Please Reply, Need Advice!

[abih2005]

Dosed it to 4ppm at 6:30am, just tested again and ammonia is 0ppm and nitrites are off the chart. Confused.com

 

[Harlequins]

That is good it shows the ammonia source that has been bugging you has now shifted (Sounds like the gravel vacs appeared to work)and you are now going through a nitrite spike,the ammonia is now converting to nitrite and this will be converting to nitrate,keep dosing the ammonia when it hits zero,the nitrite will hang around off the scale then will start to drop, your cycle looks goods at the moment,its just getting pass this nitrite stage and you will eventually get there

 

[waterdrop]

Agree with Harlequins. Your colony of ammonia processing bacteria (I call them the A-Bacs) has grown and is now more rapidly processing the ammonia you are putting in. This is creating a large excess of nitrite(NO2) that your nitrite processors (N-Bacs) can't yet handle because they are fewer in number.

Ammonia will probably now drop to zero ppm pretty regularly sometime within 24 hours, so on those days when it does, you will be re-charging the ammonia back up to 4ppm at your "add-hour" which I think is 6:30am. You are in the "nitrite spike" phase of fishless cycling.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[abih2005]

Just tested water. Nitrites off the scale but no ammonia, bit confused cos I've already done a nitrite spike?

Date/Test Ammonia Nitrites Nitrates
22/4/10 0.25 1.0 -
Post test - ammonia up to 4ppm
24/4/10 2.0 0.25 40/80
25/4/10 0.25 0.00 20
Post test - added ammonia 8.0 0.00
25/4/10 (1935) 2.0 1.00 40/80
26/4/10 0.00 1.00
Post test, added 4ppm Amm. Off the chart
27/4/10 0.00 0.00
Post test, added 4ppm Amm.
28/4/10 0.25 0.25
30/4/10 0.00 0.00
Post test, added 2ml amm. 8.0 0.00 40/80
30/4/10 (2240) 1.0 0.25
1/5/10 0.25 0.00
(1800) Got amm up tp 2ppm. 0.00 0.00
2/5/10 0.00 0.00

 

[OldMan47]

That earlier data is not a nitrite spike. It is a minor nitrite excursion of some sort.

 

[abih2005]

Getting really frustrated at the moment - my cycle is all over the place, it's taking 24 hours to process just 2ml of ammonia, the nitrites are falling faster. I only cleaned the filter out two weeks ago, should I do so again? How about a water change?

 

[Twinklecaz]

I don't know if you're supposed to clean your filter when cycling....I haven't done mine atall. I could be wrong but the way I see it is there's nothing in there to make it "dirty" as such except the Ammonia and resulting bacteria and you want that!

How long have you been cycling for coz you seem to be not far behind me and I'm on day 47!

 

[abih2005]

50 days so far....ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH! Sorry.

 

[Twinklecaz]

That's still quite normal. Rememeber some cycles can take 3 months. I may have my A and Ni processing in 24 hours before you but I could be waiting ages for it to do it in 12 hours and you could still end up finished before me. You just have to be patient, spend the time making sure you're getting the fish you really want etc and that there aren't any you've missed that you might love!

 

[abih2005]

8am 22/5/10 - Added 2ml ammonia.
Today at 8am (24 hours later) and it's reading 1ppm.

Pants.

 

[waterdrop]

Caz is so sane.

 

[Twinklecaz]

LMAO...........er thanks!

 

[abih2005]

A week later and it's still not shifting within 24 hours, getting really frustrated as I wanted to get fish for my birthday next week. Am gonna clean my filter out in tank water and see if that does anything.

 

[JoshuaA]

A week later and it's still not shifting within 24 hours, getting really frustrated as I wanted to get fish for my birthday next week. Am gonna clean my filter out in tank water and see if that does anything.

Continuously disturbing the bacteria in the filter really isn't going to help. It's not like you have fish in the water so the filter pads should be relatively clean. There is absolutely NO need to clean your filter during the cycle, or at least that is my opinion. Cleaning your filter with newly developed colonies of bacteria will just keep setting you back and could easily be your problem.

 

[abih2005]

That is a point - but I did say I would clean it a while back (in a previous post) and nobody mentioned it might be harmful. I only cleaned it cos there were parts of plants (decaying) blocking the vents.