My Tanks Water Conditions - Fish-in Cycle

[backtotropical]

No never been told about it to be honest, any more information?

I just posted about this the other day, so you'll forgive me if I just quote myself. Basically its the same stuff just more concentrated and a lot cheaper. Can you imagine how much it would cost to dechlorinate a big pond with aquarium dechlor?

I won't ever use aquarium dechlor again. It's such a rip-off.

I use Kockney Koi Pond Dechlorinator which i bought on Ebay. It works fine. My tank is 260 litres and an £8 bottle will last me somewhere in the region of 9 years.

I don't think it's so important which pond dechlor you use, but try to get one which deals with chloramine, ammonia and heavy metals if possible. Some don't.

 

[Aquatic_Az]

Brilliant! Id imagine my LFS should have some? so when I go there to get some supplies and have a little nose, ill get some then Cheers BTT

 

[backtotropical]

No problem mate. To give you an idea, I need 1ml of dechlorinator per 75 litres of water. A 500ml bottle cost £8. Compare that to your dechlorinator and you'll see what I mean.

 

[Aquatic_Az]

No problem mate. To give you an idea, I need 1ml of dechlorinator per 75 litres of water. A 500ml bottle cost £8. Compare that to your dechlorinator and you'll see what I mean.

Blimey that is alot more concentrated than I thought! my tank is only 54 litres so id only need 1ml! thats gona be hard to measure especially on 20% - 50% water changes

 

[backtotropical]

I use a little plastic syringe to measure it. You can pick one up from your pharmacy for a few pence.

Don't worry about overdosing either if measuring it becomes ridiculous. Lots of members on here double or even triple dose as standard to be safe.

Even if I only change 20 litres, I still just use 1ml.

I believe it should be safe to dose up to around 5 x the recommended dosage.

BTT

 

[Aquatic_Az]

Ah well that wont be so bad then, nice one

 

[waterdrop]

I use a little plastic syringe to measure it. You can pick one up from your pharmacy for a few pence.

Don't worry about overdosing either if measuring it becomes ridiculous. Lots of members on here double or even triple dose as standard to be safe.

Even if I only change 20 litres, I still just use 1ml.

I believe it should be safe to dose up to around 5 x the recommended dosage.

BTT

But I'd avoid going *beyond* double-dosing *during fishless or fish-in cycling.* *After* the biofilms are well established and stable, it doesn't matter anymore and dechlor dosing multiples would be fine, but *during* cycling there is the problem that Tim Hovanec reported of excess dechlor having a negative effect on colony growth. (Obviously, excess chlorine/chloramine also has a very negative effect (kills bacterial cells!) but its a moderation thing is the way I like to think of it.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[alchemist]

Waterdrop - if these pond dechlors deal with ammonia would that stall your cycle?

 

[Aquatic_Az]

Right done a 50% water change today as yesterday there were levels of everything, however didnt actually do a test before the water change

But anyway, after the 50% water change the levels were exactly where I wanted them

PH - 7.6
Ammonia - 0.25 ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Nitrate - 10 ppm

Atleast my tank is progressing perhaps with the reading of nitrite I got yesterday?

 

[Truck]

IMO you need to do another waterchange, get that ammonia to 0.

 

[Aquatic_Az]

IMO you need to do another waterchange, get that ammonia to 0.

Its impossible, theres a 0.25 ppm reading of ammonia in my tap water

 

[Truck]

oh damn. could you buy some ammo lock?

 

[Aquatic_Az]

oh damn. could you buy some ammo lock?

Yeah, thatll be what ill be buying tomorrow when I pop down to my LFS

 

[Truck]

oh good

 

[backtotropical]

But I'd avoid going *beyond* double-dosing *during fishless or fish-in cycling.* *After* the biofilms are well established and stable, it doesn't matter anymore and dechlor dosing multiples would be fine, but *during* cycling there is the problem that Tim Hovanec reported of excess dechlor having a negative effect on colony growth. (Obviously, excess chlorine/chloramine also has a very negative effect (kills bacterial cells!) but its a moderation thing is the way I like to think of it.

I wasn't aware of that, Waterdrop. Where did he report that? On here or in one of his papers?

You learn something new every day.........................

Waterdrop - if these pond dechlors deal with ammonia would that stall your cycle?

Hi Alchemist,

No, it wouldn't stall the cycle. Dechlorinators which deal with ammonia usually just detoxify the ammonia by turning it into ammonium, which the filter bacteria will use just the same as they will use ammonia. I can't remember if it was ever discovered if the bacteria have a preference for one or the other. Can you remember, Waterdrop?

The things which deal with ammonia which will negatively affect the cycle are things like porous medias and resins which bond the ammonia to them, and thus not allowing the filter to use them.

To make it easy, liquids are generally ok as they just change the ammonia to a different form in the water, but solids generally aren't as they are like ammonia magnets which effectively remove the ammonia from the water making it useless for the filter.

Right done a 50% water change today as yesterday there were levels of everything, however didnt actually do a test before the water change

But anyway, after the 50% water change the levels were exactly where I wanted them

PH - 7.6
Ammonia - 0.25 ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Nitrate - 10 ppm

Atleast my tank is progressing perhaps with the reading of nitrite I got yesterday?

Sounds like good progress, Az. Your fish will certainly be appreciating all your hard work with those water changes.