Testing Testing....

[Joanna69]

Me again

I'm cycling my (63l mini!) tank at the mo. Only 4 days in mind. Anyway, putting in a pinch of fishflakes every day and hiked the heater up to 81 to kickstart the production of bacteria/ammonia Wasn't expecting any readings yet really (I'm guessing using fish flakes takes a while to get going? would be good to have an idea actually...). But today my Nitrite test tube gave me a reading of 0.25 when my ammonia readings are zilch.

How could this be as I understand its the bacteria which consume the ammonia which then turns into Nitrite. If I've not had any ammonia to speak of, how can there be nitrite?

I'm guessing I've fluffed the test up somehow or had some inpurities there on the test tube before I started. I always wash everything off in water from the aquarium to avoid contamination though.

Jo

 

[mark.w.jones]

Me again

I'm cycling my (63l mini!) tank at the mo. Only 4 days in mind. Anyway, putting in a pinch of fishflakes every day and hiked the heater up to 81 to kickstart the production of bacteria/ammonia Wasn't expecting any readings yet really (I'm guessing using fish flakes takes a while to get going? would be good to have an idea actually...). But today my Nitrite test tube gave me a reading of 0.25 when my ammonia readings are zilch.

How could this be as I understand its the bacteria which consume the ammonia which then turns into Nitrite. If I've not had any ammonia to speak of, how can there be nitrite?

I'm guessing I've fluffed the test up somehow or had some inpurities there on the test tube before I started. I always wash everything off in water from the aquarium to avoid contamination though.

Jo

The ammonia eating bacteria grow quickly in the initial stages. The nitrite eating ones grow at a similar rate but are inhibited by ammonia in tank. I would guess that you have more ammonia eating bacteria than you think and that because you are adding fish flakes to create ammonia (a really bad idea in my opinion) that you are not actually creating that much. What little ammonia there was created from the food was broken down quickly into nitrites before you managed to do your test.

Why are you using fish flakes? It's very unreliable in terms of how much ammonia you are actually creating and really messes up your tank.

I would highly recommend getting yourself to Homebase, head to the home cleaning shelf with the bleach, detol stuff and buy some household ammonia. This is a much more accurate way of raising your ammonia levels to 5ppm than with flakes.

Hope that helps

ps Are you following the add & wait method for fishless cycling? If not then click on the link in my signature. Very simple to do. Good luck

 

[Joanna69]

Me again

I'm cycling my (63l mini!) tank at the mo. Only 4 days in mind. Anyway, putting in a pinch of fishflakes every day and hiked the heater up to 81 to kickstart the production of bacteria/ammonia Wasn't expecting any readings yet really (I'm guessing using fish flakes takes a while to get going? would be good to have an idea actually...). But today my Nitrite test tube gave me a reading of 0.25 when my ammonia readings are zilch.

How could this be as I understand its the bacteria which consume the ammonia which then turns into Nitrite. If I've not had any ammonia to speak of, how can there be nitrite?

I'm guessing I've fluffed the test up somehow or had some inpurities there on the test tube before I started. I always wash everything off in water from the aquarium to avoid contamination though.

Jo

The ammonia eating bacteria grow quickly in the initial stages. The nitrite eating ones grow at a similar rate but are inhibited by ammonia in tank. I would guess that you have more ammonia eating bacteria than you think and that because you are adding fish flakes to create ammonia (a really bad idea in my opinion) that you are not actually creating that much. What little ammonia there was created from the food was broken down quickly into nitrites before you managed to do your test.

Why are you using fish flakes? It's very unreliable in terms of how much ammonia you are actually creating and really messes up your tank.

I would highly recommend getting yourself to Homebase, head to the home cleaning shelf with the bleach, detol stuff and buy some household ammonia. This is a much more accurate way of raising your ammonia levels to 5ppm than with flakes.

