Force it, Let it happen naturally!"

As for the issue of fish shops giving you some of their media to kick start your cycle, well I am sure most fish shops don't as a general rule give out used media because they wouldn't want to risk being blamed for introducing any diseases into your fish tank.
Also I suspect they wouldn't say "yes" to giving you any used media over the phone.
If however you are a local regular customer at your local Fish shop and have a good rapport with the owners and staff, then I suspect they would be much more conducive in helping you with used media.

Good luck with your cycling but relax a little and let nature take it's own sweet time.

 

[OldMan47]

You are doing fine Abih. The ammonia processing is moving along nicely now and your nitrite processors just need to catch up. That often will take another two weeks or a little more.

 

[abih2005]

NItrites still sky high, ammonia dosages have been reduced to try and remedy former issue.

 

[Twinklecaz]

All you'll be doing there is conditioning your tank for less fish.

 

[abih2005]

I read on here that when you're in the middle of the nitrite spike you lower the ammonia dosage to 2ppm in order to reduce the amount of nitrites resulting from processing of ammonia - and that when the spike abates you return to 4ppm.

 

[OldMan47]

You are right Abih. You can easily maintain your ammonia processing ability with a 2 ppm dose while bringing along the nitrites processors. When the nitrites start going well, you can easily raise the dose back to 5 ppm of ammonia. With a theoretical doubling of the bacteria every 24 hours, you will recover any A-bac losses in a very short time.

 

[waterdrop]

Agree. WD

 

[abih2005]

Well, just tested the water - the nitrite drops didn't hit the bottom and turn purple for once! Nitrites reading as 1ppm, exciting!!!

 

[OldMan47]

You are on the road to showing your success Abih. If you find that you get similar results over the next few days you may well have a cycled situation.

 

[abih2005]

This morning nitrites and ammonia were both 0ppm!!!!!!! I've dosed it back up to 4ppm and will be testing at 9:30 to start up 12 hour test records. Sooooo exciting! Now I can plan my fishies! I was originally taken by tetras but after my first experience of keeping them I'll be giving them a wide berth. I've a 54l, what species are particularly good? I will look in the relevant places but would be interested to get opinions, I'm thinking to start with a small shoal of 5-6 - cherry barbs perhaps since with a stock max of 24" I could get 6 and still have half a tank free to enable things to mature further till adding anymore, plus my pH suits them (7.5).

I'm so glad it's finally going right - thanks for all your advice, I know I must seem totally neurotic and impatient

 

[abih2005]

This morning nitrites and ammonia were both 0ppm!!!!!!! I've dosed it back up to 4ppm and will be testing at 9:30 to start up 12 hour test records. Sooooo exciting! Now I can plan my fishies! I was originally taken by tetras but after my first experience of keeping them I'll be giving them a wide berth. I've a 54l, what species are particularly good? I will look in the relevant places but would be interested to get opinions, I'm thinking to start with a small shoal of 5-6 - cherry barbs perhaps since with a stock max of 24" I could get 6 and still have half a tank free to enable things to mature further till adding anymore, plus my pH suits them (7.5).

A mate has offered me 5 guppy babies?... Don't these breed like, well rabbits?!

I'm so glad it's finally going right - thanks for all your advice, I know I must seem totally neurotic and impatient

 

[OldMan47]

Guppies can be quite prolific if they are given the right environment. If you are not ready for the tank to fill with fish in a few months, the common livebearers you see in pet shops should be avoided.