Whitey's Fishless Cycle Log

[waterdrop]

OM is what I call Oldman47 when I'm too lazy to type OM47!

Hey! Glad to see you're already getting nitrite on your log! WD

 

[Whitey_144]

OM is what I call Oldman47 when I'm too lazy to type OM47!

Hey! Glad to see you're already getting nitrite on your log! WD

oh OM...i should've guessed that!

nitrite is now a beautiful purple colour and i assume off the chart. Ammonia was 0 this morning so i re-dosed to 4ppm. should i have dosed to a lower amount, say 2/3ppm? if so i'll reduce the next dosage.

I also bought some filter wool and added a tiny bit between each compartment. Could this slow the flow rate down too much? i'd prefer to put in 1st compartment but theres already a sponge and not much room...

ive also had another fluval filter sitting in the tank but not on, i''ve just added filter wool and turned it on, whilst i roughed the gravel up to get the silt out. once done should i take this out? because in the long term its not in my plans to have 2 internal filters and fish, but i guess some bacteria might be living in it, even though it hasnt been on?

 

[Whitey_144]

HI,

my Abacs seem to now be eating trough the 4ppm ammonia in 24hrs, do i now have to dose every 12 hrs? my N-bacs dont seem to have visited yet, is it just because there is so much nitrite from teh Abacs that what they have converted to nitrate isn't measurable yet? should i lower the dosage of ammonia?

ive also had another fluval filter sitting in the tank but not on, i''ve added filter wool and turned it on, whilst i roughed the gravel up to get the silt out. should i take this out? because in the long term its not in my plans to have 2 internal filters and fish, but i guess some bacteria might be living in it, even though it hasnt been on?

thanks,
adam

 

[Skins]

HI,

my Abacs seem to now be eating trough the 4ppm ammonia in 24hrs, do i now have to dose every 12 hrs? my N-bacs dont seem to have visited yet, is it just because there is so much nitrite from teh Abacs that what they have converted to nitrate isn't measurable yet? should i lower the dosage of ammonia?

ive also had another fluval filter sitting in the tank but not on, i''ve added filter wool and turned it on, whilst i roughed the gravel up to get the silt out. should i take this out? because in the long term its not in my plans to have 2 internal filters and fish, but i guess some bacteria might be living in it, even though it hasnt been on?

thanks,
adam

Hello Whitey_144,
You only want to dose with ammonia once every 24hrs. Whilst in the nitrIte spike stage i would be inclined to dose up to 2ppm of h/h ammonia and then increase the dose back up to 4/5ppm when your nitrite level hits 0ppm. As for your extra filter IMO i would remove it if your not planning to leave it in the tank, you don't want valuble bacteria colonising in its media for it then to be removed.

Keith.

 

[BIG BAD BARRY]

Agree with Keith. Dose 2ppm when it hits zero which will be 24hrs as the A bacs have been able to process 4ppm already in that time scale.
Log is looking good too. Just dont sniff the ammonia!

ps i would suggest to keep checking ph as that is one of the areas that could affect your cycle but probably not at this stage. Theres loads of liquid in the bottles so you wont run out!

 

[Whitey_144]

Agree with Keith. Dose 2ppm when it hits zero which will be 24hrs as the A bacs have been able to process 4ppm already in that time scale.
Log is looking good too. Just dont sniff the ammonia!

ps i would suggest to keep checking ph as that is one of the areas that could affect your cycle but probably not at this stage. Theres loads of liquid in the bottles so you wont run out!

Hi, my n bacs seem to be doing their job now, yay.

i have the A bacs and N bacs roughly eating 4ppm in 24hrs.

I am having trouble doing this exactly on 24hrs, so it may be that i jsut haven't recirded the time accurately or been out when i should've tested. But roughly i think the 24hrs is achievable, although the time doesnt seem to be going down! could high nitrate be slowing them?

i have taken out the filter that wasn't on but was sitting in there, and light unit is almost fixed so soon i could get plants.

what do i do now?...try and measure at 12hrs or smaller intervals than 24hrs? i find this quite hard, because during the week i'm at work.


cheers,
adam

ps. i bought a RO unit which i'll set up at the weekend.

 

[Skins]

Agree with Keith. Dose 2ppm when it hits zero which will be 24hrs as the A bacs have been able to process 4ppm already in that time scale.
Log is looking good too. Just dont sniff the ammonia!

ps i would suggest to keep checking ph as that is one of the areas that could affect your cycle but probably not at this stage. Theres loads of liquid in the bottles so you wont run out!

Hi, my n bacs seem to be doing their job now, yay.

i have the A bacs and N bacs roughly eating 4ppm in 24hrs.

