My Fish Less Cycle

[David J]

Hi eagle

I am indeed using the API test kit. I do shake the bottles but only for a few seconds at most. I will do as you suggest for tomorrow's test. I see what you're saying about not really needing to test for nitrate just now. I'll do it for another day or day just to compare with today's lower reading and then stop until needed. Hopefully I'll get the a,Monica dose correct as well.

Cheers,

David

 

[eaglesaquarium]

If you are only shaking the bottles for a few seconds, then that's the cause for the drop in nitrates. My understanding is that the 2nd bottle contains two reagents. The second reagent is a powder, and it can settle on the bottom of the bottle when it sits for a while. And if you haven't been shaking it for a while, the settling is probably starting to happen.

The directions specifically say to shake it for a full minute. I'd suggest going a bit over that.



BTW, if you are interested in cutting down on the cost of the test materials... You can use 1/2 the recommended tank water (2.5 mL for ammonia and nitrate) and half the test solution (4 drops for ammonia and 5 drops for nitrate). This will still give you a good reading. When it comes to the nitrite test, you can go with 3 ml of tank water, and 3 drops of solution for the nitrite test solution. It will cut your costs down. A fishless cycle can completely go through a single test kit, leaving you nothing left when you actually have fish.

 

[David J]

Hi

Test today:


9/1

Ammonia: 0.25ppm,
Nitrite: 0.25ppm
Nitrate: 40ppm
Added: 1.25ml Ammonia
2nd test: Ammonia: 3ppm.

So, as you can see the Nitrite has dropped from a consistent high reading, too high to read, to around 0.25ppm. I couldn't believe it, to the point that I am expecting tomorrows test to be off the chart high again. I fear I may have done something wrong with it being such a sudden drop but I did everything the same as previous.

The nitrate is also lower but I did as you suggested with shaking the bottles for the nitrate test for about 2 mins and banged them on my desk also so I guess that explains why they are different from previous tests. Thinking about it now, I don't know why but I didn't shake the other test solutions for anymore than a few seconds. Only the nitrate. I will shake them all from tomorrow to be sure I am getting a true reading.

What do you think about the nitrite?

PS: Thanks for the tip on reducing the quantity of water to make the test kit last longer. I didn't do it today as was running late but will start doing this soon.

Thanks,

David

 

[daizeUK]

I will shake them all from tomorrow to be sure I am getting a true reading.

Nitrate is the only one that really needs shaking hard.

What do you think about the nitrite?

You jammy thing!

 

[David J]

Hi Daize

Lol. I must say that I had you in mind when I was posting that result. Part of me felt guilty because yours didn't work out first time round. I'll see if I get the same or similar result tomorrow but if its right enough I guess I've just been lucky.

My better half must think I'm a right geek because I'm getting all excited about bacteria lol. All she see's is an empty tank

David

 

[eaglesaquarium]

That's sort of how it goes, so the nitrite reading is pretty much on par with what is supposed to happen. Your cycle is moving along nicely. Once the nitrite hits zero after 24 hours, you can start to check every 12 hours. (And you'll be in phase 3.)

 

[David J]

Thanks eagle.

Your advice has been great. Can't thank you enough.

David

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Its sort of that way with the empty tank, but this is like setting up a nursery before a kid is born. You don't wait until the baby is born to buy the cradle or paint the room. ;-)

 

[David J]

Hi

Today's test was:

10/1
Ammonia: 0-0.25ppm,
Nitrite: 0,
Nitrate: 10-20ppm,
added: 2ml,
2nd test: 2.0ppm.

Great new on the zero nitrite. Weird that sometimes the ammonia doesn't go to zero. The nitrates have dropped again. Strange but not going to worry about it. Also weird that I get different results on ammonia on the 2nd test even if I put the same amount of ammonia in as a previous day. Maybe it's something to do with how long I leave it before testing. I usually try and wait 10 minutes but sometimes 5 minutes.

Another addition to the tank today is what I assume is algae. I have. Some bogwood in the tank and today noticed very fine stringy stuff flapping about off different parts of the wood. It looks like very fine strands of cotton wool and it appears on lots of different parts of the wood. Also, for the last few days I noticed that on the inside of the glass, only on the bottom 4 inches or so from the sand, the glass looks a bit dirty. You can only really see it if you look from a certain angle.

Are both of these algae and if so, should I do anything about it?

So now that the nitrite is zero, am I right in saying I should start testing every 12 hours? If so, do I dose ammonia every 12 hours also or still just once a day?

Thanks

David

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Algae happens during a cycle. Here's a link to help you identify the algae. I'm guessing diatoms are the "dirty" glass. You can clean it manually or just leave it to remove at the end of the cycle. Either is fine, really.


Dose the ammonia once a day, as you have been - and test it after 12 hours. If I were you, I'd dose it in the AM, and test it in the PM. Giving it an extra 12 hours before testing/dosing would be just fine. I'd do the next test after 36 hours and change the dosing time to the AM. (Maybe top up the ammonia in the AM tomorrow morning by adding 1 ppm) at the 12 hour mark (just this once, to get the testing and dosing times at a more convenient time).

 

[David J]

Hi

I've had a look at the link but nothing really matches it. Here is a sort video of the largest bit. Hopefully you can make it out. It's white.

Thanks,

David

 

[eaglesaquarium]

No video.

 

[David J]

Sorry, it didn't work. Am I able to upload a video straight from my iPad? It's saying the file is too big so I took a shorter one at only 2 seconds but still says too big. I tried taking some photos but you can't make it out properly.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I wouldn't worry too much about it at this point. I'd suggest that you just remove it by hand - regardless of what type of algae it is. If you cover the tank to block the light, the algae will die that way also.

 

[David J]

Algae happens during a cycle. Here's a link to help you identify the algae. I'm guessing diatoms are the "dirty" glass. You can clean it manually or just leave it to remove at the end of the cycle. Either is fine, really.


Dose the ammonia once a day, as you have been - and test it after 12 hours. If I were you, I'd dose it in the AM, and test it in the PM. Giving it an extra 12 hours before testing/dosing would be just fine. I'd do the next test after 36 hours and change the dosing time to the AM. (Maybe top up the ammonia in the AM tomorrow morning by adding 1 ppm) at the 12 hour mark (just this once, to get the testing and dosing times at a more convenient time).

Hi Eagle,

Things have been a bit mental here the last couple of days and to top it off I suspect I may be getting flu. Really not feeling well at all. Typical to happen when I'm getting to such a crucial stage in the cycle. Here is what I've done over the last 2 days:

11/1: no test, added ammonia to 2ppm at about 9pm.

12/1: tested: 7pm,
Ammonia 0.50ppm,
nitrite: 0,
Nitrate: 10-20ppm.
Added ammonia to 1-2ppm.

If I've understood you correctly, I should dose once a day (AM for convenience) and test 12 hours later. Since you posted that, I haven't been able to do this for the reasons stated so just dosed yesterday so not to starve the ammonia and dosed and tested tonight. Hopefully this flu or whatever it is won't come to anything in which case I will dose tomorrow AM and test PM.

If I wake up tomorrow feeling like I've done 12 rounds with Mike Tyson I'll need to come up with a temporary plan to keep things ticking over until I'm better.

Thanks

David