Tropical_fish's Fishless Cycle - Complete

[sjolliff]

Not too sure, i found one in mine but iv just sucked it up when cleaning the sand,

i found what looked like a shrimp, but cant find no info on the web, but cant seem it hurting owt, plus fish will eat them when there in

 

[Tropical_Fish]

Day 6 - 18/07/2009 - 9:00am

Tested Ammonia - No Change



Day 7 - 19/07/2009 - 9:00am

Tested Ammonia - A change at last! It was just slightly darker than 2ppm but not as dark as 4ppm Not topped up yet as I was advised to only top up to 5ppm when it drops below 2ppm - will test in 24 hours and go from there

 

[Sc0tt8]

Hi mate,

What Ammonia are you using? I'm using the Homebase stuff & haven't seen a drop in 9 days

 

[jmkgreen]

I used Homebase ammonia last Sun eve - first dropping of the levels observed Sat morning. My pH is roughly 8.5 (haven't added anything but sand and water yet) and temp is 29C. Sc0tt8 what's the temp in yours?

This cycle is very, very similar to my last tank cycle a few years ago. Pencilled next w/end in for adding of first fish.

 

[Tropical_Fish]

I'm using homebase ammonia - have you shaken yours up to make sure it doesn't buuble? I've heard that some homebase ammonia bubbles when shaken and isn't suitable. Most of the time homebase stuff is supposed to be fine.

I hadn't notcied any drop until I put in some filter media and gunk from my friends pond - so maybe that helped speed things up a bit?

My temp is set at 29 degrees C too as I was told that was the best temp for the bacteria to multiply.

I'm now doing daily tests on the ammonia until it's processing 5ppm down to 0 in a day - at that point (or close to I will switch to 12 hour checks and check nitrite at the same time.

I would have thought I'm still a few weeks away from being close - it may also go to pot this weekend as I'm away for a long weekend - I'm going to dump a pinch of food in the water and hope it rots nicely enough to provide a steady stream of ammonia

 

[jmkgreen]

No bubbles here.

 

[Tropical_Fish]

Day 8 - 20/07/2009 - 9.00am

Tested Ammonia - 0ppm
Tested Nitrite - Off the scale

So that all looks promising!

Topped up with 3ml of Ammonia which *should* bring it up to 4.1ppm (according to the calculator) - will test ammonia after 12 hours to see if there is any movement.

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, the calculator is often a good starting point. The assumption that the aqueous ammonia concentration in the ammonia bottle matches the written percentage on the outside (9.5% for instance) is sometimes not true. The moment the seal is broken on the bottle the ammonia can begin to gas off at some rate and the water can begin to evaporate at some rate. That change may or may not be significant but its good to keep in mind. Also, some bottled aqueous ammonia doesn't bother with a marked percentage and can vary quite a bit from the 9.5 that's common for the UK, who cap it at 10 I believe.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Tropical_Fish]

Yes the bottle says it's 9.5% I think (I'm not there now)

I'm just happy to see some movement on the levels - now waiting to see if the nitrite will start to drop

 

[waterdrop]

It will, eventually.

 

[Tropical_Fish]

Right - just checked my water again at 9.00pm (12 hours after my morning check)

I was expecting the ammonia to have dropped a little (which it looks to have done)

I was expecting the nitrite to still be off the chart (ie turn purple as soon as the drops go in) but it didn't - just can't quite make out where the reading is on the chart.

Does that mean my nitrites are starting to drop already?

I'm hoping my next test at 9.00am will show no ammonia (ie that it's processing in 24 hours) but I'm not sure what to make of the nitrite - I should probably do a Nitrate test as well to see if they are on the increase.

I have attached an image of the results - please let me know what you think the colours correspond to!

Cheers

 

[Tropical_Fish]

Just tested the nitrate, it's quite a dark red somewhere between 40 and 80ppm - So I'll guess at 60ppm, which I think is a good sign as my tap water is 20ppm.

So I seem to have ammonia being reduced, nitrate seems to now be reducing and nitrate is increasing.

That all seems good to me just got to keep testing - I'll do every 12 hours until the nitrite and ammonia drop to 0 in 12 hours.

I'm pretty sure that adding the mature filter media and gunk has helped me a lot here.

 

[Tropical_Fish]

Day 9 - 21/07/2009 - 9.00am

Ammonia - 0ppm
Nitrite - High (think it's off the chart)

Added 3ml of ammonia to bring to between 4 and 5ppm


So the ammonia is definitely being processed down to zero in 24 hours

Not quite sure on the nitrite - last night it was as in the photo above, the test before that the drops turned purple as soon as they hit the water. This morning the drops didn't turn purple straight away but did a few seconds later in the bottom before shaking - does that mean it's off the scale - the purple looked a bit darker than the photo above this morning.

 

[waterdrop]

Perhaps a good way to think about it is to tell yourself you won't try to interpret what's happening to any given chemical until you have one full week of data since last time you interpreted. Trying to figure out "what phase of cycling" you're at from one test battery or one day just doesn't tell you anything. Its when you look at the last 5 or 7 days either on a graph (as some threads post here) or by scanning down a long set of lines in your notebook. Its like looking at those jagged graphs of the stock markets.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Tropical_Fish]

Evening Test - 9.00pm

Ammonia - 0.25ppm
Nitrite - off the scale

Topped ammonia up with 3ml - which should take it to somewhere between 4 and 5ppm