More Water Questions...

[slowthing]

My tap water has a nitrate level of approx. 15ppm. Can this be translated as 15mg/l? I notice that the maximum permitted nitrate level in tap water for the UK is 50mg/l.

For the first week of cycling I relied on using 'Cycle', but then found out from you guys that this is pretty much useless (water tests also proved this) and suggested the added ammonia fishless cycle method. Which I started 3 days ago. I've added enough ammonia to raise the water to 6ppm but I've not seen the ammonia level drop yet. It's remained at 6ppm without adding any more ammonia. Nitrite is zero (naturally) and nitrate is 15ppm (as per the tap water). Am I expecting too much after only 3 days with the added ammonia. I would have thought the first week would helped slightly. If I can't get any donated filter media (I'm waiting to hear from dwarfgourami) what else can I do to help 'kick start' the bacteria?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

3 days is nothing, don't be surprised if it's doing not a lot as yet, it's yet another piece of evidence that the bacteria products don't really work. if they did after a week that ammonia would have at least been partly converted to nitrite or nitrate

 

[tmack]

Yes - ppm is the same as mg/L. 15ppm = 15 mg/L

 

[rdd1952]

In 3 days you maybe would see a slight drop but probably nothing significant. What is the pH of your tank (and tap) water. I have always thought that it wasn't really necessary to check the pH when cycling but fraom what I have read lately, it is quite important. The bacteria development/reproduction slows considerably as the pH gets lower.

 

[slowthing]

PH in tank and tap water is approx 8.
The water here in Hampshire, UK is quite hard as a lot of it comes from sources run through chalk beds.

 

[rdd1952]

That pH should be very good for bacteria growth. Optimal range is low 7s to low 8s. It should start dropping soon. What temperature do you have the tank at?

 

[slowthing]

That pH should be very good for bacteria growth. Optimal range is low 7s to low 8s. It should start dropping soon. What temperature do you have the tank at?

Water temp is 78f - Do you think this should be higher?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

while cycling you can crank the temp up to 80, this speeds up the life cycle of the nitrifying bacteria and therefore speeds up the cycle

 

[stevewood]

I ran my tank (fishless) at 88f for a week with mature media and using ammonia to grow the bacteria by about day 5 the cycle kicked in and the ammonia went from 4-0.25 in 7 hours! Not sure of the optimum, but from reading the pinned topics i understand that the higher temp increase the bacteria's ability to replicate

 

[rdd1952]

Raise your temperature for sure. The higher the better. According to this article, bacteria growth continued to increase up to 95 degrees which was the highest temp they tested.

 

[dthoffsett]

Just be sure to remember to lower the temperature once you can add fish. Good luck with your cycle, I know they can be frustrating, but it is definately worth it.