Need Help With Cycle
- Thread starter Dave220
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Miss Wiggle
Practically perfect in every way
aye, filter should be big enough capacity wise for the tank so can't imagine that would cause a problem.
waterdrop
Enthusiastic "Re-Beginner"
In your first post you mentioned that the tanks has "lots of plants in it at the moment." Its possible (but MW may need to discuss with you how many is "lots!") that the plants are quickly using up the added ammonia and that's why you see the drop, not because there are many A-Bacs in there. Not having many A-Bacs would explain the lack of nitrite(NO2) and the lack of N-Bac development.
~~waterdrop~~
~~waterdrop~~
Miss Wiggle
Practically perfect in every way
good call WD,
I tend to discount it when people say 'lots of plants' because the average beginner aquarists idea of lots of plants in the tank is vastly different from what you really need to see any impact on the stats or a full 'silent cycle'.
the best way for us to guage it is if you post a picture of your tank, we'll let you know if this is likely or not. as a general ideal i wouldn't expect any impact unless you have around 70% of the floor of the tank planted heavily.
I tend to discount it when people say 'lots of plants' because the average beginner aquarists idea of lots of plants in the tank is vastly different from what you really need to see any impact on the stats or a full 'silent cycle'.
the best way for us to guage it is if you post a picture of your tank, we'll let you know if this is likely or not. as a general ideal i wouldn't expect any impact unless you have around 70% of the floor of the tank planted heavily.
Miss Wiggle
Practically perfect in every way
upload them onto a site like photobucket and then it gives you a link that you post into here, it's the link with
Option 2
Only because it doesn't seem to have been mentioned yet... are you aware of how the API Master Test Kit reacts when your NitrItes go massively off the scale?
I ask because to me it looks like one of 2 things is happening, either you are early in the cycle and some ammonia is getting processed, and also there is an N-Bacs culture that is getting rid of the nitrItes, converting them to nitrAtes, that the plants are then munching on,
or
You are producing plenty of nitrIte, it's gone off the scale, possible so high that it's now causing a problem with the A-Bacs.
Do you give the NitrIte test bottle a good vigorous shake before using it?
When you put the NitrIte drops into the tube do they are pale blue when they leave the bottle. Do they stay pale blue when they enter the water, whilst they sit at the bottom of the tube, during shaking, and during the entire 5 minutes that the test has to 'develop' for?
When the NitrIte kit goes massively off-scale the drops go in blue, turn a deep purple, then become a pale purple (usually when shaking the tube), and then if left for the 5 minutes will face to a VERY pale green/blue that is almost an exact match for the reading of 0ppm NitrIte.
If the drops go purple at all during the test then that is their highest reading. The test should only ever progress 'forward' through the colour levels, (from 0 upwards) during the development time. If it starts purple and then goes 'backwards' it is overscale.
A final way to confirm this is to use say 1ml of tank water, and 4 ml of tap water, (creating a 1/5th dilution), and then running a nitrIte test on that. If that gives you a nitrite reading then you KNOW you were offscale before at a level (very roughly) 5 times that level.
Only because it doesn't seem to have been mentioned yet... are you aware of how the API Master Test Kit reacts when your NitrItes go massively off the scale?
I ask because to me it looks like one of 2 things is happening, either you are early in the cycle and some ammonia is getting processed, and also there is an N-Bacs culture that is getting rid of the nitrItes, converting them to nitrAtes, that the plants are then munching on,
or
You are producing plenty of nitrIte, it's gone off the scale, possible so high that it's now causing a problem with the A-Bacs.
Do you give the NitrIte test bottle a good vigorous shake before using it?
When you put the NitrIte drops into the tube do they are pale blue when they leave the bottle. Do they stay pale blue when they enter the water, whilst they sit at the bottom of the tube, during shaking, and during the entire 5 minutes that the test has to 'develop' for?
When the NitrIte kit goes massively off-scale the drops go in blue, turn a deep purple, then become a pale purple (usually when shaking the tube), and then if left for the 5 minutes will face to a VERY pale green/blue that is almost an exact match for the reading of 0ppm NitrIte.
If the drops go purple at all during the test then that is their highest reading. The test should only ever progress 'forward' through the colour levels, (from 0 upwards) during the development time. If it starts purple and then goes 'backwards' it is overscale.
A final way to confirm this is to use say 1ml of tank water, and 4 ml of tap water, (creating a 1/5th dilution), and then running a nitrIte test on that. If that gives you a nitrite reading then you KNOW you were offscale before at a level (very roughly) 5 times that level.
Miss Wiggle
Practically perfect in every way
sounds like a normal '0' reading not a malfunctioning nitrite test when it's off the scale.
can't view the pic from work will try and take a look when i can, if anyone else can comment on the planting level it would eb appreciated.
can't view the pic from work will try and take a look when i can, if anyone else can comment on the planting level it would eb appreciated.
Agreed MW, thought it was worth checking though.
Afraid I'm in the same boat as you with regards to checking the pics, will have to wait until later for me to look - lol
waterdrop
Enthusiastic "Re-Beginner"
Well, its a hard call. Its a lot of plants but not as heavy as many "planted tanks." Its certainly getting into the level of planting that might take up a significant amount of ammonia and other nitrogen from the water, but what do others think?
By the way, I think that little swordplant on the far right front is planted too deeply. The "crown" (the point where the stems come together just above the roots) should be just above the substrate on rooted plants, with only the roots themselves in the substrate. Swords are definately rooted substrate plants but there are others (notably java ferns, java moss and some others) that need their roots to be attached to hardscape (rocks, wood) rather than in the substrate.)
~~waterdrop~~
By the way, I think that little swordplant on the far right front is planted too deeply. The "crown" (the point where the stems come together just above the roots) should be just above the substrate on rooted plants, with only the roots themselves in the substrate. Swords are definately rooted substrate plants but there are others (notably java ferns, java moss and some others) that need their roots to be attached to hardscape (rocks, wood) rather than in the substrate.)
~~waterdrop~~
Miss Wiggle
Practically perfect in every way
not been able to look at the pics yet, couldn't get on the pc last night, had a total nightmare evening culminating in me deciding i need to take my neighbour to court 
not a happy wiggle today!!!!
not a happy wiggle today!!!!
Miss Wiggle
Practically perfect in every way
thats not planted enough to be using up all that ammonia so there are def some ABacs there.
take a sample of water to your lfs for testing to rule out a dodgy test kit.
take a sample of water to your lfs for testing to rule out a dodgy test kit.
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