Setting Up New Tank Questions

[Miss Wiggle]

it's the rock, a nice high pH is no bad thing when cycling as the bacteria thrives up around 8.2 - 8.4 and the ammonia drives pH down meaning it often crashes and causes problems in a cycle, providing your going to stock around it when the time comes there's no problems with a high pH while cycling, if anything it'll probably speed it up a bit.

you should get hold of a high pH test kit though t measure it accurately, not sure if the pH can get too high while cycling.... thoughts anyone?

 

[harris_hpe]

it's the rock, a nice high pH is no bad thing when cycling as the bacteria thrives up around 8.2 - 8.4 and the ammonia drives pH down meaning it often crashes and causes problems in a cycle, providing your going to stock around it when the time comes there's no problems with a high pH while cycling, if anything it'll probably speed it up a bit.

you should get hold of a high pH test kit though t measure it accurately, not sure if the pH can get too high while cycling.... thoughts anyone?

Thanks for your input Miss Wiggle Its much appreciated

Now I have just thought of something that may be a problem that I would like some advice on. I work for a motor racing team and it completely passed my mind the fact that I will be going away next wednesday until sunday night and theres not really anyone else in my household that I can trust to test my cycling etc while im gone. I have a friend that has a large tank that might be able to spare me some media to seed my filter, but where do I stand as regards to there not being any ammonia in there while im gone to feed the bacteria???

 

[waterdrop]

You're just at the very beginning of the process, so it can often take days or weeks for a 5ppm dose of ammonia to go down to zero. Plus, another day or two at zero after that probably wouldn't hurt the process much if at all.

So I'd say to just be sure you dose the aquarium up to a good 5ppm looking type level and just test and re-dose when you get back from your long weekend.

Re MW's question re bacteria at pH=9, I'd say the jury is out. There's probably no telling if the reality in the tank would be enough to actually kill the bacteria or slow it that significantly. It would probably just be somewhat less optimal in growth speed than the 8.0 to 8.4 sweet spot would be my guess.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[rabbut]

I agree with Waterdrop that the dury is still out on the hgh pH affecting the cycle. I've never had the pH get up above 8.5 (with 1tsp of Bicarbonate of Soda/Baking powwder [I always get those two mixed up] per gallon of water, and an off the chart KH reading) in a cycle so I cannot comment on if its good/bad to have a pH up at 9.

ammonia drives pH down meaning it often crashes and causes problems in a cycle

Half right there MW. Ammonia is Alkaline, so puts upwards pressure on the pH. NitrIte and NitrAte are both acidic though and put downward pressure on the pH when the tank is cycling, as they both get rather high, and hence Nitrite and Nitrate are usually the cause of pH crashes in a cycling tank...

All the best
Rabbut

 

[harris_hpe]

Well im not going away until a week on thursday so i think what ill do is keep an eye on it until then and if I do start to process a reasonable amount of ammonia then I can get one of my housemates to add a small amount of ammonia each day just to give the bacteria something to feed on until I get home and then I can always get some mature media from my friend after that to help it all along!

As for the ph, I am tempted to leave it be at the mo as my ph should drop once I start producing some nitrites and nitrates so it may even counteract itself back down to the 8's.

One last thing, my water in the tank looks nice and clean, if not a little milky in colour, is this normal for a cycling tank or should I have left it a little longer to settle before I started my fishless cycle???

Thanks once again for all your help.

Harris

 

[rabbut]

It does not matter if you start the cycle before the tank clears, just so long as the filter isn't clogging up every few hours due ot dust

 

[harris_hpe]

Ok cool

Should I have my air pump running whilst im cycling or doesnt it really matter?

Nothing has happened in my cycle yet but it is only day 3 so I didnt really to expect to see any change.

 

[waterdrop]

On your tank with your 205, having an airstone probably won't matter much either way as you're probably going to already have good surface movement, which is what's important (reason being you want extra good oxygenation during the fishless cycling since that's one of the main things the fledgeling bacteria want, besides ammonia and a tiny bit of calcium and iron.)

If you already own a pump/airstone system and want to use it then now's the time as it won't hurt and might help a little. RDD says they're good after all! On the other hand if that system causes noise problems at home, you can get by without it. In my case I turned it off at night because it was too loud in my son's room.

Not only might you not see the first 4-5ppm dosing drop to zero in the first 3 days, you might not even see it drop to zero in 3 weeks! But I think we've only had one case of that aspect taking that long and most see it within days or the first week or two.

You seem to have just about everything covered that I can think of. If there are not plants you might consider keeping the tank as dark as possible to avoid algae.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[harris_hpe]

Thanks ever so much Waterdrop for your help.

Just a couple more questions and im all set. I still havnt sorted a high ph test kit yet and Im a bit baffled as to why the reading comes up blue when there isnt even a reading for blue. Does this mean my ph is sky high and if so, why could this be?

Also, you say keep it as dark as possable to prevent algae growth, would it be advisable to cover the tank in a towel or something similar to completely block off the light? And also, if I do suffer from the brown algae, do I need to clean it or will it sort itself out? I mean if its going to become a problem, ill just remove me rocks so they dont get covered in poo!!!

Thanks again guys, you make it sound so easy

Harris

 

[rabbut]

I can't answer your question on test kits, as it will depend on the test kit you use

For keeping the tank as dark as possible, you can cover it if you like

All the best
Rabbut

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, I believe API break the pH range into two segments to allow higher accuracy within each segment. It can be confusing because only one or the other will really read your pH correctly and that's the one which is covering the range that is where the pH of your water actually is, but you don't know that at first, right? One extra step you could possibly take would be to bring a tank water sample to your LFS who hopefully would have a liquid kit they'd be willing to test it with while you watch. Be sure to get a numerical answer, not just that its "fine" or whatever. I've also heard of members having reached lab techs at API who have answered their questions in detail.

Yes, covering the tank was indeed what I was getting at, but its important to be very careful in doing that. You don't want a towel to slip into the tank water and capillary it all out of the tank onto your floor! You also don't want any coverings to catch fire from being on electrical items, that sort of thing. If you have a non-translucent top then a useful way to go about it is to tape black poly material to the glass sides. This accomplishes the task while still leaving the surface readily accessible for testing and adding ammonia.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[harris_hpe]

Sounds like a plan, some black bin bags should do the trick to block the light out!!!

Well my test kit is a nutrifin mini master test kit so I think maybe I will look to see if they do a high ph test kit. Say for intance it is over 9 ph (I tested it a minute ago and I got the same blue as before) what would be likely to cause it to be so high? I still have the same 5ppm reading for the ammonia, but I didnt expect it to have changed anyway.

Also, can the sand be cleaned with a normal gravel cleaner or is there some other method that can be used? Does it need to be done on a weekly basis as tank maintenence?

Harris

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, once you have fish you will do weekly gravel-clean-water-changes and for sand you will need to perfect the skill of holding the gravel cleaner at some height above the sand surface and waving it such that you mostly get debris and not sand getting sucked up.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[harris_hpe]

Ok cool.

Well ive just been looking on the internet for a high ph test kit and I am struggling to find a kit that does over 9. Mine does from 4.5-9 and I can only find low range or high range test kits and they only seem to do a very small range of ph.

Any ideas?

 

[waterdrop]

It may be that the test reagents involved when you get up over pH=9 become a problem.

~~wd~~