Water Changes

[LionessN3cubs]

as I said in another post, my water wasn't clear like it should have been. I did a 50% change tonight and now the water is crystal clear. Im thinking I put too much dechlorinator in last time I did a change or something. Anyways, this time I used bottled gallons of spring water and less dechlorinator. My ammonia level is now at 3.0 so hopefully I'll see some business soon. I did want to ask if doing a water change in the middle of a cycle would stall the cycle or anything? I would think not since I didnt rinse the filters or anything at all but was just curious if I set myself back doing a water change due to the cloudiness.

 

[Colin_T]

doing a water change in the middle fo a cycle won't affect the filter development unless you wash the tank and filters out as well. But just removing and replacing some of the water will have no adverse effects.

You shouldn't need to dechlorinate bottled spring water. It should be free of chlorine.

Overdosing with dechlorinator should not make the water cloudy.

 

[LionessN3cubs]

doing a water change in the middle fo a cycle won't affect the filter development unless you wash the tank and filters out as well. But just removing and replacing some of the water will have no adverse effects.

You shouldn't need to dechlorinate bottled spring water. It should be free of chlorine.

Overdosing with dechlorinator should not make the water cloudy.

Good, I was hoping I was right about it not affecting my cycle. I was thinking I wouldnt need to add dechlorinator to the spring water but I wasnt sure so I thought better safe than sorry. I did have to add 1 gallon of hot tap water so I added the dechlorinator to that but just a tad bit of it. If the dechlorinter didnt make the water cloudy maybe it was dust since I did have the hood off for several days. Goodness I dont know...but the water has stayed clear overnight so thats good

 

[waterdrop]

Glad you are making progress Lioness. How many days of fishless cycling since you got the temp up and all the factors favorable?

Funny, I've never thought of water clarity or cloudiness as being a factor one way or the other for the effectiveness of a fishless cycle. (I would be interested in the experts opinion on this!)

During a fishless cycle, I think of the water as if it were the "Petri Dish" in a bacterial laboratory! Those guys/gals in the bacterial labs have huge "recipe books" for the optimal conditions for growing a given species of bacteria. Here on the forum we are lucky to have the collected fishless cycling experience of the members, as distilled by RDD in his article and kept on course by the many corrective threads of answers by members.

In my limited experience, Bacterial Blooms come and go and the fishless article does not recommend to me that I take action based upon them. pH, on the other hand, does seem to be something to keep tabs on as many members will jump in and tell you to make a water change if it gets too low.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[LionessN3cubs]

Glad you are making progress Lioness. How many days of fishless cycling since you got the temp up and all the factors favorable?

Funny, I've never thought of water clarity or cloudiness as being a factor one way or the other for the effectiveness of a fishless cycle. (I would be interested in the experts opinion on this!)

During a fishless cycle, I think of the water as if it were the "Petri Dish" in a bacterial laboratory! Those guys/gals in the bacterial labs have huge "recipe books" for the optimal conditions for growing a given species of bacteria. Here on the forum we are lucky to have the collected fishless cycling experience of the members, as distilled by RDD in his article and kept on course by the many corrective threads of answers by members.

In my limited experience, Bacterial Blooms come and go and the fishless article does not recommend to me that I take action based upon them. pH, on the other hand, does seem to be something to keep tabs on as many members will jump in and tell you to make a water change if it gets too low.

~~waterdrop~~

I did a big water change on monday and put the heater in. So all in all its been 6 days. My ammonia still isn't dropping (except that I did a big change which only dropped it a tiny bit) but my nitrites are looking like MAYBE its changing. The bottom of the scale is bright yellow (0) and the next color is orange (.3) my color is sorta in between. Even after doing that big water change last night, when I tested the nitrite today I asked my oldest (8) what color it matched best on the scale and HE said in between the yellow and orange too so I guess thats good LOL. What I can't believe is that after doing 2 50% water changes in the same week that my ammonia is at 3.0 ...I had expected to need to add more ammonia after the 2nd change this week. I wonder if that means my ammonia really was still way off the charts high?

 

[rabbut]

The cloudyness is almost certainly a bacterial bloom, thus I'd leae well alone. That is free floating filter bacteria that hass not yet found a resting place. Waterchanging at this point removes your bacteria. When the water clears feel free to waterchange

Any particular reason as to why you are using bottled water? It will cost you a small fortune in the long run... IMO you would be far better off using just normal tap water.

HTH
Rabbut

 

[LionessN3cubs]

The cloudyness is almost certainly a bacterial bloom, thus I'd leae well alone. That is free floating filter bacteria that hass not yet found a resting place. Waterchanging at this point removes your bacteria. When the water clears feel free to waterchange

Any particular reason as to why you are using bottled water? It will cost you a small fortune in the long run... IMO you would be far better off using just normal tap water.

