I got a double 0 reading for ammonia and nitrites a couple of weeks ago, have been adding ammonia religiously every 12 hours and all of the sudden over the past week it has stopped, it's taking 12 hours to go from 4 to 1ppm and I have no idea why. Nitrites are reading 0.25. This is just so frustrating!
Still Not Flipping Cycled.
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Twinklecaz
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Yeah that's right. You add every 24 hours but test every 12.
Just do a water change Abi and start adding every 24 hours instead. I don't think you'll have lost anything, sounds like you are nearly done.
Just do a water change Abi and start adding every 24 hours instead. I don't think you'll have lost anything, sounds like you are nearly done.
waterdrop
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Yes, that's correct. The ammonia dosing is only done once per day at your particular "add-hour" out of the 24 hours of the day. For instance, you might choose to dose ammonia at 7pm. This would allow you to perform a 12 hour test at 7am in the morning, perhaps before you go to work or school. You would record the test results in your log but even if the ammonia was zero you would not dose again until 7pm. This achieves two things: it implements a pattern called "pulsing" that's sometimes used with growing bacteria and it also lowers the overall buildup of nitrite and nitrate, which inhibit N-Bac growth.
Its no big deal though Abi, I wouldn't worry about it if you've been dosing more than once a day. Just modify your actions and it will settle in to a new pattern. I can relate the typical reasons we think we see for the "sticking problem" where nitrite seems to stick at 0.25ppm at the 12 hour point for a long time.. sometimes it seems related to ammonia in the tap water, or to use of certain fertilizers, or to many of the smaller less expensive filters on smaller aquariums which tend to have leakage past the media sometimes. On the other hand, sometimes we just see that 025 sticking, even on a big canniser filter and then one day it just goes away and never comes back.
WD
Its no big deal though Abi, I wouldn't worry about it if you've been dosing more than once a day. Just modify your actions and it will settle in to a new pattern. I can relate the typical reasons we think we see for the "sticking problem" where nitrite seems to stick at 0.25ppm at the 12 hour point for a long time.. sometimes it seems related to ammonia in the tap water, or to use of certain fertilizers, or to many of the smaller less expensive filters on smaller aquariums which tend to have leakage past the media sometimes. On the other hand, sometimes we just see that 025 sticking, even on a big canniser filter and then one day it just goes away and never comes back.
WD
Still not cycled, still 1ppm after 24 hours, I was adding it up to 4ppm by dosing according to calculator, 54l something like 2. something ml so have added 2ml. My boyf says there can't possibly be 54 litres in the tank cos 1 - its not full to the top and 2 - I have a thick layer of gravel about 5cm high in parts. So I don't know what to do. I couldn't dose it for at least 24 hours because I was away at my friend's funeral so I'm worried the bacteria have diminished.
Im sure the bacteria are multiplying nicely, and you will probably find yourself processing 4ppm in 12 hours soon...
However, if I were in your shoes i'd just start stocking now (after you waterchange yourself down to 0/0/low nitrates, You shouldn't see an ammonia or nitrite spike as you are processing 3ppm of ammonia to 0s in 12 hours, and a freshly stocked tank wont be putting out 3ppm of ammonia
However, if I were in your shoes i'd just start stocking now (after you waterchange yourself down to 0/0/low nitrates, You shouldn't see an ammonia or nitrite spike as you are processing 3ppm of ammonia to 0s in 12 hours, and a freshly stocked tank wont be putting out 3ppm of ammonia
Just done a 50% water change out of exasperation, at the 12 hour mark (9am) the ammonia levels read as 2ppm. Not great. Getting so fed up of not being able to get this cycled properly. Gonna give it one more week then I quit.
frogmarch1987
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have you checked your pH to make sure the ammonia additions haven't caused it to plummet? A pH that is too low will inhibit further growth of your bacteria.
JUst spent five minutes playing with filter, if I lifted the sponge slightly the bubble stream was normal, left it it was barely discernable. So flash of inspiration - I snapped a cocktail stick in half and used both ends to wedge the sponge up. The difference is amazing, the filter seems to be running more energetically so I'm hoping this will sort things out. The pH is fine, hasn't dropped below 6.5-7 for the duration of the cycle. Hoping that a water change and new modification to the filter will get things back on course, it's so close to finishing!
Twinklecaz
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You got a Fluval filter?
Since I sorted the filter yesterday, I dosed it to 4ppm at 8pm, this morning at 8am it was 0.50ppm, a big improvement. I'll keep adding up the ammonia every 24 hours but wont test til Friday as I'm fast running out of testing solutions.
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