My Fishless Cycle.

[Joinerlavin]

how would you do that?

 

[Joinerlavin]

just done a 50% water change, just gunna have some dinner before I check the water perimeters again.

 

[Joinerlavin]

50% water change

pH = 7.6
Ammonia = 1ppm
Nitrite = 1ppm
Nitrate = 20ppm

 

[Miss Wiggle]

@MW cant the OP add some bicarb to the tank to raise the PH? that is what i do in a fishless cycle to bring the PH up

can do, it's just a bit tricky to adjust pH sucessfully so I normally give it a few days of water changes before deciding if we need to go down this route.

if you have a read of the link in my sig pH and KH it will start to explain this all to you, do you have a KH test kit at all?

 

[Joinerlavin]

no I dont have a KH test kit, unfortunately.

 

[waterdrop]

@MW cant the OP add some bicarb to the tank to raise the PH? that is what i do in a fishless cycle to bring the PH up

@truck!, I think the reason we go with the water changes a while longer is simply that the communication with any given beginner starts to get longer and more complicated when you start to explain about bibarb. Not that it isn't pretty easy once you understand it but just that we end up explaining it all and it gets into them buying KH kits and all when often the water changes, which they already understand, can bring in enough buffer to do the trick. -wd-

 

[Joinerlavin]

so when and if I do ever get my fish lol, will i have to constantly do a water change everyday to raise the pH???

 

[Miss Wiggle]

no, it'll stabilse after the cycle's done

 

[Joinerlavin]

so what is the reason for it doing it now??? Last week i was getting rid of almost all the ammonia and nitrite within 12 hours and now its struggling in 24 hours??

 

[Miss Wiggle]

it's because nitrite and nitrate are acidic, they drive pH and KH down, when your fishless cycling you have concentrated amounts at set times so you get a lot of build up which pushes the pH down. when you've got fish in it's not one big dump a day it's a steady drip and nitrate is also kept low with weekly maintenance so it doesn't affect it as much.

It only tends to happen in tanks with fish in when they are poorly maintained and the nitrate builds up because not enough water changes are done.

 

[Joinerlavin]

gotcha

 

[waterdrop]

Ah, she's clear-headed this morning. Excellent description! -wd-

 

[Joinerlavin]

bump - day 28

 

[Miss Wiggle]

so you've got 0,0 for ammonia and nitrite then and the pH is reasonable at 7.

is that 24 hrs or 12 hrs after you added ammonia?

 

[Joinerlavin]

that is 24 hours ish, from yesterday when I added it back and changed water up to when I woke up this morning, I am going to check it exactly 12 hours tonite, any probably do another water change tomorow to keep the ph up.