Boulder Fish
New Member
This is my third attempt at fishless cycling...long story, but there was a disastrous failure and then a move involved...
But (knock on wood) I MAY have gotten this right, finally...
I have a 20 gallon tank, and am keeping the temp at 85 F
I have ceramic rings in my "hang on back" filter, and a second, small, submersed sponge filter
I added an air stone on day 10
Here are my baseline (tap water) readings:
pH - 7.6
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 40
Once my water cleared after setup, I brought the ammonia up to 5 ppm
It took a full 15 days for that to clear, which brings us up to yesterday.
Day 15 readings:
pH - 7.6
Ammonia - 0 (then brought ammonia up to 4 ppm)
Nitrite - 1.0 ppm
Nitrate - not tested
Day 16 (25 hours later):
pH - 7.6
Ammonia - 0 (then brought ammonia up to 4 ppm again)
Nitrite - OFF THE CHARTS
Nitrate - 40
So, I ask you....are the fishless cycle gods smiling on me?
Is it not unheard of that it should take 15 days to process the first load of ammonia, but only 1 day for the second load to process?
And what about the nitrites, is it possible for them to rise that quickly (from 1 to Off the Charts) in 1 day?
But (knock on wood) I MAY have gotten this right, finally...
I have a 20 gallon tank, and am keeping the temp at 85 F
I have ceramic rings in my "hang on back" filter, and a second, small, submersed sponge filter
I added an air stone on day 10
Here are my baseline (tap water) readings:
pH - 7.6
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 40
Once my water cleared after setup, I brought the ammonia up to 5 ppm
It took a full 15 days for that to clear, which brings us up to yesterday.
Day 15 readings:
pH - 7.6
Ammonia - 0 (then brought ammonia up to 4 ppm)
Nitrite - 1.0 ppm
Nitrate - not tested
Day 16 (25 hours later):
pH - 7.6
Ammonia - 0 (then brought ammonia up to 4 ppm again)
Nitrite - OFF THE CHARTS
Nitrate - 40
So, I ask you....are the fishless cycle gods smiling on me?
Is it not unheard of that it should take 15 days to process the first load of ammonia, but only 1 day for the second load to process?
And what about the nitrites, is it possible for them to rise that quickly (from 1 to Off the Charts) in 1 day?