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wow that looks amazing...probably not good for my plantless plans for this tank then! Thanks for explaining :good: great, thanks for the confirmation :good:

This is my method exactly; I can see the difference in colour, just not how it measures up to the chart, so pointing me in the right direction - hence keeping nitrites low with water changes so that I will hopefully detect an eventual drop without help from me as I cycle away.

Hi Edd, newbie here but learning loads! Have you checked out the 'Beginners Resource Centre' at top of page? Good source of info! From the little I've learned your temperature sounds good; you don't mention aeration...plenty of O2 needed; airstone in there, filter outlet disturbing water surface...

with you there! when the kids (girls; better at it than us blokes...if nothing else!) are here they get roped in The Salifert chart is shown below BTW I love the avatar you have of that super green fishy :lol:

I am cycling at present, and have issues with the API master test kit NO2 shades of colour - to me, the 1, 2 and 5ppm shades are identical! I want to know where I am with it obviously, and was recommended to try the Salifert NO2 test kit. This uses different depths of shading in one colour...

indeed not enough tanks! thanks for your input...

doing the same as you! my NH3 is zeroed every 12 hours on a daily 2ml dose (260 litre tank) - I have dropped the water level in my tank so that the filter outlet water is dropping onto the surface waterfall style...maybe that might help if you can do it? I am monitoring NO2 by doing water...

Ideally I would like 4-5 cats in there; of the Hoplos you mention the M. thoracata look great (u-tube) so then I'm back to considering if they will be OK with the JD and A sajica (might not be large enough?)...if Wills misses this open query maybe I will PM him if thats considered OK? The...

thanks, looks perfect :good:

Hope you will excuse the thread title, but I read on the site somewhere a few years ago where someone - was it Bigbruiser Al? (do forgive me if I'm wrong there) was using a cutting off a plant which was reducing their nitrate levels in the tank; was it called Pochos or something like that -...

I had no movement after 10 days; local LFS gave me 2 litres of subgravel gunk which went in; first drop occured 2 days later - so 12 days for me...you aren't far off hopefully! You will get plenty of really useful advice on this site...good luck! :good:

at 7am, NH3 zero, so fair to say that the NH3 to NO2 in 12 hours is working based on a 1ppm NH3 dose? (based on 3 drops in NH3 to zero, measured over the last 3 days, each in a 12 hour period) nitrites are a little pink so 1-2ppm I am judging based on my 0.5ppm last night...thankfully I can at...

Funny you should mention a Firemouth - the LFS has 6 Dempseys and a Firemouth in one small tank at the moment; the Firemouth being the boss from what I've seen, though they are possibly a little stressed out in that two-footer! so a Firemouth will be OK with a Dempsey then as they mature? Defo...

shouldn't have visited TF2YD...too much choice! :blink:

if they have him/her when my tank is ready I will buy - another good website, thanks again! Will take a trip to Aquajardin when tank is up and ready, to look as much as to buy. There is a lot of talk of wild-caught, hybrids, pure...while the description is pretty self-explanatory, are there...

OK I think I will focus on the synos...I plan a second tank in the future (bigger) so will have options if the need arises as the JD grows. I wonder if the angelica is easy to find - don't recall spotting one in the Portsmouth LFS's; anywhere in Southampton? Thanks for the pointer to Seriously...

did 40% water change for nitrite reduction, brought it down to 0.5ppm (no pink) - did this because I want to keep below 5ppm so that I can measure any changes in it. NH3 was zero at 7am; added 2ml at 6.45pm and thoroughly stirred tank up...now measuring at 1ppm 30mins later Will read at 7am...

many thanks...I'd never even heard of the concept of cycling before finding this site; to me its important that I learn the 'why' as well as the 'how'! Glad I arrived before any problems began; the beginners section enabled me to see the advantages of joining up :good:

I'm there too but with nitrite...your nitrate could be from the tapwater? Mine measures 40ppm!

OMG not another method! :lol:

I'm not suggesting any article is changed...I'm suggesting that if there are other methods that work (such evidence required then given by feedback from those following them), then surely that is evidence enough in itself? The newbs are confused at the moment because there are other methods out...

great, this is the sort of clarification I need! So, I have pretty much decided to go for a single male Dempsey...several people here state that the supposed aggressive nature of the Dempsey is somewhat exaggerated and having had one in the past would agree based on that, but it probably...

