waterdrop
Enthusiastic "Re-Beginner"
Agree. Can't remember the tank size of the fishless cycling one but from the looks of it we'd be starting with a tablespoon, not a teaspoon, lol.
Starting A Fishless Cycle
- Thread starter danb
- Start date
The June FOTM Contest Poll is open!
🏆 Click to vote! 🏆
Thanks for the help. The ph seems to be dropping really quickly, when i add the ammonia it goes upto 7.6 then within 12 hours its down to like 6.... I measured this morning and it was at about 6.4. How long will it need to be there before it stalls the cycle? i.e. 8 hours, 12 hours?
How much sodium bicarbonate should i add for 180 litres? Does it matter what kind i get?
How much sodium bicarbonate should i add for 180 litres? Does it matter what kind i get?
waterdrop
Enthusiastic "Re-Beginner"
Hi danb,
When we say "bicarb" its just short for sodium bicarbonate, which is just simple kitchen Baking Soda. Make sure its NOT Baking Powder, as that often has other ingredients. For your 180L I'd start off trying 3 tablespoons.
The point of adding baking soda to your "bacterial growing soup" is to add buffer to neutralize the acidic effect of the small bit of nitric acid that is produced as a co-product of the nitrate(NO3) at the end of the nitrogen cycling process. Baking soda does not directly raise pH or cause linear changes in pH, instead it just helps to hold pH high longer before it eventually overcomes the buffer and quickly drops again. So you have to still keep an eye on the pH, but it should take longer before it threatens to drop down low again.
~~waterdrop~~
When we say "bicarb" its just short for sodium bicarbonate, which is just simple kitchen Baking Soda. Make sure its NOT Baking Powder, as that often has other ingredients. For your 180L I'd start off trying 3 tablespoons.
The point of adding baking soda to your "bacterial growing soup" is to add buffer to neutralize the acidic effect of the small bit of nitric acid that is produced as a co-product of the nitrate(NO3) at the end of the nitrogen cycling process. Baking soda does not directly raise pH or cause linear changes in pH, instead it just helps to hold pH high longer before it eventually overcomes the buffer and quickly drops again. So you have to still keep an eye on the pH, but it should take longer before it threatens to drop down low again.
~~waterdrop~~
Thank you. Well i added bicarb last night and it looks to be getting back on track.
The tank is filtrated by tetratec ex1200 and i have 2 more ex1200's for my other tank. Since the carbon isnt in the tank cycling currently there is room for sponges from the other 2 filters. Is it worth me placing them in the tray and when the cycle is complete transfering them to the other 2 filters? The only thing is the other 2 filters are going to be running in RO water so would this just kill off all the bacteria anyway?
The tank is filtrated by tetratec ex1200 and i have 2 more ex1200's for my other tank. Since the carbon isnt in the tank cycling currently there is room for sponges from the other 2 filters. Is it worth me placing them in the tray and when the cycle is complete transfering them to the other 2 filters? The only thing is the other 2 filters are going to be running in RO water so would this just kill off all the bacteria anyway?
waterdrop
Enthusiastic "Re-Beginner"
Sorry, don't understand your last paragraph. Fish can't live in RO water... and its generally not a good idea to subract from or disturb the media that's still going through a fishless cycle.. but maybe I'm not understanding you.
~~waterdrop~~
~~waterdrop~~
I must agree with WD here. There are no fish that are suited to water as free of minerals as RO water.
fatheadminnow
Fish Aficionado
RO water should not be used in a fresh water tank, at least not 100% RO water. RO water is too free from minerals and trace nutrients that are essential for fish. The reason RO water is used for saltwater tanks is because it is a good "base" where the salt you add to the RO water brings with it all the essentials for the fish.
-FHM
-FHM
I didnt phrase it correctly, my appolagies.
I am setting another tank up for discus fish, so i will be using RO water with trace elements and minerals. I was going to put some media from the filter i will be using for my discus tank in my filter for the tank currently cycling and just transfer it over to my other filter once the cycle is complete.
I just didnt know if the bacteria would be killed off in doing this.
I am setting another tank up for discus fish, so i will be using RO water with trace elements and minerals. I was going to put some media from the filter i will be using for my discus tank in my filter for the tank currently cycling and just transfer it over to my other filter once the cycle is complete.
