My Fishless Cycle

[waterdrop]

Excellent! For now you are getting signs that you had a "take" with your mature media but you just have to stick with it and be slow and steady. Take all those observations and keep filling each line in your aquarium notebook log. All of it will be much more useful later than you think. I still end up referring back to entries from much earlier to refresh my memory about things. The colonies and their biofilms can take unpredictable turns but if you have the experience to know that you are willing to just stick it out, you have the upper hand as it can't help but eventually happen. That's where our forum comes in, giving you the experience even if its the first time you gone through it.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[joeskandal]

My ph this evening has dropped from 7.6 to 7.2, should i be concerned?
Also, 9 did my first check of nitrate this evening which is at 20.
Is this good?

 

[waterdrop]

Given all your steady 7.6 pH readings, the 7.2 is a sign that you may now see a rapid pH crash. I'd start testing for pH every day and if pH moves into the mid 6 region it will be time to do a large gravel-clean-water-change and recharge the ammonia. We are not dosing baking soda in this tank, right?

The nitrate is fine, we just want to start keeping numbers on it.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[joeskandal]

no baking soda...

 

[joeskandal]

i have just tsted ph again and it seems to be round about the same. no less though, thats for sure.
i hope its okay. im dying to get my fishies in. they know they have a brand new tank to go in, and i know its killing them aswell as me.

 

[joeskandal]

I DONT KNOW WHATS HAPPENING!!!

This is tonights reading:
Ammonia 0.0 (3ml added again after test)
Nitrite 2.0
P.h 6.8
Nitrate 20

I have added some mopani wood this evening, from the same tank i gathered my mature media, as i am planning to re-house my plec in my new tank, and he needs somewhere to hang out.
Do you think this problem of the low ph balance will sort itself out or do you think i have had it???
I really dont want to be starting the cycle again.
Well personally i dont mind, but my girlfriend is giving me a thick ear about the whole thing as she has forked out £300, and theres not a fishy in sight

 

[OldMan47]

You will do fine if you either dose up with some baking soda to bring the pH back up or do a very large water change to remove the excess of nitrates that are pushing the pH down. You don't lose a cycle just because the pH drops, but it will slow your progress if you don't deal with it.

 

[waterdrop]

Agree, since your nitrates are not very high I think I'd just see if there is any baking soda in the kitchen and put one tablespoon in there rather than bothering with a water change yet. Let's see what that does. You want baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), not baking powder.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[joeskandal]

off to ASDA i think

haha, its funny, my local supermarket are going to think im up to something very naughty and drug related, buying ammonia first, then baking soda.

 

[joeskandal]

okay, it turns out my local booze buster had some bicarbonate of soda, and it only cost me 89p.
still had enough money for a 10 pence mix-up...

 

[joeskandal]

Nice, the Sodium Bicarbonate has worked a treat.
Please observe my latest readings, and let me know what you think.
Are the readings from adding the soda going to be permanent, or is it just a spike?
Im asking as everything seems great.
The Nitrite is dropping down, and the ammonia is dropping nicely.
Not quite 12 hours, but back to 2 in 12, and 0 in 24.

 

[fatheadminnow]

The pH will not hold there forever, so keep an eye on it. Once the cycle finishes, the pH should stabilize; it is the constant fluctuation in water parameters that throw the pH around during a cycle.

Other than that, every thing looks good!

Do you have live plants in your tank? That will be the reason why your nitrates are so low.

I would start to dose up to 5 ppm of ammonia, instead of 3ppm, from here on out.

-FHM

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, agree, this fishless cycle looks to be transitioning from phase 2 to phase 3, so its time to be sure the ammonia concentration is looking like 5ppm, a small bit above 4ppm. Not sure though but maybe they've been adding 3ml and getting 4ppm all along, so they may be pretty much at the right level already.

Looking faster than average, hope it keeps up!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[joeskandal]

Lost.
So should i up the dose of ammonia starting from tonight, or not?
There are no live plants in the tank.
The reason it has changed may be due to the addition of the mopani???
I tested this morning, and it seems to be better:
Amm 0.25, nitrite 5.0, ph 7.6, nitrate 10.

 

[joeskandal]

dunno whats going on here, readings all over the place. do you think its cos i have normally been checking it at 8pm ish and tonight i checked it at 10pm??