normal cycling?

[seantheprawn]

i tested my water today, its been about 4 days since set up(not a long time i know)

and
ammonia - 0
nitrite - 0
nitrate - somwere betwenn 10 and 20

so i know it hasnt been long and its only a bit of nitrate, but does this mean it could of partially cycled or sumthing already?

i mean i checked them 3 days ago and all 3 were 0, and now nitrate is approx 15.


so what could this mean?


thanx for ne feedback

 

[Undawada]

That doesn't sound right at all.

Are you doing a fishless cycle or do you have fish? Did anything in your tank come from another, established, tank? What is the expiry date on the test kits?

 

[black angel]

you should always have nitrate as its in the tap water anyway. test the nitrate from the tap, but pour it into a glass first.

btw, i love your name, it made me laugh.

 

[seantheprawn]

mk well ive added more flakes


and i will test for ammonia in few days, to see if theres a rise.

i dont have a clue though in how long it takes for the flakes to break down and form ammonia.

 

[ncjharris]

whats the tank size?

if its only a weeny one, it could have cycled.

 

[fishwatcher]

There's also a way of doing a fishless cycle by using plain household ammonia. You just use a few drops or so each day. There should be a pinned article about it, in case you want to read up on it.
Good luck!

 

[seantheprawn]

my tank is about 168l 120cm x 40 x 35

thanx for the helpful advice fishwatcher,
but what i forgot to mention, which i did in a post a while back, is that i simply can not get my hands on any PURE or CLEAR ammonia anywere, the only stuff i can find is the dergenty washing ammonia crap, not the pure ones with only water.
so thats my fault, sorry for not mentioning it.

and i live in perth australia

cheers

 

[seantheprawn]

mk its now thursday, 3 days since my last test,


and aluluia my ammonia is somewere between .5 and .1 , lol not alot but its a start

so ould this be the beggining of the spike?
shall i check in a few hours to see if its gone up, or shall i check tommorow?
shall i test my nitrites to see if they have risen or wont that be worth it till atleast a few more days.


lol ive never been so happy to see ammonia in my tank.

 

[ncjharris]

If you are using flakes, then it takes a while (and you have a reasonably sized tank) for them to break down and the first sign of ammonia to appear.

Im guessing the stats in your first post are the composition of your tap water.

Your second post is looking a little more promising.
As the growth (and death) of the bacteria is exponential you should see a more marked increase over the next few days,

Testing daily is a good idea, you can see you spikes then and you'll know if its cycled or not.

It will take a while though, perhaps up to a month¬ But looks like you are on the right track!!

 

[seantheprawn]

kool

wow a month, bit long, but owell


i tested by ammonia troday its up around one,

so ive been constantly adding more flakes to raise the ammonia and start feeding the bacteria.

cheers for all the help.

 

[ncjharris]

Well if its gone up thats a good sign - next you should see the nitrite go up too.

Don't know if you have read them, but there are two good posts in the pinned sections about cycling - I know you are doing a fishless, but it gives an indication of the time scale.

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=73365

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=55309

Good Luck!

 

[seantheprawn]

i had a look at my fish flakes in the breeding trap, (i keep em in there so they dont make a mess of the tank and its easy to take out in add fresh flakes etc, when i noticed that all the flakes had broken down so much, and that there were like strands of whitsh slimy stuff coming from the trap into the tank, just dangling there, i cleaned it out and put more flakes in there.


is this slimy stuff bad or is it just broken down food or sumthing? coz some of it got out into the tank.

amoonia between 1 - 2 n nitrite 0.25


c heers

 

[seantheprawn]

ok its been about a week and 2 days and now my ammoia is up to 4, and nitritr about 2.

so everything seems on track, unless theres sumthing i dont know

anyway ill keep updated, just incase theres sumthin not right, that u guys pic up.

cheers

 

[seantheprawn]

ok my ammonia is still at 2, n my nitrite has spiked high,


so do i keep adding flakes to feed the ammonia bacteria, or do i lket it all be filtered out of the sysytem and when its all gone get fish?