New Tank - Aqua One Regency 120

[Schmill]

1st November 2008 - Day 10 (300L - Fishless Cycle)
Water Temperature: 28 deg. C

Time: 17:30
Ammonia: 4


2nd November 2008 - Day 11 (300L - Fishless Cycle)
Water Temperature: 29 deg. C

Time: 11:00 (early I know, but not expecting any change, and I've got to go out!)
Ammonia: 4

Also got myself a couple of pieces of bogwood today, so they are simmering away on the stove at the moment

 

[backtotropical]

Good to see the temp is going up again. That will speed up the process. Any chance of a pH test result?

 

[Schmill]

Good to see the temp is going up again. That will speed up the process. Any chance of a pH test result?

Sure, looks like the last one was on day 7, so another one is probably due around now anyway
Also I might put my bogwood in tonight, I presume that will be ok? (It's been boiled, and boiled, and soaked and soaked, and now to be honest I don't mind if it turns the water to 'tea' whilst I do the fishless cycle, as long as it won't affect the cycle itself)

 

[Schmill]

3rd November 2008 - Day 12 (300L - Fishless Cycle)
Water Temperature: 30 deg. C

Time: 20:20
Ammonia: 4
Ph : 7.6 (maxed out)
High Ph: 8.0 (up 0.6 since day 1)
NitrIte: 1
NitrAte: 40

Well, where do I start. Did the full range of tests today, (minus the hardness ones), as it had been nearly a week since I last did a ph test, and BTT asked for some more results
Glad that I did! Can see that although the ammonia doesn't seem to have shifted I am starting to get some NitrItes in the tank, and also my NitrAte level has increase by about 20 ppm.
Also the ph of the tank seems to have raised slightly, not sure what might have caused this, but as everything in the tank is 'virgin' (gravel, ornaments, filters, airlines), I'm not overly concerned about the ph, but will keep an eye on it.
At least I can see now that the ball has started rolling on this tank. I was going to try transferring a sponge form my other tank over tonight to speed this along, but the fact that this tank has started now, combined with a few issues I've been having with the other tank I decided against it.
I also have had some bogwood soaking ready for this tank, but again, until I am certain what is happening I don't want to introduce another 'unknown'.

 

[Schmill]

4th November 2008 - Day 13 (300L - Fishless Cycle)
Water Temperature: 30 deg. C

Time: 18:20
Ammonia: 4
Ph : 7.6 (maxed out)
High Ph: 8.0
NitrIte: 1
NitrAte: 40

 

[backtotropical]

Hi Schmill,

What is the highest reading on the ammonia test? It wouldn't happen to be 4ppm would it?

I think your ammonia level may be over 4ppm. Nitrites don't appear without ammonia being processed. Although 1ppm ammonia produces 2.7ppm nitrite, so for 1ppm nitrite to appear, ammonia only needs to fall by 0.3ppm. Would this kind of decrease in ammonia be easily detectable on your test kit?

Everything else seems absolutely fine, and you probably feel much better seeing at least a little bit of movement? pH is great for now, but keep an eye on it. If it starts to fall, you need to take action.

I suggest that you should probably monitor ammonia and nitrite as your basic tests from now on in order to get the best idea of what is happening.

Cheers

BTT

 

[Schmill]

BTT:

My ammonia test is the one with the API Master Test Kit and gives readings for:

0
0.25
0.50
1.0
2.0
4.0
8.0

(mg/L)

and there is quite a difference between the '4' colour and the '8' colour.
My ammonia level did seem to drop a bit early on in the cycle, but I never checked for NitrItes then as it just seemed too soon - lol
Since then it seems to have just stopped at 4mg/L (4ppm) for now, but as you say, it is good to see the other readings doing something
Based on the fact that the ph has gone from 7.4 (at the tap) up to 8.0 in the tank now, would I be ok to put in my 2 pieces of bogwood? I think that they can sometimes cause the PH to lower a bit? (But I have boiled and soaked it)

Thanks

 

[backtotropical]

That being the case, i'd say just sit it out. I don't expect it'll be much longer before you see some good progress.

I have posted in your other thread about the bogwood.

BTT

 

[Schmill]

5th November 2008 - Day 14 (300L - Fishless Cycle)
Water Temperature: 30 deg. C

Time: 22:15
Ammonia: 4
High Ph: 8.0
NitrIte: 1

 

[Schmill]

5th November 2008 - Continued...