HTH
Rabbut

I decided to buy spring water because I am wondering if something in my tap water is causing the ammonia to not process. My tap water dries pink on surfaces like the edges of my bathtub and my dish drainer so I know there is something a little screwy with it. I've had this tank set up with ammonia for WELL over 2 weeks and have NO nitrite reading. Granted, I had way too much ammonia in at first and I know Im sounding impatient, which I am a little bit. Its frustrating to see NOTHING at all happening after so much time passing. It will definatley suck for me if I just did a water change because of cloudy water and in doing so, did change out the bacteria I needed but I dont think that was it because if I'd had that much bacteria for several days, I'd have had a drop in ammonia wouldn't I? In any case Im done messing with anything in the tank. From now on Im just going to test the water and nothing else.

 

[rabbut]

IME, most spring water has a low GH and this makes it prone to pH crashes, which are likely in a fishless cycle. I'd add bicarbonate of soda to the water to prevent this from occuring It will raise the GH, and thus stabilize the pH. IME it is not required once fish are in, as waterchanges add depleated buffering capacity and also remove the compounds that caurse pH crashes, therefore a pH is less likely to occur once you have fish as a result of maintanance.

Certainlty sounds like something weird with the water in your area if it dries pink Where are you based? Do any other members in this area have the same issue? If not, it may be an idea to have your plumming checked. If other members do, you should press-gang the water board into fixing this

All the best
Rabbut

 

[LionessN3cubs]

IME, most spring water has a low GH and this makes it prone to pH crashes, which are likely in a fishless cycle. I'd add bicarbonate of soda to the water to prevent this from occuring It will raise the GH, and thus stabilize the pH. IME it is not required once fish are in, as waterchanges add depleated buffering capacity and also remove the compounds that caurse pH crashes, therefore a pH is less likely to occur once you have fish as a result of maintanance.

Certainlty sounds like something weird with the water in your area if it dries pink Where are you based? Do any other members in this area have the same issue? If not, it may be an idea to have your plumming checked. If other members do, you should press-gang the water board into fixing this

All the best
Rabbut

hmm I think maybe it was a good thing that I used spring water then. After your post, I just tested the hardness of both my tap water and my tank water....my tap only has a gh of 3 while the tank water (spring) now has a gh of 10. Also, the ph in the tank is a bit higher now than It was with my tap..tap was 7.5 and Spring is 8. The KH of my tap when being tested is supposed to go from blue to yellow, it never shows blue...it takes 3 drops to make it go straight to yellow, whereas now with the spring water its about an 8. The papers with my testing kit say that a KH between 3-10 is best with the higher end of the scale being better as it stabilizes the PH so Im good there I think.

 

[dhracer]

Certainlty sounds like something weird with the water in your area if it dries pink Where are you based? Do any other members in this area have the same issue? If not, it may be an idea to have your plumming checked. If other members do, you should press-gang the water board into fixing this

I get "pink" water too, not sure if it's the same as what you're getting but it's noticable around the bath - the grouting etc. It goes when it's cleaned but comes back quickly - it's caused by a bacteria that create a film (a quick google says it's Serratia marcescens) and nothing to worry about as far as I'm aware

 

[waterdrop]

IME, most spring water has a low GH and this makes it prone to pH crashes, which are likely in a fishless cycle. I'd add bicarbonate of soda to the water to prevent this from occuring It will raise the GH, and thus stabilize the pH. IME it is not required once fish are in, as waterchanges add depleated buffering capacity and also remove the compounds that caurse pH crashes, therefore a pH is less likely to occur once you have fish as a result of maintanance.

Certainlty sounds like something weird with the water in your area if it dries pink Where are you based? Do any other members in this area have the same issue? If not, it may be an idea to have your plumming checked. If other members do, you should press-gang the water board into fixing this

All the best
Rabbut

hmm I think maybe it was a good thing that I used spring water then. After your post, I just tested the hardness of both my tap water and my tank water....my tap only has a gh of 3 while the tank water (spring) now has a gh of 10. Also, the ph in the tank is a bit higher now than It was with my tap..tap was 7.5 and Spring is 8. The KH of my tap when being tested is supposed to go from blue to yellow, it never shows blue...it takes 3 drops to make it go straight to yellow, whereas now with the spring water its about an 8. The papers with my testing kit say that a KH between 3-10 is best with the higher end of the scale being better as it stabilizes the PH so Im good there I think.

you may be already doing this but, I found with my KH test (mine, Tetratest, also goes from blue to yellow at the stop point),, anyway I found that its important not to drip fast: hold the tube of water up in front of you, drip 1 yellowish drop in and then swirl the tube a bit, it may take a second for it to go blue, or it may stay yellow, give each drop a second or two to do its thing.