Not Sure What Stage My Cycling Is At, Can Anyone Help

[Teacher Martyn]

I'm sorry, I've confused things by interrupting and am now not sure if I'm being replied to or not.

Personally, I have been adding ammonia daily. I now have zero reading for ammonia and have had for 10 days. Nitrites at 0.5,

My point was that, since my tank is planted and the plants are rooting and growing and occasionally shedding leaves, need I continue adding ammonia or will the natural decay of plant matter provide food for the a-bacs?

Thanks again.

 

[Termato]

I'm sorry, I've confused things by interrupting and am now not sure if I'm being replied to or not.

Personally, I have been adding ammonia daily. I now have zero reading for ammonia and have had for 10 days. Nitrites at 0.5,

My point was that, since my tank is planted and the plants are rooting and growing and occasionally shedding leaves, need I continue adding ammonia or will the natural decay of plant matter provide food for the a-bacs?

Thanks again.

Keep adding ammonia until you have 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite. Then you can wait a day and then add fish.

 

[Teacher Martyn]

I'm sorry, I've confused things by interrupting and am now not sure if I'm being replied to or not.

Personally, I have been adding ammonia daily. I now have zero reading for ammonia and have had for 10 days. Nitrites at 0.5,

My point was that, since my tank is planted and the plants are rooting and growing and occasionally shedding leaves, need I continue adding ammonia or will the natural decay of plant matter provide food for the a-bacs?

Thanks again.

Keep adding ammonia until you have 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite. Then you can wait a day and then add fish.

And then 90% water change and then fish?

 

[Termato]

I'm sorry, I've confused things by interrupting and am now not sure if I'm being replied to or not.

Personally, I have been adding ammonia daily. I now have zero reading for ammonia and have had for 10 days. Nitrites at 0.5,

My point was that, since my tank is planted and the plants are rooting and growing and occasionally shedding leaves, need I continue adding ammonia or will the natural decay of plant matter provide food for the a-bacs?

Thanks again.

Keep adding ammonia until you have 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite. Then you can wait a day and then add fish.

And then 90% water change and then fish?

Sounds like a plan. You can do a 80% change. I would just make sure you vacuum the top layer of the gravel to get all the extra food out so its not rotting with fish in there.

 

[Teacher Martyn]

Now, one last question (and thanks so much for your help)

What do you do about dechlorination when refilling after an 80% change?

I'm worried about killing the bacteria.

Do I fill tank and then add dechlorinator or do I add dechlorinator for all 120 litres on commencing filling thereby allowing it to dilute as I fill.

Or must I add measured dechlorinator to each bucketful that I add?

Thanks again.

 

[Termato]

Now, one last question (and thanks so much for your help)

What do you do about dechlorination when refilling after an 80% change?

I'm worried about killing the bacteria.

Do I fill tank and then add dechlorinator or do I add dechlorinator for all 120 litres on commencing filling thereby allowing it to dilute as I fill.

Or must I add measured dechlorinator to each bucketful that I add?

Thanks again.

I hope this answers your question. I have only heard of two good ways to do this.

I do it this way (if you use a bucket):

I have a 5 Gallon bucket that i fill up to do water changes. If I am doing more than one bucket I measure the dosage for the entire tank. A 29 gallon tank will take almost 3ml of Prime. Therefore I will put 2ml of prime PER 5 gallon bucket. I put the prime in before I put the water in the tank.

If you have a hose or something that directly feeds into tank:

Turn the water on so it starts filling directly into your tank. Try and take no longer than 30 secs to 2 minutes after you get the water going to put the prime into the tank. Dose for your ENTIRE tank directly into the tank. Example for prime on a 120L would be about same as me so dose it with about 4ml of Prime. Prime is very concentrated so you really have to look at your conditioner.

With a good conditioner like prime you can put the water directly into the tank as long as you don't take too long to put the conditioner in.

Some people may recommend you dose the water before you put it in....there truly is no need as chlorine can't kill the bacteria THAT fast. Just don't take 5 minutes to put the conditioner in.

Does that help?

 

[Teacher Martyn]

Now, one last question (and thanks so much for your help)

What do you do about dechlorination when refilling after an 80% change?

I'm worried about killing the bacteria.

Do I fill tank and then add dechlorinator or do I add dechlorinator for all 120 litres on commencing filling thereby allowing it to dilute as I fill.

Or must I add measured dechlorinator to each bucketful that I add?

Thanks again.

I hope this answers your question. I have only heard of two good ways to do this.

I do it this way (if you use a bucket):

I have a 5 Gallon bucket that i fill up to do water changes. If I am doing more than one bucket I measure the dosage for the entire tank. A 29 gallon tank will take almost 3ml of Prime. Therefore I will put 2ml of prime PER 5 gallon bucket. I put the prime in before I put the water in the tank.

If you have a hose or something that directly feeds into tank:

Turn the water on so it starts filling directly into your tank. Try and take no longer than 30 secs to 2 minutes after you get the water going to put the prime into the tank. Dose for your ENTIRE tank directly into the tank. Example for prime on a 120L would be about same as me so dose it with about 4ml of Prime. Prime is very concentrated so you really have to look at your conditioner.

With a good conditioner like prime you can put the water directly into the tank as long as you don't take too long to put the conditioner in.

Some people may recommend you dose the water before you put it in....there truly is no need as chlorine can't kill the bacteria THAT fast. Just don't take 5 minutes to put the conditioner in.

Does that help?

Lovely. Thanks. That's put my mind at rest.

We are in a drought situation here at the moment so officially using a hose would be illegal.

I'll have to use that method with the drapes closed and doors locked ;-)

 

[drobbyb]

The chlorine takes time to do it's damage so no worry if you forget to add the water conditioner in the first 30 seconds, just so long as you add it during the water change. The concentration of chlorine/chloramine in your water supply is low enough not to cause too immediate of an effect. That being said, it's best to add it as soon as possible. Some water authorities don't publish when they add extra to their supply. This is also why some fishkeepers (including myself) overdose on water conditioner. That's the advantage of using a concentrated conditioner like Prime since it's cost effective.

 

[OldMan47]

Let us be very clear here. Anything more than about double the optimum dose will not be beneficial to a cycle. In fact it is detrimental to a cycle. That means that you need to come close, if not absolutely precise with your measurements. Do not assume that since 1 ml is good 5 ml is better. It is not. If you do not try to at least get the right dechlorinator concentration, you will have troubles. Sorry but that is reality. In general, dechlorination is based around the chemical sodium thiosulphate. Sodium thiosulphate works very quickly in your makeup water but it is not the only way to make new water acceptable. Even the rather common vitamin C has been shown to make chlorine less toxic in a water environment.

 

[drobbyb]

Thanks for the clarification. I wasn't trying to insinuate a massive overdose, simply 1.5x the normal dose. However I neglected to list said 1.5x dosage.

OM, I have been out of the hobby for a while, is it still recommended to use Prime in an emergency situation to help control ammonia toxicity?