2 Pieces of Bogwood Added, Gravel stirred up a bit, ornaments moved around

So I decided to put the bogwood into the tank tonight, I mean how hard can it be?
2 medium sized bits of bogwood, drop them in and Roberts your parents sibling.... or not...

Of course you can't just dump the wood in there, nooooo, (despite the fact that there is no fish, it's just cycling and everything will probably need moving later anyway for a d@mn good gravel vac I just couldn't leave it!), so ornaments and wood get shuffled, gravel gets sifted and scooped... and... not happy. Ornaments get shifted, wood shuffled, gravel scooped, and... still not happy.
As a warning to anyone who thinks this might be a 2 minute job, this went on for the best part of 30 minutes - lol
I now have an arrangement that I 'like' most out of the ones I tried, but I'm still not sure if I'm happy - lol
I want to get some plants in there once I know that this cycle has really started rolling, (probably once I get properly into stage 2), so I was trying to think where they could go too (suggestion on what and where are welcome )

Anyhoo, this is what I have at the moment. Sorry the pictures aren't great, I couldn't get to the camera so had to use my phone, and the water is a little 'milky' from the dust etc I stirred up in the gravel:

Left:

Right:

Front:

Oh, and the timer on my airpump just came on, so another one with the bubbles running

Just gotta get round to putting my background on now - lol
It's double sided, blue / black... I'm thinking black?

 

[Schmill]

6th November 2008 - Day 15 (300L - Fishless Cycle)
Water Temperature: 30 deg. C

Time: 20:15
Ammonia: 4
High Ph: 8.0
NitrIte: 1
NitrAte: 40

Added 80ml Stress Zyme
14th day dose, but forgot again, not that I'm convinced it will make any difference anyway!
Added 1 white sponge from the Interpet PF2 filter on my 60L tank.
Not sure how much of an effect this will have as I don't imagine there is much bacteria on the sponge, but I chucked it in to filter basket 2 anyway, so we shall see

 

[Schmill]

7th November 2008 - Day 16 (300L - Fishless Cycle)
Water Temperature: 30 deg. C

Time: 19:20
Ammonia: 4
High Ph: 8.0
NitrIte: 1
NitrAte: 40

Have I stalled before I've even really started I wonder. I put the ammonia in back on day 1, and although something has processed a small amount, pretty much nothing has changed since then. Time to get some advice I think....

 

[backtotropical]

Hi Schmill,

This isn't uncommon in fishless cycling, and it's nothing to worry about.

Do a 90% water change, and then re-charge with ammonia back up to 4ppm. Sometimes a water change just gives it a kickstart.

Let us know how it goes, as ever.

BTT

 

[Schmill]

Ok, thanks BTT. I actually put a new post up asking if this had stalled, and pointing people this way too as I didn't know if people paid much attention to my result posting, but thankfully you do
It's all a bit 'black magic' this fishless cycling, science says it should do one thing, but it seems noone told the tanks that
Ok, I guess I'll be off to the hardware store tomorrow then to get some hosepipe and connectors, I really don't feel like changing 280 odd liters of water in 10L buckets again!

 

[Schmill]

8th November 2008 - Day 17 (300L - Fishless Cycle)
Water Temperature: 30 deg. C

Time: 18:50
Ammonia: 2
High Ph: 8.0
NitrIte: 1 ? (The drops go purple in the bottom of the tube within about 5 seconds, then the tube goes to 1ppm after the 5 minutes)
NitrAte: 40

Looks like the Ammonia level has dropped, but the NitrItes don't seem to have increased... perhaps this means that it 'did' increase, but maybe there was enough nitrIte munching bacteria on yesterday's sponge to hold the level at 1ppm


9th November 2008 - Day 18 (300L - Fishless Cycle)
Water Temperature: 30 deg. C

Time: 19:30
Ammonia: 1
High Ph: 8.0
NitrIte: 1 ? (The drops go purple in the bottom of the tube within about 5 seconds, then the tube goes to 1ppm after the 5 minutes)
NitrAte: 40 (First test gave a reading of 5!, so retested and got the usual 40ppm )

I didn't have a chance to do the water change this weekend, but it does look like things might be starting to move on this now, so I won't do it yet. I'll wait until tomorrows test, and see if things are definitly progressing. Also I'm not sure if my NitrIte test is going 'off-scale' now, (because otherwise the NitrIte level doesn't seem to be increasing), but I can't remember what the API Liquid test does when it is 'off-scale'.