Tour De France (i'm Cycling!)

[Angel47]

Hi everyone,

I've decided to start my very own dedicated cycle thread as I thought just one more would add to the warm glow of newbie panick!

Anyway, I will list the results i've already posted elsewhere along with todays results so its kept altogether. Please feel free to chip in and A/ give me some advice, B/ pull my leg, C/give me encouragement D/ just make sure I haven't got so frustrated I've run away and locked myself in a cupboard so no-one can here me scream!

Tap Water =
Ammonia 0
PH 7.2

Day One 6/7/09 (For those who read my earlier thread, this was Day of The Prawns )
Ammonia - 4.0
Nitrite - 0.5
Nitrate - 20

Day Two
Ammonia - 4.0
Nitrite - 0.5
Nitrate - 20
PH - 7.6

Day Three - Today
Ammonia - Above 4.0 but below 8.0 (sorry couldn't match colour properly)
Nitrite - 1.0
Nitrate - 40

I was very excited at the half percent change in my nitrite

Cheers

Maz

 

[m00se]

Good to see it's processing already. Weird that your ammonia should have gone up between days 2 and 3 though - did you add more?? It's probably 4, just in a weird light. Either way, you're off to a good start. Some of the cycling threads in here have people sat with 4ppm ammonia for weeks on end before they even get any nitrites!

 

[Tw3lv3]

i guess that prawn thing did some good after all angel hehe good work mate

 

[Angel47]

Hi there, yes forgot to put that in. Yesterday while I was waiting for replies after I posted my results I looked back to see if there was something I could do myself and saw some advice that Curiosity101 gave me re:topping ammonia up to 5.0 ppm so thats what I did! Just added a touch (used the calculator) so that would explain it. I'm afraid I've got to learn to be a little more patient
I think the nitrites were helped along by my pop sock of raw prawns. The water has just cleared from my bacteria bloom!

Maz

 

[Angel47]

Perhaps it did Tw3lv3!! I will never really know.......

Just so you dont think i'm being rude I've got to go out as I'm lindy hopping tonight (1940's jive style dancing ) but will return later so if you want to post pleeease do.

Happy days

Maz

 

[Tw3lv3]

you will know because i think im going to try it with my new tank when i set it up hehe

 

[Angel47]

Hi there,

Been off line for a couple of days as it was my birthday yesterday

Here are my results for yesterday and today. I'm having real difficulty with the colour chart. Some of them are so close. Anyway if I'm guessing correctly my Ammonia doesn't really seem to be doing anything but my nitrites are rising, which is good I think? Not sure about the nitrates. Are they spose to go up or down.

Day 4 (yesterday)
Ammonia - 5.0 and above but under 8.0
Nitrite - 1.5
Nitrate - 40

Added 'Cycle' to water


Day 5 - today

Ammonia - 5.0 and above but under 8.0 (looked same as yesterday)
Nitrite - 5.0
Nitrate - 40


Does the above look right or is something going a bit odd?

Thanks

Maz

 

[drobbyb]

Don't use the cycle additive. It's just a container of ded bacteria. It's rubbish.

Usually you don't see nitrites that fast. How long have you been cycling?

 

[Angel47]

Hi drobbyb,

Today was my 5th day. I put raw prawns in the day before my first reading, suspended in a pop sock, as I had read on a couple of boards that this would do some good. I think it must have done something good as I had nitrites from the first day I started testing.

Is it normal for my ammonia and nitrates to stay the same if the nitrites are changing?

Thanks

Maz

 

[drobbyb]

Your ammonia is being processed if you are showing a steady rise in nitrites. This should make your ammonia reading 0 or on the decline. Your nitrates go up when the proper bacteria have developed that use nitrite as food, resulting in a steady rising of your nitrate levels as the ammonia is procesed by the bio filter.

 

[Angel47]

Well, the nitrites are definitely rising but nothing else seems to be happening. Is that normal?

 

[OldMan47]

That is more or less what you would expect Angel. At first you have developed some ammonia processors so the nitrites go up but there is nothing to move the nitrites toward nitrates so no change on that end. The slow decrease in ammonia can be hard to detect so it is not surprising that you can't see any change.

I love the thread title, there are as many ups and downs to the Tour de France as there are to a fishless cycle.

 

[Angel47]

Thanks, I think I understand a little bit.

My results for today, day 6, are:

Ammonia - 4.0 (my husband thought 2.0 but I'm not sure. It was definitely lower than yesterday, so maybe a bit of movement there)
Nitrite - 5.0
Nitrate - 20

I'm glad you like the title. I'd prefer to have some ups and start wearing the yellow jumper for a bit, but I guess I should just be pleased I've got some nitrites. I'm only on day 6 so I think in reality i'm doing ok. I'm sooooooooo bad at being patient!!!

Maz

 

[Angel47]

Hi everyone,

here are todays results:

Day 7
Ammonia - 2.0 / 4.0

Nitrite - 5.0 +

Nitrate - 10 / 20

Is this about right for day 7? Should I be doing anything yet?

Maz

 

[waterdrop]

Actually pretty advanced for seven days. You're solidly into your nitrite spike and many people haven't been able to get ammonia to drop to zero once, let alone get enough nitrites for a nitrite spike. So you're doing fine. Since you're now getting lots of excessive nitrite, you could drop down to only adding 2ppm of ammonia on your ammonia additions and of course only top up ammonia at hour "24 hour mark" no matter what hour you happen to see zero ammonia.

~~waterdrop~~