Water Change

[Maxta]

Hey im currently on day 15 of my cycle, days ago the ammonia would drop pretty quickly. Now im waiting for my nitrite bacteria.

However recently ammonia has been taking longer to go down. Il be checking when i get in from Uni.

But i was wondering, if my pH has dropped any lower, could it be affecting this? My nitrite levels are staying around 2 and have been around there for 3 or so days.

Was just wondering if a partial 50% water change would get things back on track? Or is my cycle already on track and im just being impatient?

 

[BigIan]

have you noted a ph drop
If so then a water change could be in order.
if not then just ride it ut

 

[Miss Wiggle]

what is your pH?

unless it's below 5 it shouldn't cause problems, even below that it will still cycle however will take longer.

nitrite takes roughly twice as long to go as ammonia did so don't stress that it's gone just yet. however doing a water change won't hurt and it can kick start a stalled cycle so by all means do a 30/40% change.

 

[Maxta]

Thanks i think im going to.

pH of tank: 6.0 (lowest it gos on the API scale)
pH of tap water: 7.6

Bearing in mind the pH at the start of cycling was 6.8, and further on in that week it was 6.6. At the end of last week it was 6.0 also.

I may also buy a new plant or two, one of them seriously looks dead and has been dieing slowly the past week, and the other (even though it looked healthy yesterday) one overnight has fell apart and snapped. Also gives me a chance to get rid of the "growth" on my heater.

Question though. How long after switching my heater off do i have to wait before i remove it from the water? I dont want to break it. Also will my filter be okay being out of water for say 20 minutes? Or should i take it off the side and lay it on the bottom of the tank so its still in the water.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yup take out dying plants, they'll be giving off extra ammonia and nitrite and could play havoc with your levels

about 10 - 15 mins before removing it from your tank.

why would you wanna take the filter and heater out of the tank? do you mean when doing the water change? just leave them in. switch off the heater, give it 10 mins to cool, switch off the filter, suck the water out with a siphon and then top back up. switch the filter and heater back on when they're submerged.

filter media should stay wet enough not to worry about.

 

[Maxta]

I only want to take out the heater because it has growth on the suction cups, so i want to wipe it off into my sink, and to do so i need to take it out or the growth will just go into the water.

Dont want to take the filter out, its just that its stuck to the back of my tank near the top, so that when i take water out the filter will then be above water level and no longer submerged until i refill my tank. So il just push it down so it remains in the water at all times. Also need to get the bits of plants of the intake of my filter lol.

Il take the dying plants out. Is it worth buying any new ones whilst im still cycling? Or should i just wait til im finished and get them when i buy fish?

Thanks for the info. Going to carry out all this now. My water looks like iv pee'd in it (eek) lol.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

i'd just wait until your done cycling to add plants honestly.

 

[Maxta]

Thanks for all your info Miss Wiggle, youve been a great help

 

[BigIan]

as for removing the "growth" i wouldn`t bother, as this is more thank likely bacteria. the stuff your trying to grow in the tank. so leave it in...
over the coming weeks and months you will see all mannor of critters and "growths" in you tank so do`nt get o worried about them,

 

[Maxta]

I already wiped it off and scooped it outa then tank, theres still some in though that i couldnt catch even after 20 times of strathing with my net.

Right so iv did ~50% water change. I added the tap water conditioner to the water BEFORE adding it to the tank, disposed of the plants, got rid of all the leaves and rubbish out of my tank. The water i added to the tank had a pH of 7.6. I rearranged my tank so that the fishies will have more space to swim and more places to hide.

But of course, i was a retard. My first mistake was overflowing the dish i was syphoning the water to. Secondly the syphon tube still had loads of water in so when i laid it on the ground it went all over my floor to make it even more wet. And to top it off, when i came to syphon more water out i wasnt paying attention and the water gushed into my mouth and i almost swallowed some, damn its horrible lol.

So im going check in half an hour before i go out my water pH, ammonia and nitrite levels. Then il add ammonia accordingly.

