My Fishless Cycling Readings (update)

[Rubyuk]

Have been keeping tabs on your thread with interest, as my cycle seemed to peter out as yours did.
Glad to see things taking off nicely now for you, hopefully mine is on the way now too after using matured media.

It certainly worked for me Dave after 24 days of not much to report

 

[Rubyuk]

Evening everyone

Day 28 update

I'm not sure if this is a moment or a moment

Tested ammonia and nitrite this morning

Ammonia to zero again as it has been doing last 2-3 days
Nitrite still very high but possibly slightly down on yesterday

BUT

Tested again now:

Nitrite 0.1
Nitrate 5

Other readings are

Ph same at 8.0
Gh upto 160 from last reading of 140 on day 22
Kh down to 70 from last reading of 80 on day 22

Now I know the nitrite down to nearly zero is great news but how come the nitrates have plunged from very high yesterday to only 5 today?

I thought after the period of ammonia and nitrite reducing you were left with massive levels of nitrate that you needed to do 70-80% water change to get rid off?

At this rate i've no nitrates to get rid of as isn't under 20 ok for fish?

I'm kind of confused now,not sure if this is celebration time nearly or massive issues?

 

[waterdrop]

I'd say the thing to focus on is that you managed to catch the very beginning of your N-Bacs being a large enough colony to now visibly drop nitrite(NO2) down into a testable range, almost zero! Nitrate(NO3) tests are notorious for giving bad results sometimes, and beginners often just worry about them too much, better to just record results and look at a bunch of them over a longer time. You look on track to have a pretty fast cycle.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Miss Wiggle]

agree with WD, ignore the nitrate test for now, it's probably just a duff test.

 

[Rubyuk]

Day 29 Update

Last night added 4.2ml of ammonia to bring reading upto 2.4 to 3.0ish

Today 29

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0.1 (pretty much same as yesterday,may be slightly nearer to 0.3 but wouldn't be 100% certain)
Nitrate 5 (same as above,possibly ever so slightly closer to 10 but wouldn't be 100% certain its changed)

Will add more ammonia to bring back up again tonight,unless of course I hear differently.

 

[OldMan47]

It looks to me like you are on a fast track to getting cycled now Ruby. Just dose back up once a day and test those nitrites to see if they are gone 12 hours later. You sound like the filter will be where you want it pretty soon.

 

[Rubyuk]

Day 30 Update

Last night added enough ammonia (4.5ml) to bring reading upto 2.4ppm to 3.0ppm bracket.

Tests just now

Ammonia 0
Nitrite very negligable,say 0.1

Nitrate - Now I knoe people have said these tests can be inaccurate,well:

First test was 10 but as I felt an extra drop from bottle 3 had gone into test tube I decided to test again straightaway in another test tube.This time the reading was off the scale,say 110.

Any ideas as to what all this means and where i'm at given the results of the last few days would be appreciated as ever.

 

[Dave125]

Sounds like you are on the home straight!!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yes 110 sounds like a much more accurate reading for this phase of the cycle, and on the home straight is an accurate analogy as well! nearly there

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, agree about the 110 and the home straight. These last few posts about the nitrate readings is a perfect example for other beginners who are following this of how you just have to keep a log and forge ahead with your tests and readings, as its having quite a number of them that will help the overall picture much more than any one reading.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Rubyuk]

Thanks Guys

Lets hope/pray its nearly complete

Thanks for all the positice comments/feedback

 

[Rubyuk]

Afternoon everyone

Quick day 31 update

Not a lot to report really

Ammonia still Zero and on adding enough ammonia to bring upto a reading of around 2.4ppm to 3.0ppm my filter has been processing it back to zero within 24 hours (I know from an intermediate test I did inbetween midweek that its actually going to Zero in a lot less than 24 hours) for the last 5 days.

Nitrite is still at 0.1 and has been at that level for the last 3 days after a massive reading on day 28.

Nitrate appears unpredictable as members have said on here.

Yesterdays first reading was only 10 but a second reading moments later was 110. Today the reading is about 10 again (didn't test again as I know this reading is not as important as the Nitrite reading at the moment)

My question is now I assume I keep going,adding the ammonia up and waiting for my filter to process this very slight reading for nitrite down to zero? But given how quickly my filter (after the addition of mature media last Sunday on day 25) has processed Ammonia to Zero and given whats happened to Nitrite should my filter have been able to clear this last remnant of nitrite to Zero before now given its only been at 0.1 for 3 days?

I bet if I got a slight reading for nitrite like this down the line when I have stock that a simple small water change would clear it?

So do I hang on for the filter to reduce this 0.1 reading of nitrite before doing my large water change to fully cycle or would a large water change now get rid of this small amount of nitrite and complete my cycle anyway?

Happy to wait of course if you feel thats best

 

[OldMan47]

If you want your new fish to be safe, you need to wait for that last bit to start clearing. If the tank is small enough to deal with, you could do a big water change now and stock. It would mean that you would need to closely monitor and be ready to do big water changes, not small 20% ones, if anything showed up on your tests. In most cases I would think it better to wait but it is really your choice.

 

[waterdrop]

I agree with OM47, there are two things that say you should wait. First, you clearly are not getting a clean zero reading at 12 hours of the nitrite, and we all know it behaves that way towards the end but eventually it will clearly be zero and that's when you are ok. Second, it really doesn't sound like you are raising ammonia to 5ppm. You keep saying 2.4ppm or 3ppm, things like that. The 5ppm level is important not for the size fish load but for the robust nature of the colonies at the point of switchover to normal tank maintenance. If they are nice and solid then they can drop down and adjust to whatever your first real fish load is with ease, without having any mini-spikes.

Remember, the test is very clear, you raise ammonia to 5ppm and then find that both ammonia and nitrite give clear zero readings at 12 hours or less later. That starts your "qualifying week" and you watch it repeat that for the better part of a week or so before getting fish.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Rubyuk]

I agree with OM47, there are two things that say you should wait. First, you clearly are not getting a clean zero reading at 12 hours of the nitrite, and we all know it behaves that way towards the end but eventually it will clearly be zero and that's when you are ok. Second, it really doesn't sound like you are raising ammonia to 5ppm. You keep saying 2.4ppm or 3ppm, things like that. The 5ppm level is important not for the size fish load but for the robust nature of the colonies at the point of switchover to normal tank maintenance. If they are nice and solid then they can drop down and adjust to whatever your first real fish load is with ease, without having any mini-spikes.

Remember, the test is very clear, you raise ammonia to 5ppm and then find that both ammonia and nitrite give clear zero readings at 12 hours or less later. That starts your "qualifying week" and you watch it repeat that for the better part of a week or so before getting fish.

~~waterdrop~~

Hi

I'm going to wait then. I was just curious thatsd all.

Just one point though,I was told and its reconfirmed in the new cycle thread created by Miss W about creating a new pinned guide that at the point where the Nitrites get to a certain point its now considered best practice to cut the ammonia top up back to give a reading of only 2-3ppm?

I considered/was advised that I'd already got to that point so to keep topping up to get a reading of 5ppm Ammonia was going to be counter productive?

I'm more confused than ever now

I thought you were all saying my cycle was looking good?

Now I'm not sure if I need to be topping up with more ammonia than I currently am?

What should I do with Ammonia levels now then?