Someone Help Please!

[ashcroft7]

Afternoon Guys!

Hoping someone can help me...

I started my fishless cycling last thursday. I set up the 10 gallon tank on tuesday, and put in my sand, gravel and plants. The water temp was 27-28c. The water results where as followed:
pH 7.4
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
NitrAte: 3-4

I was then told I need to add some Ammonia, so as recommend I brought the homebase Value bottle. It has no percentage of Ammonia in the bottle labelled though?
This is the bottle I brought:

I put in 2.67ml I believe it was, and then went away for a long weekend.

I have just came back and noticed a few changes in my tank?
Here is my test results I have just taken:
pH - 7.6
Ammonia - 0-0.25
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 7.5


These are the two changes I can phsyically see.

The first is there is a brown dust like substance on every plant leaf. If you disturb the water or plant it comes straight off, floats about then settles again. Here is a picture of it!

Secondly, I brought some Mopani root, boiled it in water and got all the tannin out.
however it seems to have some strange substance covering the top? Its a clearish gelly substance, and falls apart once you touch it!
Again here is a photo of it!

If anyone can shed any light atall as to what I should do next, please let me know!

 

[MrsM]

didnt want to read and run..but i have no idea what that is on the wood, and looks like the ammonia you got is ok...watch out for a rise in nitrites soon

 

[fluttermoth]

The 'jelly' stuff is just a sort of algae that grows on left over nutrients in the wood; once all those have leached out, it will go. It won't harm your cycle (or fish, if you had any).

Just for future reference, you don't need to boil wood; that actually breaks down the fibres and makes it tend to rot faster (and release more tannins). Just scrub it in very hot water and let it dry

 

[ashcroft7]

Ok thats great thank you Im glad the jelly stuff is safe!!

Any ideas on the dusty brown substance on the leaves?!

And what should I be looking for with regards to Nitrate, Nitrite, Ammonia levels?

 

[DrSlackBladder]

Hi. I started my ammonia fishless cycle 3 weeks ago, and have been posting the data as a chart attachment every few days. I'm a newbie myself, but did loads of research into the cycle, tested diligently (I'm a PhD scientist by profession so no problem there!), and I just tonight measured zero nitrites after adding 2ppm ammonia each day, so I'm hoping my cycle is done! Check my data chart (just below your post in this forum right now), it may help with what you can expect!

 

[ashcroft7]

thank you ill have a look!

should i be adding ammonia every day?

 

[Aquascaper]

The brown 'dust' could be diatoms or just wood particles being detached by the algae on the wood, both quite normal and safe. If you have high nitrates this would point more towards the diatoms.

 

[DrSlackBladder]

I added ammonia to 4ppm to start, then waited about a week for it to reduce, without adding any more. Then once it started reducing and nitrites started appearing, I added ammonia to 2-3ppm every day to keep the bacteria fed and growing. Still adding 2ppm ammonia every day until large water change to remove nitrates and adding fish the following day (assuming my readings stay at 0 NO2 and 0 NO3 for rest of this week.

 

[ashcroft7]

Ok, so as my Ammonia is so low, and my nitrates are reading 7.5, shall I put in some more Ammonia?

 

[fluttermoth]

Yes, bring it back up to three or four PPM