Sensesfail Tank Journal

[SensesFail]

SF, seen your from Newcastle way, have you been to Tyne Valley Aquatics in Prudhoe? The lads there are fantastic, really clued up and not shy from telling you if they think your about to do something wrong!! If you call them, they can order in most fish you want.

K

Brilliant idea I shall make a note seen a site to obtain the "proper" petricolas not the "dwarf" ones but still need everything else wonder if they can get the petricolas also in case this other place is sold out. It's hard when the tanks not ready I keep wanting to visit stores but I refrain in case I see something I like because i can't get it yet haha

Wonder if Christmas will stall me getting fish due to delivery being messed up and popularity of fish for Christmas. Although iv waited this long what's a few more weeks. Although the tank may take that in itself to hopefully complete the cycle. It's certainly been a bumpy ride! Although when I first took the hobby up I wasn't expecting anything easy or an easy road ahead. It's when people ask how's the fish tank and I say still cycling 4 months or so later haha they are like "I thought you could just put fish in after 2 weeks" then you get into a debate about cycling and why you should do it bla bla haha then 4 weeks later the same people ask and the same thing a happens again grrr lol. Will be a shock to everyone when they ask and I say well I have fish now haha

How's your tank K?

 

[Rynofasho]

I'm not sure own your setup and I actually quite frightened to try to go find it in here, but what do you have in the way of filtration?

My cycle was going a bit slow, and then I added another bag of Biomax to my AC50 filter below the first bag so it got hit with all the water that had already passed over the more mature media.

After I bumped it to 2 bags like that, I was fully cycled in about 4 days. I would guess that your filtration is probably good, however I thought it was at least worth a mention.

 

[SensesFail]

I'm not sure own your setup and I actually quite frightened to try to go find it in here, but what do you have in the way of filtration?

My cycle was going a bit slow, and then I added another bag of Biomax to my AC50 filter below the first bag so it got hit with all the water that had already passed over the more mature media.

After I bumped it to 2 bags like that, I was fully cycled in about 4 days. I would guess that your filtration is probably good, however I thought it was at least worth a mention.

Hi the filtration is an aquis advanced 1050 external canister. It came with noodes which i used and then i bought some bio max to add. I then obtained some mature media in the form of ceramics and bio max just stuck on the nitrite processing now i have ir stones awaiting deployment but waiting until its cycled when i revamp the entire tank.

 

[SensesFail]

Ammonia this 12 hrs =0
Nitrite = 0

Topped ammonia to 3-4 ppm let's see what we have when the next 12 hrs come!! Nitrite I'd guess

 

[Rynofasho]

Nice! Sounds like you have a ton of media. My guess is you'll have fish before Christmas

 

[SensesFail]

Nice! Sounds like you have a ton of media. My guess is you'll have fish before Christmas

it would be nice but with only a week and abit to go plus ill have my qualification week once the nitrite is dropping within 12 hrs. i can hope D

 

[Rynofasho]

Dropped within 12 hours today. Keep the faith!

 

[SensesFail]

Dropped within 12 hours today. Keep the faith!

Same this morning ammonia 0, nitrite 3.3+, Ph 7.5.

Thats 12 hrs after themain dose. Small amount of ammonia added

 

[kporteo]

SF, when i was doing my cycling, i tested at 9 and 9 like you are. My readings in my qualifying week were always, 9am ammonia 0 and nitrite 0 (ammonia added to 4ppm) then at 9pm i would have a 0 for ammonia and a reading for nitrite - which is what your getting isnt it? Your ammonia you add to 4ppm is processed by the 12hr mark to nitrite which then has 12hrs to get rid of it.

Id say your into your 12hr processing now.

K

 

[waterdrop]

I thought he was getting 3.3+ppm at 12 hours after the main dose? and then 0ppm nitrite at the 24 hour test? ..so I was thinking we're just having trouble progressing the the later part of the 3rd phase (the "after the nitrite spike phase) of fishless cycling.

Hope I'm not misunderstanding the communications (this is why I like no mention of actual clock times but just a labeling of a test set to be a 12 hour set or a 24 hour set (even if one has to "round" the hours a fair bit, lol.)

If K is right and we are really somehow dealing with just little traces at one time or the other then we may be in a situation where we want to switch over to fish-in cycling. We definately have some setups that will just piddle around with traces of nitrite on and on and on. (But my problem is that 3.3ppm is not a trace!)

On a totally different topic SF, one thing that's happened to me that could put the LFS fish stocking in a positive light is that sometimes when a lot of fish are purchased (such as the holiday time you are worried about) you will find that the remaining fish include some very hardy ones that you might see a couple of times still being there and you can watch that they are still there - I've had fish like this turn out to be some of my most vibrant and healthy ones! (sort of the opposite of when you see your stockist get in a new batch and you feel you are getting the "pick of the litter"...)

~~waterdrop~~

 

[SensesFail]

I thought he was getting 3.3+ppm at 12 hours after the main dose? and then 0ppm nitrite at the 24 hour test? ..so I was thinking we're just having trouble progressing the the later part of the 3rd phase (the "after the nitrite spike phase) of fishless cycling.

Hope I'm not misunderstanding the communications (this is why I like no mention of actual clock times but just a labeling of a test set to be a 12 hour set or a 24 hour set (even if one has to "round" the hours a fair bit, lol.)

