My Cycle Diary

[Fishywoowoos]

Would like to thank everyone so far for their help and advice, have attached my results over the past week since my ammonia dropped to 0, will update as i go if any spots anything out of the ordinary please let me know one concern i have at the moment is the nitrate levels not rising at all is this normal and should expect to see a rise soon?

Tank information:
60L tank
Fluval U2 Filter (set to top output, for maximum circulation and oxygenation)
150W heater (temperature 32/90)
Arcadia light ( do not switch it on )
Gravel in tank no plants or fish

12/4/09
Time tested: 19:00
Ammonia - 0.00
Nitrite - 5.00
Nitrate - 5.00
2.53ml ammonia added 19:00 to bring back to 3ppm

13/4/09
Time tested: 7:30
Ammonia - 1.5
Nitrate - 5.00

14/4/09
Time Tested: 18:30
Ammonia - 0.0
Nitrite - 1.5
Nitrate - 3.0
2.53ml ammonia added 19:00 to bring back to 3ppm

15/4/09
Time tested:7:30
Ammonia - 0.5
Nitrite - 0.75
Nitrate - 3.0
2.00ml ammonia added 7:30 to bring back to 3ppm

15/4/09
Time Tested: 19:30
Ammonia - 0.0
Nitrite - 1.0
Nitrate - 3.0
PH - 7.5
2.53ml ammonia added 19:30 to bring back to 3ppm

16/4/09
Time tested: 7:15
Ammonia - 0.0
Nitrite - 0.35
Nitrate - 3.0
2.53ml ammonia added 7:30 to bring back to 3ppm

16/4/09
Time tested: 18:00
Ammonia - 0.0
Nitrite - 0.5
Nitrate - 7.0
2.53ml ammonia added 18:00 to bring back to 3ppm

17/4/09
Time tested: 7:30
Ammonia - 0.0
Nitrite - 0.0
Nitrate - 5.0
2.53ml ammonia added 8:00 to bring back to 3ppm

 

[waterdrop]

 

[Fishywoowoos]

Yay well finally saw first 0 nitrites & ammonia within 12 hour period! do i need to wait awhile to see if tank is ready for fish or can i look at getting some fish and such this weekend?

Also should my nitrates still be this low? looking at other peoples diaries they have very high nitrate yet mine don't seem to go very high, i know I don't want high nitrate but strange that they have not gone up

 

[waterdrop]

Its better to use your first "double-zero" as the signal to start a "qualifying week" where you just keep watching it reach double-zero and keep adding to 5ppm ammonia level each day. We've found that this week often brings out any remaining problem cases, whereas people who don't get any traces during this week are good to go the following weekend.

Are you using a timer to be sure you are doing all the shaking stages the full time on the nitrate(NO3) test? Its easy to miss that you have to do one of these shake stages as there's usually more than one in the instructions. Do you have a lot of plants or have you had occasion to do some big water changes during the fishless cycle? Either of these could also lower your NO3 level.

~~waterdrop~~