Think I'v Got A Problem

[charlton]

set up my tank on monday and atarted my fishless cycle, as some of you might of read yesterday being a pr@t i added far to much ammonia and consequently had to do about a 60% water change to get my ammonia levels anywhere close. My testing kit only reads up to 4 mg/l and i'm a little bit darker than that so i'm assuming i must be about right with the 5ppm everyone suggests ! Firstly is it worth doing another water change to bring it down to a readable level or will it come down naturally ? Secondly which i think is my biggest problem, the surface of the water in some lights seems to have a very very slight oily film over it, i haven't heard of anyone having this before ! Any ideas on both my problems and what to do next ?

water stats were the same last night and this morning but here goes

GH 180
KH 240
PH 8.5
NO2 0
NO3 40
AMMO 5 ( just of the scale so i'm assuming )

 

[Duck and Dive]

The tank should sort it out by itself but keep on doing water changes. Ammonia should be 0 it is harmfull to fish.

 

[charlton]

The tank should sort it out by itself but keep on doing water changes. Ammonia should be 0 it is harmfull to fish.

but what about the oily film ? Is this normal ?

cheers
charlton

 

[Matty P]

Yeh many people can get an oily film in their water. To get rid of it you could try and really agitate your water with your filter, or you could use some kitchen roll and lay it over the top (it should soak it all up), or you could push a cup uned the water (right way up) until the top rim is just under the surface of the water the oily scum should flow into the cup. It isn't something to worry about.

 

[charlton]

Yeh many people can get an oily film in their water. To get rid of it you could try and really agitate your water with your filter, or you could use some kitchen roll and lay it over the top (it should soak it all up), or you could push a cup uned the water (right way up) until the top rim is just under the surface of the water the oily scum should flow into the cup. It isn't something to worry about.

thanks for the reassurance, glad i haven't wasted the last couple of days cycle just to start all over again !!

cheers
charlton

 

[backtotropical]

Hi Charlton,

I think Duck&Dive missed that you are doing a fishless cycle.

If your ammonia is higher than the level detectable by your test kit, it could spell trouble for your cycle.

If ammonia reaches around 8ppm, the cycle will stall as at this level a different bacteria start to form and the bacteria you want will die off. This is no good, and if your test kit can't tell you how much ammonia is there.................you see where this is going.

I suggest that you change some more water to reduce ammonia to a measurable level of maybe 3ppm, or better still, buy another ammonia test kit which measures up to 8ppm. I think the API ammonia test does this, but someone else could maybe confirm?

As Matty said, the oily film on the top of the water isn't really a problem and increasing surface agitation should take care of it.

Cheers

BTT

 

[charlton]

Hi Charlton,

I think Duck&Dive missed that you are doing a fishless cycle.

If your ammonia is higher than the level detectable by your test kit, it could spell trouble for your cycle.

If ammonia reaches around 8ppm, the cycle will stall as at this level a different bacteria start to form and the bacteria you want will die off. This is no good, and if your test kit can't tell you how much ammonia is there.................you see where this is going.

I suggest that you change some more water to reduce ammonia to a measurable level of maybe 3ppm, or better still, buy another ammonia test kit which measures up to 8ppm. I think the API ammonia test does this, but someone else could maybe confirm?

As Matty said, the oily film on the top of the water isn't really a problem and increasing surface agitation should take care of it.

Cheers

BTT

ok cheers i think i'll change some of the water just to be on the safe side until i can get out to buy a new test kit !!

cheers

charlton

 

[backtotropical]

ok cheers i think i'll change some of the water just to be on the safe side until i can get out to buy a new test kit !!

That won't do any harm. Keep it at 3ppm until you get your new test kit, then hike it up to 5ppm.

 

[charlton]

following on from my misshap with putting to much ammonia in i've since done another 50% water change and my ammonia level still seems to be off the scale that my test kit can read, as mentioned before it only reads up to 4 mg/l and its slightly darker than this, is it worth doing another water change or am i wasting my time ? I got a few plants from my lfs today and they also gave some of their gravel out of an established tank to speed the process up a bit. Am i right in thinking the high ammo levels will kill off any bacteria that was on the gravel ? also i haven't seen any changes in my water stats since i started the cycle on monday, am i being impatient or is this quite normal to start of with ?

cheers

charlton