My New Fluval Edge Journal

[LiamGoodaire]

thanks pal, id have to look more into it before i get live plants. However i do think they look pretty good!

 

[LiamGoodaire]

results of today....

ammonia = around 2ppm
nitrIte = 0ppm
nitrAte = 5ppm/10ppm

how come there has yet been no build up of nitrIte? however it is good to see ammonia dropping

 

[waterdrop]

results of today....

ammonia = around 2ppm
nitrIte = 0ppm
nitrAte = 5ppm/10ppm

how come there has yet been no build up of nitrIte? however it is good to see ammonia dropping

That's easy to answer! Although the length of each of the 3 phases of fishless cycling (we divide it into before, during and after the "nitrite spike") varies rather wildly, we more often than not see the first phase taking as long as 2 or even 3 weeks and it's been just barely over a week since you first added ammonia I believe.

Usually (but not always) the signs of the end of the first phase and the beginning of the second phase come rather rapidly and in fairly close succession: the ammonia, that's been sitting around at the original 4ppm (or maybe has dropped to something like 2ppm for a while) suddenly starts to disappear (either trace or all out zero ppm) and meanwhile the tests suddenly show a trace of nitrite(NO2) for the first time, or actually show a fair reading of it like 1 or 2ppm or something. Often these sorts of transitional numbers last only a short while or even only a day or two. The cycler adds the next dose of ammonia (because the first ammonia finally dropped to zero ppm) and maybe yet another dose from yet another drop to zero and the next thing you know the nitrite(NO2) has suddenly shot up and is "off the chart" (the nitrite(NO2) test shows it's highest reading (and the actual nitrite is often higher but you don't know it.) That is what the transition is like, going in to the "nitrite spike" second phase.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[LiamGoodaire]

thanks a lot explains everything cheers

 

[LiamGoodaire]

2nd test of the day and results are pretty much the same will be goin back to testing once a day again through the week due to college and other commitments, I have wrote another topic in the right catergory however not much luck so was wondering if anybody knows whether its right to keep seperate breeds of shrimp together cheers

 

[LiamGoodaire]

Hope someone can explain these results fromk today lol....
ammonia = 2ppm
nitrIte = 0ppm
nitrAte = 0ppm
what would you reccomend, is the cycle done? should i add more ammonia to reach 5ppm
help aaaaaaarrrgh

 

[SensesFail]

Hope someone can explain these results fromk today lol....
ammonia = 2ppm
nitrIte = 0ppm
nitrAte = 0ppm
what would you reccomend, is the cycle done? should i add more ammonia to reach 5ppm
help aaaaaaarrrgh

If the ammonia is 2ppm id leave it until it reaches 1 then top it back to 5ppm. The aim is for the ammonia and nitrite to be processed within 12 hr period but only adding the ammonia on the 24th hr. (Not after 12 hrs when theres 0 ammonia - in effect you would be leaving it ammonia-less for 12 hrs). Im suprised you have not seen nitrite yet but it may appear and if it doesnt and your ammonia is eventually being processed within 12hrs with no ntrite showing but nitrate building up it would sound like you have missed a stage. If it does this for a week (ammonia dropping every 12 hrs) and 0 on nitrite and ammonia your done! but ill let WaterDrop to come and confirm this and explain why nitrite my not be appearing!

 

[LiamGoodaire]

o cheers pal, ill check it again tomorrow and leave it a day from when it measures 0 efre adding ammonia again yes would be pretty useful to be explained

 

[SensesFail]

o cheers pal, ill check it again tomorrow and leave it a day from when it measures 0 efre adding ammonia again yes would be pretty useful to be explained

Id let it just get to 1 or around that then top it up to 5ppm. I know with mine my ammonia seemed to drop with no nitrite and then suddenly nitrite began to appear. But then i think with another member on the forum her tank seemed to miss the nitrite stage and she was cycled quicker than me! it takes longer for the nitrite stage to decrease compared to the ammonia as the ammonia produces alot more nitrite bacs than that of ammonia bacs.

Waterdrop is a huge help he helped me with my tank knows his stuff! so i shall await his reply to this D Why the nitrite can sometimes be skipped? and how you can decrease by 3 ppm of ammonia with no nitrite showing. is it because the test kit cannot produce the nitrite of that level yet? has some already been processed?

 

[LiamGoodaire]

fingers crossed then!! and i did abtoain some mature media could that explain the skipping of a stage if that is what has occured?

 

[SensesFail]

fingers crossed then!! and i did abtoain some mature media could that explain the skipping of a stage if that is what has occured?

With this other member i believe she did have mature media when this happened to her. but then with my tank i had mature media. Each tanks different i guess but having the mature media is definately a bonus to you and in theory should speed the whole process up.

 

[LiamGoodaire]

fingers crossed then!! and i did abtoain some mature media could that explain the skipping of a stage if that is what has occured?

With this other member i believe she did have mature media when this happened to her. but then with my tank i had mature media. Each tanks different i guess but having the mature media is definately a bonus to you and in theory should speed the whole process up.

ok then cheers, like i said fingers crossed, cant wait to get the go ahead though

 

[LiamGoodaire]

woooooooo new results of this morning....
Ammonia = 1ppm
NitrIte = 0ppm
NitrAte = 0ppm
obviously the ammoni is good but should there be signs of NitrIte or NitrAte or is something wrong? also isit time to top the ammonia back up to 5ppm?
cheers goodaire

 

[SensesFail]

woooooooo new results of this morning....
Ammonia = 1ppm
NitrIte = 0ppm
NitrAte = 0ppm
obviously the ammoni is good but should there be signs of NitrIte or NitrAte or is something wrong? also isit time to top the ammonia back up to 5ppm?
cheers goodaire

Top back up 2 5ppm. Have you done a water change because didnt you have nitrate at one point? lets see what happens with the next dose of 5ppm hopefully see something but yo should defo see nitrate on the next 5 ppm! as to why you dont see it now im not too sure did you do a water change recently?

 

[LiamGoodaire]

no havent done a water change during the cycle...... will top back upto 5ppm