My Fishless Cycle Diary

[waterdrop]

 

[Kris T]

Day 25 (3 days after adding ammonia to 4ppm)

Ammonia: zero!
Nitrite: zero
Nitrate: 80

So, just over 4ppm of ammonia gone in 3 days! I added it back up to just over 4 again. Hopefully it'll continue to progress well!

 

[waterdrop]

 

[Kris T]

My ammonia is still taking so long to go away. It seems to go from 4.5ppm down to almost nothing in 24 hours, then it gets stuck on 0.15 for *days.* I'm over a month in now, and I don't know why it's still getting stuck like this. Even when it's gone down to zero I havent been sure it has...It never looks that bright yellow colour to me...

I took a picture of tonight's reading so I could get your opinion on how much ammonia it's getting stuck on, or if it *is* on zero and my eyes are lying to me. Here's what I got when I tested just now, 3 days after adding ammonia (after 1 day it was this same colour, then it was the same yesterday, and it's the same again tonight).

So what colour is this, exactly? I know pictures can lie, but this is the best one I could get in terms of what it's like in person. Is this as yellow as it gets, or is there still ammonia in there?

 

[waterdrop]

That sure looks like zero to me!

[Technically, the same problem that causes people to have trouble matching up the paper colors to the liquid colors just gets magnified when you send a picture through the internet and we all have our various computers show it on our various monitors, there's no real guarantee that anybody's seeing that same thing! I think people in advertising and other publishing type professions can do various "calibrations" to help lessen this problem but that wouldn't be what the majority of us are doing of course.]

Can you get 5ppm ammonia down to that color in 12 hours?

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Kris T]

Thanks for the reassurance!

I'm not sure about 12 hours. I've always thought there was still ammonia left, so I've only been doing 24 hour testing. I've just added ammonia to about 5ppm, so I'll check in 12 hours and see how much it can process in that time!

I really struggle to tell some of these colours in the test kit...The nitrite is easy...The blue is so obvious when it's zero. But this last bit of ammonia is so tough. There always seems to be a tiny hint of green to my eyes..But it stays the same for so many days that part of me thinks it must be as light as it's going to get.

 

[waterdrop]

Looking back its not clear that you've ever had anything that could pass as a nitrite spike yet.

Yes, I'd be testing NH3, NO2 and pH twice a day now, 12 hours apart and logging it both in your logbook and perhaps as edits to your first post in this thread.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Kris T]

Day 33 (12 hours after adding ammonia to about 5ppm)

Ammonia: 1.0ppm
Nitrite: 2.0ppm
PH: 7.8

Almost getting rid of the ammonia in 12 hours...

 

[Kris T]

Day 33 (24 hours after adding ammonia to about 5ppm)

Ammonia: zero
Nitrite: zero
PH: 7.6

So it#s processing it all in under 24 hours. Added it back up to 5ppm again and will cross fingers for the 12 hour check in the morning

 

[Kris T]

Dat 34 (12 hours after adding ammonia to 5ppm)

Ammonia: 0.75ppm
Nitrite: 5.0ppm

That looks like a nitrite spike! Hopefully tomorrow the ammonia will be going in 12 hours...

 

[RobynR]

[Technically, the same problem that causes people to have trouble matching up the paper colors to the liquid colors just gets magnified when you send a picture through the internet and we all have our various computers show it on our various monitors, there's no real guarantee that anybody's seeing that same thing! I think people in advertising and other publishing type professions can do various "calibrations" to help lessen this problem but that wouldn't be what the majority of us are doing of course.]

As someone who's done a lot of work in photography, publishing and graphic design, just thought I'd pipe up here. When we're sending material to the press, they tell us what their settings are and we make sure ours are the same so we see what they see and what we both see is what gets printed. We also do proofs, etc. However, I don't think that's a big issue in this case.

Because the colors you're comparing are in the same image, you shouldn't have a problem. So if Kris' yellow in the test tube looks greenish to you (just for example's sake), it's ok because the yellow on the card next to it should also look the same greenish to you. Any color shifts within the photo should be uniform. You may describe it as a different color, but it should still match the same reading on the card as it would in real life. If Kris were to take a picture of just the test tube and you were to hold your card up to the photo on your monitor, then you'd definitely have issues unless Kris did some really good color correction on the photo and y'all calibrated your monitors.

Sorry... the photo nerd in me comes out again.

 

[Kris T]

Thanks Robyn, that makes good sense!

Day 34 (24 hours after adding)

Ammonia: zero
Nitrite: zero

Added it to 5ppm again. fingers crossed for the 12 hour test tomorrow!

 

[waterdrop]

 

[Kris T]

Day 35 (12 hours after adding)

Ammonia: 0.25ppm
Nitrite: 5.0ppm

Day 35 (24 hours after adding)

Ammonia: zero
Nitrite: zero

Close! Tomorrow I think I'll finally see all the ammonia go in 12 hours...

 

[Kris T]

I'm up to day 50 now. I haven't been posting constant updates cos I must be boring! (and because nothing much has changed recently). For the last 10 days or so, ammonia has been going down from 5ppm to zero in 12 hours, but in that time, nitrite hasn't budged. At 12 hours, the nitrite is always on 5ppm, and after 24 hours, it's always on zero.

I wondered...is it normal for nitrite to take this long to start going down? At the moment, it's nowhere near being gone in 12 hours!