My Fishles Cycle - The Update

[dgwebster]

ok, quick recap for those not in the know:

I started my fishless cycle on the 2nd December 2005.

I added ammonia and my only source of bacteria was bottle from shelf - not the best.

After 15 days of no progress,I upped the temp of the tank from 27C to 35C

No change.

I started to think I have gotten something fundamentally wrong: maybe I should clean out and restart?

I'll be honest here: I've rarely let the ammonia test wait its 5 minutes the last week or so.

Today I thought "what the hell" and did a nitrite test. the result i got was surprising:

2ppm.

I double checked the ammonia test giving it the full 5 min. it looks to be somewhere between 1.0 an 2.0ppm

its finally come down. I expect it to be at 0~ish within 48 hours now. probably tomorrow. So I also completed a nitrate test: 5ppm.

finally, it seems to be coming all together. after 4 weeks.

Ive got a funny feeling got a decimal point wrong when changing my "drops" to ml for raising to 6ppm on the ammonia and may have massively overdosed it - by about 4 times.

 

[RoyalGrammaPrincessHannah]

Overdosing the tank with what? The "bacteria" ?[yeah right] If you can find Biospira, that is the only real source of live bacteria on the market. But if that is what you overdosed, it really doesnt matter. Its just slime IMO.

 

[ncjharris]

So long as there is nothing in the tank, overdosing isn't too bad - it will mean you have to wait longer for your spikes to comedown, and while that is happening you'll have to do something to sustain the bacteria that convert ammonia to nitrIte.
But if you manage it well, you should be fine.

If its been almost a month then there is possibly something wrong with your cycling.

 

[dgwebster]

overdosed with the ammonia.

yeah the spikes may be high therefore take longer to sort themselves out

thought, on the other end of the scale, as i had a very scarce source of beneficial bacteria (what ever by sheer luck was in the tank and whatever was by sheer luck in the Nutrafin Cycle) it may just have been that it has taken this long for the bacteria to cultivate to a point it can make a dent in the readings.

 

[dgwebster]

well its been 12 hours, and a new day has started. The test results have come back:

Ph: 7.2
Ammonia: 0.5ppm
Nitrite: 2.0ppm
Nitrate: 5ppm

These are spot on colour matches, only an electronic spectrum analyser (sp?) could produce a colour difference.

But im off to work, finish at 11 tonight so I'll see about raising the ammonia in another 12 hours.

 

[dgwebster]

ok, the latest (again) sorry to bore you all with this one.

The fish thank is cycling 4ppm before 24 hours is out, most of it going in the first 12 hours (down to about or less than 1ppm)

The nitrite now drops to between 0.25ppm and 0.5ppm every 24 hours. should i be expecting this to fully mature in the next few days?

ps the nitrate has come up to a healthy 10ppm in the last 24 hours too. Im actually starting to get excited about this. oh the shame of my life. Ive not even got my first tank going and im already planning a new betta tank too for my bedroom and a new 48"x18"x15"

 

[rdd1952]

You're very close. Your ultimate goal is for it to be able to process 2 to 4 ppm completely in 12 hours. Is the part about the nitrate a typo? If you are that far along on a fishless cycle, your nitrates should be off the chart high unless you nave done a water change already.

 

[ac106]

You're very close. Your ultimate goal is for it to be able to process 2 to 4 ppm completely in 12 hours. Is the part about the nitrate a typo? If you are that far along on a fishless cycle, your nitrates should be off the chart high unless you nave done a water change already.

When you say "process" do you mean it should go from 4ppm of ammonia-> nitrite->nitrate in 12 hours or do you mean the ammonia will be processed into nitrite and the nitrite level will still be high?

may be a silly question and i am going to read the fishless cycle post again, but feel free to answer anyway!

 

[rdd1952]

When you say "process" do you mean it should go from 4ppm of ammonia-> nitrite->nitrate in 12 hours

may be a silly question and i am going to read the fishless cycle post again, but feel free to answer anyway!

Not a silly question at all. You're right about what I meant though. Within 12 hours of adding ammonia, you should have ammonia and nitrite both at 0 and a higher hitrate level. It should be completely cycled through.

 

[dgwebster]

Ammonia:

it can do 2ppm in the 12 hours, requires 24 hours (well maybe less, but im testing the same time each day getting home from work) to completely neutralise just over 4ppm.

Nitrite:

Todays test came out the same again, about 0.25-0.50 (nearer the 0.25 though) *crosses fingers*

Nitrates:

The nitrates wasnt a typo. Today it was over 10, but not getting near to the 20 mark yet. The tank is planted with 35 fairly large and hungry plants (only current source of food is bottle plant food and nitrates) is it possible that they are effecting this to such an amount? I was personally expecting those nitrates to hit around 40+ myself but have only just thought of the plant equation. maybe drop it 5-10ppm? or fanciful thinking lol.

Tomorrow will test them again when i am home from work and then wait till about 5pm to add the ammonia then test it again when i get up for work at the back of 5 (though to be honest, it usually waits with the snooze button untill quarter to 6.) This should get 12 hour results. i will also drop the ammonia by a tiny bit when i add it tomorrow as the 2ml i currently add each day puts it over 4ppm. a fraction less should take it just under.

and most of all, thank you for your advice and help.

 

[rdd1952]

The plants could be using the nitrate but when I cycled my 75 gallon, it had over $100 of stem plants (anacharis, swords, hygrophilia, vallis, anubias nana and java fern) in it and my nitrates were over 100 after the 2nd week (half way through the nitrite spike). The main thing is that the tank is processing the ammonia and nitrite. One other thing could possibly effect the nitrate and that is if you are using a product like Algone that removes nitrite and nitrate. Something like that would result in low nitrites and nitrates in a tank that is process so much ammonia.

 

[dgwebster]

plonked some nutrafin cycle a while ago, that was it. the tank is a smaller 20 gallon but i know what you meant, the plants using that much nitrate is almost as far fetched as a new type of bacteria that changes nitrate to H2O has found its way into my tank. I am curious myself, i supose it could always be the test itself. im using the API liquid test.

That new bacteria would be a dream though.

 

[dgwebster]

ok todays update. at around 4pm I tested the tank and got:

0ppm Ammonia
~0.25ppm Nitrite
Again, about 10ppm Nitrate.

Up untill now, i've added 2ml ammonia every day, which after testing 2 hours after putting in game me a reading of just under 4ppm (this was when the tank started cycling the ammonia quickly that i calculated this)

Tonight, I added 2.5ml to try and see the effect on the stats at 4pm tomorrow.

However, I tested the nitrites at 10pm tonight, and got just under 1ppm. so it is coverting to nitrites, just oddly... maybe there is a new kind of bacteria... darn that wishful thinking.

 

[dgwebster]

ok, the new update.

For a recap as this has been posted elsewhere in the forum this weekend.

Over fri, sat and sunday, the ammonia test kept returning about 1ppm, till sunday when it went to 0.25. The nitrite was also returning 0.25 the entire time and nitrate to about 10ppm.

So yesterday i added another 2ml ammonia.

in 12 hours, it was 1ppm. in 16 hours, 0ppm. Nitrite has leapt to 2ppm 24 hours after the ammonia was added and the nitrate has suddenly leapt to a very strong 20ppm in 24 hours.....

Got no idea what is going on here. well i added another 2ml at 11pm, so ill test again at 11am and 11pm tomorrow and record the results.

 

[dgwebster]

update, 12 hours later:

NH3: 0.5ppm
NO2: 1ppm
NO3: 20ppm