I am having trouble doing this exactly on 24hrs, so it may be that i jsut haven't recirded the time accurately or been out when i should've tested. But roughly i think the 24hrs is achievable, although the time doesnt seem to be going down! could high nitrate be slowing them?

i have taken out the filter that wasn't on but was sitting in there, and light unit is almost fixed so soon i could get plants.

what do i do now?...try and measure at 12hrs or smaller intervals than 24hrs? i find this quite hard, because during the week i'm at work.


cheers,
adam

ps. i bought a RO unit which i'll set up at the weekend.

Is your pH holding up ok?

Keith.

 

[Whitey_144]

[/quote]
Is your pH holding up ok?

Keith.
[/quote]

yep, just tested it and it's still 8, it's been quite consistent.

nitrite today was 0 after about 23hrs and ammonia 0.25. I'll redose 4ppm now.

perhaps the dosing isn't exact everytime which causes a bit of a variance.

I've turned the airstones on to try and help - although filter was already pretty much rippling the surface anyway.

 

[Skins]

12hr testing soon

 

[Whitey_144]

12hr testing soon

coolio, i'll do 12hr testing this weekend. Another things is that i'm using the same dosage about 6ml to get to 4ppm, but the volume of water has down by a few gallons from evaporation that i haven't topped up yet...so my cycle may be more ahead then i thought!

i have lights now and a tank hood in place!

so might buy plants soon...i'm trying to time to get them soon but near end of cycle to void algae.

my DD TDS meter turne dup today, my tap water is 252 on it, which i believe divided by 18 = the GH which is 14. how far up the scale is that? my API liquid GH test kit was off the scale!

interestingly, my tank water was 475!! i assume from evaporation and topping water up, resulting in high concentration of dissolved solids?

any opinions on the above?

cycle log updated.

cheers

 

[BIG BAD BARRY]

I believe thats correct. The water evaporates leaving the minerals behind. The white stuff around the tank.
I guess its a bit like when river beds dry up and the bed retains all the salt and minerals.

Water changing removes water and minerals.
You would need to add pure water to maintain the same water parameters for the water level.
Adding tap water to counter evaporation would make the water either harder if it was hard water or softer if it was soft water.
Wait for waterdrop to correct me!!!!!!!!!!!!

oh and read this:

http/www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/purewatr.htm

 

[Whitey_144]

I believe thats correct. The water evaporates leaving the minerals behind. The white stuff around the tank.
I guess its a bit like when river beds dry up and the bed retains all the salt and minerals.

Water changing removes water and minerals.
You would need to add pure water to maintain the same water parameters for the water level.
Adding tap water to counter evaporation would make the water either harder if it was hard water or softer if it was soft water.
Wait for waterdrop to correct me!!!!!!!!!!!!

oh and read this:

http/www.thetropic...uk/purewatr.htm

thanks Barry, thats a good read. For some reason i hadn't thought about topping up effecting the TDS, but now i have my RO unit i can top up with pure water to keep it stable - plus i willmy temp when i have fish so should see a bit less evaporation.

I can't find anything on the net recommended which brand to use for adding minerals, there's a lot of discus buffers, discus minerals etc, but don't want to pick the wrong one, can anyone recommend one thats right for Angelfish?

Also does anyone know of a website that gives the preferred water stats for fish? i.e. cardinals and tetras - then i can start concocting RO and tap water mixes to try and match today! hehe

 

[BIG BAD BARRY]

Bit of bed time reading for you!

http/www.seriouslyfish.com/kb.php
http/www.seriouslyfish.com/kb.php
http/www.thinkfish.co.uk/fishdata.html
http/##150###.com/##150###.php
http/www.badmanstropicalfish.com/species-gallery/gallery_main.html
http/www.tankplanner.com/fish-list.asp
http/www.theaquatools.com/
http/www.aquaticcommunity.com/fish/

 

[Whitey_144]

Bit of bed time reading for you!

http/www.seriouslyfish.com/kb.php
http/www.seriouslyfish.com/kb.php
http/www.thinkfish...k/fishdata.html
http/##150###.com/##150###.php
http/www.badmanstr...llery_main.html
http/www.tankplann...m/fish-list.asp
http/www.theaquatools.com/
http/www.aquaticcommunity.com/fish/

woah! lol thanks, so much info! ill read up on that after lunch

I've just done my 12 hrs (ok i was late, 12.5hr test) and it was 0.25 ammonia, nitrite 0. I've just re-dosed at 12 so will test again at midnight...

 

[waterdrop]

Well! Only time to read up a little but I see we're having fun here!