Tank Cycle Update

[Wills]

Hi again guys just an update on my tank.

On sunday I got some mature media from a friends tank which has been in there since then and ive been doing a fishless cycle as well the pure ammonia went in at 9pm on Sunday and today I have readings as of about an hour ago of 0.5 ammonia and 5 nitrIte so think things are going well - when should I add the next dose of Ammonia should i wait for it to hit 0? And should i do a water change in between it?

The main aim of the tank is to keep a pair of Apistos (I started a thread about this in the cichlid part) It is a little over 10 USG people recommended me to keep the cockatoos so ive asked some friends at an LFS to try and get some saw some today and they are gorgeous just hoping they dont sell them while i get ready for them. Also going to keep a small shoal of 4-5 platinum tetras (hemmingus armstrongi - I think thats how you spell it) the tetras will be first in but this will be after im 100% ready for them.

Just to point out again - I am reasonably experienced in fish keeping having kept a good collection of tanks for 3-4 years had to give them up late last year when my mum was ill but got my own place now and setting this up as a way back in - getting severely tempted by the 100g at my maidenhead but girlfriend says no ...for now

 

[waterdrop]

Usually we say to just wait it down to a real zero, but sometimes we get worried about how people are interpreting the colors. It seems in some cases people interpret something we might call zero as a slight reading and keep waiting for days when they should have topped up the ammonia.

At this stage you're experiencing lots of nitrite in there and so it would really be better not to put so much ammonia in there. I'd only raise ammonia to about 3ppm, rather than 5ppm and this will mean there's less excess nitrite overall. Eventually, after nitrite is close to dropping to zero within 12 hours, you can ease the ammonia additions back up to 5ppm for the finish. 5ppm at the finish makes for a good robust set of colonies.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Wills]

yeah ive seen how close a reading can be in some lights to zero Im sure we have all had a panic at night when we do a spot check and you cant tell if youve got a .25 or a 0 lol

will test again in the morning and if its close/0 ill top up to 3ppm thanks water drop

 

[Wills]

ok so aded the 3ppm last night and now its about 24hrs later and the ammonia has dropped to 0 but nitrate still at 5+ going to add more ammonia back up to 3 now

 

[waterdrop]

 

[Wills]

just tested again roughly 18 hours later and ammonia is nearing 0 but nitrite is still sky high - is there anything I can do to try and improve this? Or is it just a waiting game?

Went into my LFS today and they have the apistos in now gutted thought it would have been a while - all the males are of good quality one or two that stand out but there is the brightest yellow female in there will be absolutely gutted if she goes but im not rushing it because id be even more gutted if she dies. The guy tried to get a pair put a side but he couldnt - also you know you spend to much time at a fish store when the guy says "you obviously really want these and you spend more time than I do here" lol

 

[waterdrop]

Its a little boring (flying blind) for the days of the "nitrite spike." Because the nitrite tests top out at a fairly low ppm, you just can't see the movement of the N-Bac population growing and eating into the big surplus of nitite better and better each day. But you can trust that its happening. As long as your pH has not crashed and you are faithfully adding your 3ppm of ammonia at the hour when you normall add after it went to zero, then eventually one day the nitrites will drop.

~~waterdrop~~