I just didnt know if the bacteria would be killed off in doing this.
fatheadminnow
Fish Aficionado
There are members on here that have Discus and do not use RO water anymore. I don't know why or what benefits that brings, but hopefully someone will shed light on the subject.
All I know is that time has changed things in the fish keeping hobby, and that a healthy Discus tank can be maintained without RO water.
-FHM
It would be great if someone could let me know . . .
The fish are bred in ro water. Wouldnt it seriously harm their health changing to tap water?
waterdrop
Enthusiastic "Re-Beginner"
Media that has matured in a tank that uses RO water with add-back minerals will be just fine to transfer to another tank that uses tap water.. the bacteria won't be different and won't care going in either direction.
Not sure if the "RO with respect to the fish" topic is still under question and not sure if I have anything meaningful to add but minerals are just minerals and if you want to adjust them to exactly a particular level for each type of mineral you have to first subract all of them from the water by pushing the water through a reverse osmosis (RO) membrane under pressure, leaving you with water devoid of mineral content. Then you dose particular pure minerals back carefully to reach the numbers you want. For discus and perhaps some other south american soft acid species there are any number of "peat filter" types (various mixes of peat moss) that have been traditionally used (usually with lots of yellow tannins getting in the water too) to get the environment just right. Its a very intensive species-specific hobby unto itself.
~~waterdrop~~
Not sure if the "RO with respect to the fish" topic is still under question and not sure if I have anything meaningful to add but minerals are just minerals and if you want to adjust them to exactly a particular level for each type of mineral you have to first subract all of them from the water by pushing the water through a reverse osmosis (RO) membrane under pressure, leaving you with water devoid of mineral content. Then you dose particular pure minerals back carefully to reach the numbers you want. For discus and perhaps some other south american soft acid species there are any number of "peat filter" types (various mixes of peat moss) that have been traditionally used (usually with lots of yellow tannins getting in the water too) to get the environment just right. Its a very intensive species-specific hobby unto itself.
~~waterdrop~~
Fish that somebody tells you are bred in RO water have had a significant mineral content of some kind added to make the water friendly to the fish. What you want to match within reason is the actual mineral content of the water the fish were raised in. If you do that, it does not matter much what the source of minerals is.
For my cories only tank, I use my own RO, there is one in the kitchen, and mix it 3 parts RO to 1 part tap. That gives me water with a TDS of a little less than 100 ppm mineral content which is appropriate for the fish in the tank. I have no measurements for where my own cories were raised since they were wild caught and the creek's water parameters were not included in the sales slip that I got. Instead I checked the correct water parameters for the fish, knowing they needed lower mineral content than my tap water, and worked out how to make that water. Unfortunately, this means my cories are not adapted to my tap water and I must always get a supply of RO ready before I can do a water change on their tank.
This means that they are vulnerable to problems if I ever have a filter problem on their tank. They would not be able to take the large daily water changes to improve their water without it including a large fraction of RO water and my RO only actually produces about 12 gallons of pure water a day. It is rated for 25 gpd but they always grossly overstate the capacity of an RO.
For my cories only tank, I use my own RO, there is one in the kitchen, and mix it 3 parts RO to 1 part tap. That gives me water with a TDS of a little less than 100 ppm mineral content which is appropriate for the fish in the tank. I have no measurements for where my own cories were raised since they were wild caught and the creek's water parameters were not included in the sales slip that I got. Instead I checked the correct water parameters for the fish, knowing they needed lower mineral content than my tap water, and worked out how to make that water. Unfortunately, this means my cories are not adapted to my tap water and I must always get a supply of RO ready before I can do a water change on their tank.
This means that they are vulnerable to problems if I ever have a filter problem on their tank. They would not be able to take the large daily water changes to improve their water without it including a large fraction of RO water and my RO only actually produces about 12 gallons of pure water a day. It is rated for 25 gpd but they always grossly overstate the capacity of an RO.
i might try and have a mix of ro water to start with then gradually over a month or so reduce the ammount of RO water and get them fully on tap water. And just use ph 6.5.
My nitrite is showing about 2ppm but then within 2 minutes its showing grey . . . any ideas?
My nitrite is showing about 2ppm but then within 2 minutes its showing grey . . . any ideas?
scotty
Fish Herder
what is RO water?
Similar threads
Most reactions
-
427 -
259 -
221 -
219 -
205 -
187 -
186 -
160 -
124 -
113 -
112 -
97 -
91 -
86 -
86