However as always, i do have a question. I have this rock ornament (not real rock) thing which i got from P@H:

Im wanting to take this out and replace it with a small piece of bogwood, as i think the rock is tacky, plus the extra bit of bogwood would make the tank look more natural, take up less space and give more hiding places for my fish when i get them. I was just wondering, will there be much bacteria on that? Should i wait until my tank is cycled until i take it out, or is it okay to do so now and put the bogwood in whenever i get it.

Thanks for the info, il post my stats in a bit.

PS. Thanks to you also B.I.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

But of course, i was a retard. My first mistake was overflowing the dish i was syphoning the water to. Secondly the syphon tube still had loads of water in so when i laid it on the ground it went all over my floor to make it even more wet. And to top it off, when i came to syphon more water out i wasnt paying attention and the water gushed into my mouth and i almost swallowed some, damn its horrible lol.

pmsl!! we've all been there, i love having wooden floors sometimes!!

Im wanting to take this out and replace it with a small piece of bogwood, as i think the rock is tacky, plus the extra bit of bogwood would make the tank look more natural, take up less space and give more hiding places for my fish when i get them. I was just wondering, will there be much bacteria on that? Should i wait until my tank is cycled until i take it out, or is it okay to do so now and put the bogwood in whenever i get it.

probably won't be a lot of bacteria on it, you cna change that now if you like, shouldn't affect your cycle

 

[Maxta]

Lol yeah my carpet is soaking

Anyways i just did a test on my water, results as following:

pH: 6.6-6.8 (not entirely sure on this one, couldnt get a definate match so il take it later, looked a very pale blue).

ammonia: 0.25
nitrite: 2.0

Guess il buy another bit of bogwood on the way home from uni. Thanks for all the help, il keep you updated.

 

[andywg]

what is your pH?

unless it's below 5 it shouldn't cause problems, even below that it will still cycle however will take longer.

However I seem to recall reading in a Bignose/nmonks thread that below around pH 5 a different strain (or possibly species) of bacteria do the work, so as water changes bring the pH back up you will start killing off the bacteria.

 

[rdd1952]

So il just push it down so it remains in the water at all times. Also need to get the bits of plants of the intake of my filter lol.

It won't hurt the filter to be out of water for a short time As long as the media stays wet, you shouldn't lose any bacteria.

Im wanting to take this out and replace it with a small piece of bogwood, as i think the rock is tacky, plus the extra bit of bogwood would make the tank look more natural, take up less space and give more hiding places for my fish when i get them. I was just wondering, will there be much bacteria on that? Should i wait until my tank is cycled until i take it out, or is it okay to do so now and put the bogwood in whenever i get it.

Bogwood will lower the pH in your tank. If it dropped from 7.6 to 6 during your cycle (pH is everywhere during cycling so I never test mine during a fishless cycle) then you may not have any buffering capacity. If that is the case, bogwood may not be the best thing for your tank.

The only difference the pH makes during the cycle is that once the pH drops to around 6 or below, ammonia becomes ammonium, it's non-toxic form. It still gets processed just like ammonia so your bacteria develop as usual. That is the same thing that most products like ammo-loc transform ammonia to. They don't remove it, they just change it to it's non-toxic form, thus you still get a positive reading on your test.

As I mentioned, I never test pH during a fishless cycle. It really doesn't matter at all what it is. Once the cycle is finished, your going to do a 75 to 90 percent water change anyway and it will go back to basically what it is from the tap.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

what is your pH?

unless it's below 5 it shouldn't cause problems, even below that it will still cycle however will take longer.

However I seem to recall reading in a Bignose/nmonks thread that below around pH 5 a different strain (or possibly species) of bacteria do the work, so as water changes bring the pH back up you will start killing off the bacteria.

yeah i remember the same from bignose, your quite right i hadn't accounted for the pH to go back up above 5 and kill the bacteria off. i was thinking of a stable pH of 5 which (obviously with appropriate fish selection) would still cycle and be OK, but the different strain of bacteria takes longer to cycle (according to Bignose)

sorry andy, i bet you get sick of having to correct me when i try to give advise on sciency stuff.

always the way with this hobby though, soon as you start to think you know stuff you start to realise just how much more there is to learn!!