Topping Up With Amonia

[barry_sheen]

Right, so my tank has finally started processing the amonia I added. I am adding amonia every time it drops to keep the bacteria alive but was wondering, once my take is officially cycled as mentioned in the sticky, how long can I leave my tank without amonia before I add fish?

basically, how long will the amonia processing bacteria last without amonia?

Also, on a side note, my nitrate levels are very high......can too much nitrate in the water effect the cycling process? It is worth doing a water change or can I just wait until the cycle completes?

Many Thanks

 

[Miss Wiggle]

you need to top up once every 24 hrs from when the cycle is done to when you add fish

no the nitrate won't inhibit anything, it'll all go when you do your big w/c at the end so don't worry over it for now.

 

[OldMan47]

Check your pH Barry. The nitrate itself is not a problem but it can cause the pH to drop so far that the cycle will stall. Basically the nitrate compounds that we usually see from the nitrogen being processed is in the form of acids.

 

[barry_sheen]

Check your pH Barry. The nitrate itself is not a problem but it can cause the pH to drop so far that the cycle will stall. Basically the nitrate compounds that we usually see from the nitrogen being processed is in the form of acids.

When I last checked the PH a couple of days ago (the nitrate was very high at this point) it was 9.5. Would that ph level affect the cycle? My tap water PH is 8.

Thanks

 

[waterdrop]

This is a fishless cycle?

To me this tank sounds like it needs a large water change and it needs to be figured out what is causing the pH to go up so high. A pH level of 9.5 (if that's not a typo) could be wiping out the bacteria, rather than helping to build them up!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yes 9.5 sound very very very high indeed

my test kit doesn't even go that high, can you confirm if that's a type-o or not barry?

 

[barry_sheen]

yes 9.5 sound very very very high indeed

my test kit doesn't even go that high, can you confirm if that's a type-o or not barry?

No it was 9.5 on the 24th, however last night (27th) it was down to 7.5. There are no fish or live plants in the tank. Nitrite and Nitrate levels are still very high. Amonia is being processed within 12 hours.

Any ideas why this PH change has occurred?

Would it be wise to do a water change at this point?

Thanks for all your help so far everyone

 

[Miss Wiggle]

well i don't know why it went that high but I can tell you why it dropped.

nitrite and nitrate are acidic and drive the pH down so when you get into the second stage of cycling you get a lot of nitrite and nitrate being produced and this pulls the pH down. you need to be careful that it doesn't crash, if it drops down to anything much below 7 then the cycle can completely stall.

if you do a large water change then you'll reduce the nitrite and nitrate then this will hopefully stop it crashing, if it keeps dropping and going quite quickly then we can help you with ways to buffer it up but that's a conversation fro later on as it may not be necessary.

 

[barry_sheen]

Thank you for all your help so far everyone, I'm slowly but surely getting there!

I have another problem which I was hoping someone could explain. As the Nitrate levels were so high in my tank, I did a 60% water change two days ago. The Nitrate was still off the chart so I did an 80% water change yesterday but yet again the Nitrate level is still off the chart......any ideas?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yeah it was just so high that although you've diluted it it's still off the charts, you can do another water change or two if you like

 

[barry_sheen]

yeah it was just so high that although you've diluted it it's still off the charts, you can do another water change or two if you like

Thanks Miss Wiggle, you've been most helpful!

 

[waterdrop]

I guess if this is the baby biorb it might make sense that readings could swing pretty far and a short time, but it does seem unusual that nitrate would not drop down into a measurable range with a double water change, that just seems crazy!

We assume there is no nitrate in the tap water? The water changes were 90%, as usual for fishless cycling water changes? All the shaking periods are being observed during the API nitrate test?

~~waterdrop~~

 

[barry_sheen]

I guess if this is the baby biorb it might make sense that readings could swing pretty far and a short time, but it does seem unusual that nitrate would not drop down into a measurable range with a double water change, that just seems crazy!

We assume there is no nitrate in the tap water? The water changes were 90%, as usual for fishless cycling water changes? All the shaking periods are being observed during the API nitrate test?

~~waterdrop~~

My tap water has a Nitrate level of 10. The test kit I'm using is a Nutrifin test kit. I only changed 60% first change, then 80% as I was worried about too much bacteria on the plants dying. Yes you're right waterdrop, this is all in a baby biorb.

Do you think a couple of 90% water changes would solve this problem?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

i think it's certainly worth a try, if you do them and there's still no change then we know somethings wrong!

 

[waterdrop]

During fishless cycling there's rarely any reason not to do maximal water changes if you do them (you want to resist doing them if there's no reason though!) Beginners are always getting concerned but there are no significant numbers of beneficial bacteria in the water and the plants during a fishless cycling should not mind the water change (the plants will not be liking the entire business of fishless cycling but they're not particularly vocal about it, lol) The practical, logistical reasons one might want to do less than 90% would be because you don't want to turn the filter off and it would break the siphon or because you've got a lot of difficult plantings and you don't want to have to replant them all. Otherwise, for the sake of the cycle, or the bacteria, or the plants, there's no reason not to do a 90% water change any time you are forced to do a water change, because usually you are doing it to bring the pH back up and/or clear the high amounts of nitrite(NO2) and nitrate(NO3.)

With a tap level of 10 for nitrates, that is as low as you'll ever be able to go of course, but that's not a bad level at all.

~~waterdrop~~