7am - NH3; 0/ NO2; back in the pink, 1-2 as far as I can judge (really looking forward to the Salifert test)/ NO3; 40 it seems that the NH3 > NO2 bacs are working then...will add NH3 to 1ppm tomorrow morning

With you 100%...it seems to me that there are several methods on the forum that lead to the required outcome - to my mind there is no right or wrong; if it works, great! How about having a thread on different cycling methods; us newbies can then clearly see the way to go, choosing the one that...

Hi, I am hopefully on my way to a cycled fishless 260 litre tank; pH 7.8; dgH 18-20; 26C... Am planning 1 or 2 Jack Dempseys, and want several cats in there as well as I love them! Have in mind any or all of the following, but as some like to be alone, some in groups, some conspecies tolerant...

thanks for that...my dark side coming out! had a few good suggestions on here for stock, generally involving the words 'ghost' or 'vampire' :lol:

you aren't the first to suggest some aptly named residents...I'm going to resist, and stock with a couple of Raphaels, a couple of Rift Valley cats and a Dempsey or two...might slip a Vampire Plec in there; the Black Marble Angels will have to wait! I plan a bigger tank for the Dempseys to grow...

It seems there are many ways to get the to the end-result we all want - yours seems pretty straightforward enough and makes sense to me so will follow! Thanks re. set-up comment, just ordered some blue LED's for evening spook-factor max-out! You do seem to have been involved in several good...

Ok Prime Ordeal, you were right on two big pure dechlorinated water changes; now on pH; 7.8/ NH3; 0/NO2; 0.25 (no pink but darker than 0)/NO3; 40 dosing NH3 to 1ppm this afternoon...should be about 2ml on your 5th of full method, and will check in the morning, then add every other day. water...

:lol: OK, thats the morning filled then! And yes, the girls are good for the readings but they go back to mums tonight!! At least I'll get it sorted today, and Amazon are normally pretty quick...thanks for your advice btw; having read your other recent comments on other posts you obviously...

it can only improve it as the nitrite is really difficult for me; the nitrate I can see the difference so shouldn't be too much of a worry. The girls tell me that the nitrite reading this morning didn't match any of the colours on the chart as it was too dark pink in colour - I am assuming that...

readings this morning...three pairs of eyes consulted: TAP - pH; 7.8 / NH3; 0.0/ NO2; 0 / NO3; 20-40/ dgH; 20 TANK (30C) - pH; 8.0 / NH3; 1.0/ NO2; 5.0+/ NO3; 5.0 / dgH; 18-20 Will be doing a water change this morning to reduce NO2 as recommended here, using the kids eyes to verify...

cheers Welshweeks! can't wait to get going now, my lfs has the normal JD's that I want in stock...come on tank, cycle! Getting good input on my cycle post...NH3 dropped today! Hope your new buddies are enjoying their super-habitat :good:

great input...highlights the need perhaps for something pinned for us newbies to follow, of a more recent nature than the methodology presently there if indeed its inadequate. It seems that you both agree on certain fundamental points which I am going to try to follow i.e. controlling the NH3...

5ppm is magenta?? wow, looks purple to me! The Salifert is ordered...thanks for that; checked it out and the kit looks a lot more sensitive as well, so worth the expense

Thanks for the tip...I might have a problem with that however; the API nitrite 1,2 and 5ppm are all the same colour and they all look (virtually) the same intensity to me as well...or am I wrong and the colour isn't the same??? It can be a frustrating condition! My kids are helping me with the...

OK thanks!

cycle possibly started this morning...fingers and everything else crossed... :blink: ; ammonia down to 1ppm and nitrites (difficult to read) up at 4-5ppm; retesting this afternoon. Keeping a log of readings/actions taken - read on the forum somewhere that this info could be useful to fellow...

Hi, I have been quite active from day one, asking for advice which has been so gratefully received - however a lot of my 'old' posts are probably of little use to anyone else and was wondering if I need to delete them some way, or do they just drop off the tail-end after a time? Also the 'my...

thanks everyone...day 14 of the fishless and ammonia has dropped this morning, 2 days after dirty LFS water added - reading 1ppm...nitrites look 5+ppm though hard to read on API chart over the 4ppm, but definitely higher than original readings...re-checking both this afternoon. So it looks as...