If K is right and we are really somehow dealing with just little traces at one time or the other then we may be in a situation where we want to switch over to fish-in cycling. We definately have some setups that will just piddle around with traces of nitrite on and on and on. (But my problem is that 3.3ppm is not a trace!)

On a totally different topic SF, one thing that's happened to me that could put the LFS fish stocking in a positive light is that sometimes when a lot of fish are purchased (such as the holiday time you are worried about) you will find that the remaining fish include some very hardy ones that you might see a couple of times still being there and you can watch that they are still there - I've had fish like this turn out to be some of my most vibrant and healthy ones! (sort of the opposite of when you see your stockist get in a new batch and you feel you are getting the "pick of the litter"...)

~~waterdrop~~

Hi WD

i dose the main dose at 21:00 with 4PPM ammonia. by 9:00 im getting 0 ammonia and 3.3 nitrite. I add a slight bit of ammonia and at 22:00 i have 0 ammonia and 0 nitrtite. surely one day ill wake and it will be 0 and 0 haha

 

[waterdrop]

Good, I'm not imagining the data wrong. You are still getting (at least sometimes) over 3ppm nitrite at 12 hours and then the N-Bacs have finally worked through it by the time 24 hours from dosing rolls around. As unhappy as this might make us (frustrating for me too, as I've been checking in all these many weeks) it is clear that for some reason the N-Bac colony is not quite big enough yet, although the A-Bac colony certainly is.

You are being a caring hobbyist by choosing not to yet switch over to having fish in the tank. Many would do this and then happily announce to us that their fish look just fine and what was all the fuss? The answer is that this biofilter, for at least short periods after the fish respire a lot from higher activity or right after they've released waste, will allow nitrite(NO2) in excess of 0.25ppm to be circulating for at least a few hours and although we can't necessarily see any symptoms, the fish studies tell us that there will be red blood cell and nerve damage. I tip my hat to you.

Also, you are correct - some day, possibly soon, that nitrite at 12 hours will just go sharply down or disappear, probably not to reappear during your entire qualification week and you will be happy. Of course I can't know the future but this is the best assessment I can make based on watching hundreds of these.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[SensesFail]

Good, I'm not imagining the data wrong. You are still getting (at least sometimes) over 3ppm nitrite at 12 hours and then the N-Bacs have finally worked through it by the time 24 hours from dosing rolls around. As unhappy as this might make us (frustrating for me too, as I've been checking in all these many weeks) it is clear that for some reason the N-Bac colony is not quite big enough yet, although the A-Bac colony certainly is.

You are being a caring hobbyist by choosing not to yet switch over to having fish in the tank. Many would do this and then happily announce to us that their fish look just fine and what was all the fuss? The answer is that this biofilter, for at least short periods after the fish respire a lot from higher activity or right after they've released waste, will allow nitrite(NO2) in excess of 0.25ppm to be circulating for at least a few hours and although we can't necessarily see any symptoms, the fish studies tell us that there will be red blood cell and nerve damage. I tip my hat to you.

Also, you are correct - some day, possibly soon, that nitrite at 12 hours will just go sharply down or disappear, probably not to reappear during your entire qualification week and you will be happy. Of course I can't know the future but this is the best assessment I can make based on watching hundreds of these.

~~waterdrop~~

Tested tonight on the 24th hr had 0.3 nitrite. But 0 ammonia. I'm sure it will get their eventually new years resolution get fish!! that's if the tanks done by then but fingers crossed. It's been an uphill battle but I think the day I can eventually get fish will be an exciting one. I'm looking forward to revamping the tank changing everything decorating wise but again that's on hold until the tanks cycled. It's been a patience game that's for sure!

 

[anon02]

It`s a bummer waiting for the last vestiges of nitrite to disappear but on the plus side after such a long cycle you will end up with a biofilter that`s virtually bomb proof and you can be as sure as possible that any livestock you introduce will not suffer with immune system or gill damage issues

For the past couple of months I`ve been visiting a local pet shop to keep an eye on what will be my future stock (kind of quarantine by proxy)

It wont be long for you now .... we`re all gonna be snowed in for Christmas anyway !!!

Merry Christmas

 

[SensesFail]

It`s a bummer waiting for the last vestiges of nitrite to disappear but on the plus side after such a long cycle you will end up with a biofilter that`s virtually bomb proof and you can be as sure as possible that any livestock you introduce will not suffer with immune system or gill damage issues

For the past couple of months I`ve been visiting a local pet shop to keep an eye on what will be my future stock (kind of quarantine by proxy)

It wont be long for you now .... we`re all gonna be snowed in for Christmas anyway !!!

Merry Christmas

This morning 12 hrs after the main dose the nitrite looked more towards 1.3 maybe ever so slighty darker. I hope this is signs of a drop! I think my qualification week will be 2 weeks due to it being Xmas. 2 LFS are not getting deliverys until after the new year now but K further up the post gave a LFS near me I need to try out when ready. Got bits and pieces to do on the tank once cycled that should keep me busy I just hope it doesn't damage anything Cushing all of the gravel for sand etc. Hopefully everything bacteria wise will be ok and I won't be set back.