Hope that helps

ps Are you following the add & wait method for fishless cycling? If not then click on the link in my signature. Very simple to do. Good luck

Mmm, maybe I should get myself to homebase. I wanted to be all organic but if its going to cause me hassles using flake then I can change tack. I'm using flake as it was suggested to me by someone. Oh well.

How do you know how much ammonia to use. A teaspoon full a day, something like that for my size tank?

Thanks

Joanna

 

[BigIan]

get to boots or some where aswell and get your self a syringe and add 5 mil of amonia. (directly into the flow of the output from the filter as this will mix it in your tank better,

Give it 5 mins for the amonia to mix through the tank thourghly

take a test, then see wether you need lots more amonia or not,

If you need lots add 15 mL ifr not just add another 5.

keep doing this untill you get an amonia reading of 5 ppm

Then every day do a test on the tank for amonia and nitrites,

as the amonia begins to drop (this may take over a week to happen) wait for it to drop to below 1 ppm then add the same amopunt of amonia you added to bring it back up to 5 ppm.

as them bacteria grows you will see the amonia rise and fall as the nitrites spike then the nitrates.


keep a record of how often you add amonia and how much, and keep a record of all your readings,


When you start adding amonia every day then your ready for a bigg water change and fish
fish

 

[Joanna69]

get to boots or some where aswell and get your self a syringe and add 5 mil of amonia. (directly into the flow of the output from the filter as this will mix it in your tank better,

Give it 5 mins for the amonia to mix through the tank thourghly

take a test, then see wether you need lots more amonia or not,

If you need lots add 15 mL ifr not just add another 5.

keep doing this untill you get an amonia reading of 5 ppm

Then every day do a test on the tank for amonia and nitrites,

as the amonia begins to drop (this may take over a week to happen) wait for it to drop to below 1 ppm then add the same amopunt of amonia you added to bring it back up to 5 ppm.

as them bacteria grows you will see the amonia rise and fall as the nitrites spike then the nitrates.


keep a record of how often you add amonia and how much, and keep a record of all your readings,


When you start adding amonia every day then your ready for a bigg water change and fish
fish

This information is super helpful Ian - thank you so much. I've decided to start again with my tank. Drain the lot and begin again using rainwater (my tap PH is 8, my waterbutt PH is 6.7). I'll do as you say with the ammonia. Means a week added to "when I can get fish" but never mind, its all worth it isn't it

 

[Daveptkd]

get to boots or some where aswell and get your self a syringe and add 5 mil of amonia. (directly into the flow of the output from the filter as this will mix it in your tank better,

Give it 5 mins for the amonia to mix through the tank thourghly

take a test, then see wether you need lots more amonia or not,

If you need lots add 15 mL ifr not just add another 5.

keep doing this untill you get an amonia reading of 5 ppm

Then every day do a test on the tank for amonia and nitrites,

as the amonia begins to drop (this may take over a week to happen) wait for it to drop to below 1 ppm then add the same amopunt of amonia you added to bring it back up to 5 ppm.

as them bacteria grows you will see the amonia rise and fall as the nitrites spike then the nitrates.


keep a record of how often you add amonia and how much, and keep a record of all your readings,


When you start adding amonia every day then your ready for a bigg water change and fish
fish

This information is super helpful Ian - thank you so much. I've decided to start again with my tank. Drain the lot and begin again using rainwater (my tap PH is 8, my waterbutt PH is 6.7). I'll do as you say with the ammonia. Means a week added to "when I can get fish" but never mind, its all worth it isn't it

hi,

5ml is WAY too9 much ammonia (homebase household) for 63 litres. I have cycled a 63l this way. 3ml gave my 5ppm and 2.5 gave 4ppm (daily dose in the add and wait method).

hope this helps.

Dave

P.S. you can add ammonia to 10litres in a bucket until you get 5ppm, then times what you aded by 6.3!

 

[BigIan]

sorry i miss read it i thought it was 63 gal. wich would have brought it close to my tank and 5 mill was what i used.