My Fishless Cycle Log, *updated Daily*

[sjolliff]

Day 7 *Updated*

Added more white spot control today and moved the sand about

Ammonia nearly 0 should i add more ammonia now or what till 2moz when it will be 0?

also the nitrite test, drops went down fast and turned dark purple really fast

Now im not sure to add 5ppm of ammonia or now put 2ppm in to bring the nitrite down
as iv hit my nitrite spike

 

[sjolliff]

Iv added 2ppm of ammonia

 

[yasinullah]

nice and quick, you're back to the nitrite spike phase!! did ur ammonia go down this quick the first time round?
my nitrites still off the charts, I started testing with 1ml tank water and 4ml tap water to try and get a better idea, seems to be dropping/staying-the-same after every 24hours, nitrates have gone up a bit. So I must have a small colony at work, that just doesn't seem to want to expand up!

I went for the same fluval heater as you in the end, it is pretty neat so had to get it, arrived this morning (postal strikes grr!!!). Temps settled to 29.5C for now.

I reckon it makes sense to add the ammonia now because its pretty close to 0 anyway, and 2ppm probably better as you've hit the spike.

 

[OldMan47]

I would say that is close enough to zero to bring it back to at least 2 ppm . The nitrite looks like it is really starting to kick in now so don't go all the way to 5 ppm on ammonia. Some recent reading I have been doing seems to indicate that extreme nitrite levels will lead to a heavier NOB of a different kind than what you really should be shooting for although it won't prevent the right kind from developing. Keeping the nitrite levels lower than we often see in a nitrite spike would be the key there and I have not yet had the chance to think through all of the implications of the material I have been reading. Maybe this line of investigation is meaningless but I am not so sure.

 

[sjolliff]

Cheers

Cant believe your nitrites are still of the chart
I hope your nitrites come down soon, i wonder if something is affecting it

Yeah its taken about the same time as last time, but my nitrites have come on faster

The fluval E series heaters are great i think, mine is alawys on 29c give or take the odd time, the look good and you can see what goin on,
It comes in handy when you do water changes as you can easily see when it settle
And it nearly bang on the same temp as my glass thermometer,

on my first cycle my temp was incorrectly at 26.5 ish
since having it at 29c its made a big difference, also using baking soda to keep the ph around 8

Iv started on my stocking list aswell so im all ready

 

[sjolliff]

Day 8 *Updated*
Just over 2ppm of ammonia cleared in 24hrs
Nitrates dropped abit too

 

[OldMan47]

If you were processing nitrites, nitrate should be expected to go up, not down. Don't let that throw you, the tests for nitrate are affected by having large amounts of nitrite present so they can be a bit misleading during the nitrite spike anyway.

 

[sjolliff]

Day 9 *Updated*

Ammonia was at 0 at 10.30am this morning so its processing really quick now
Nitrites test, took a little longer to turn purple in the bottom, so there comming down abit now

Dosed with King british white spot today for the last time, so wednesday i will be using carbon to remove any left overs, but does it really matter when there are no fish in there?

If no, how long does it take to remove its self?

Have not seen any creatures since the other day when i removed 2 dead ones

Iv added a link to my stocking list on the first page/post advice is very welcome

 

[OldMan47]

The time for ich to die without a host is only a few days. As long as there are no living creatures in the tank for the ich to live on, a week without fish is long enough even without a treatment, especially at the high temperatures we use for fishless cycling.

 

[sjolliff]

Day 10 *Updated*
No changes really waiting for the nitrites to come down now,
but did take longer to change colour in the bottom of the test tube

Cheers Oldman47, the white spot treatment was for killing leeches in my tank, which i aquired on my last cycle from a mature pond media donation
I have not seen anymore since the intial dose of the medication, when i removed to dead baby ones

Today is the 7th day, i was advised to treat every 48hrs for 1 week, and then use carbon for 3 days but change the carbon media every day
But do i need to as no fish are in there?

 

[OldMan47]

I have no real knowledge about leeches so if someone has given you a treatment regime, I would not start changing things around.

 

[sjolliff]

Day 11 *Updated*

 

[waterdrop]

Seeing a little more nitrate this time, that's hopeful!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[sjolliff]

Day 12 *Updated*
Ammonia had a slight tint of green to it , not as much as 0.25, probably about 0.10.
How has this happened?
Nothing has changed or turned off!

 

[yasinullah]

Was that after 24 hours? Sometimes that happens during the nitrite spike, happened at 12 hours during my 1st spike. Can't remember if I had any at 24hours tho

nothing small rotting away in ur tank right? Or maybe the Meds ur using are causing that effect?