355858's Freshwater Fishless Cycle

[355858]

hi guys so the tanks setup and the the stresscoat is added heres what i have so far!

Day 1 - pH: 7.6
Ammonia: 0.0 (2.8ml Ammonia added)
Nitrite: 0.0
Nitrate: 0.0
Temperature: 29ºC

Day 2 - pH: 8.0
Ammonia: 4.0
Nitrite: 0.0
Nitrate: 0.0
Temperature: 29ºC

Day 3 - pH: 8.0
Ammonia: 4.0
Nitrite: 0.0
Nitrate: 0.0
Temperature: 29ºC

Day 4 - pH: 8.0
Ammonia: 4.0
Nitrite: 0.0
Nitrate: 0.0
Temperature: 29ºC

Day 5 - pH: 8.0
Ammonia: 4.0
Nitrite: 0.0
Nitrate: 0.0
Temperature: 29ºC

Day 6 - pH: 8.0
Ammonia: 4.0
Nitrite: 0.0
Nitrate: 0.0
Temperature: 29ºC

Day 7 - pH: 8.0
Ammonia: 4.0
Nitrite: 0.0
Nitrate: 0.0
Temperature: 29ºC

Day 8 - pH: 8.0
Ammonia: 4.0
Nitrite: 0.0
Nitrate: 0.0
Temperature: 29ºC

Day 9 - pH: 8.0
Ammonia: 4.0
Nitrite: 0.0
Nitrate: 0.0
Temperature: 29ºC

Day 10 - pH: 8.0
Ammonia: 4.0
Nitrite: 0.0
Nitrate: 0.0
Temperature: 29ºC

Day 11- pH: 8.0
Ammonia: 4.0
Nitrite: 0.0
Nitrate: 0.0
Temperature: 29ºC

Day 12- pH: 8.2
Ammonia: 4.0
Nitrite: 0.0
Nitrate: 0.0
Temperature: 29ºC

Day 13- pH: 8.2
Ammonia: 4.0
Nitrite: 0.0
Nitrate: 0.0
Temperature: 29ºC

Day 14- pH: 8.2
Ammonia: 4.0
Nitrite: 0.0
Nitrate: 0.0
Temperature: 29ºC

Day 15- pH: 8.2
Ammonia: 4.0
Nitrite: 0.0
Nitrate: 0.0
Temperature: 29ºC

Day 16- pH: 8.2
Ammonia: 4.0
Nitrite: 0.0
Nitrate: 0.0
Temperature: 29ºC

Day 17- pH: 8.2
Ammonia: 4.0
Nitrite: 0.0
Nitrate: 0.0
Temperature: 29ºC

 

[waterdrop]

Well, glad to see you're started.. don't see anything wrong with your start --wd--

 

[355858]

Thanks waterdrop is that pH ok? Didn't kno if it needed to be adjusted that's how it is straight out of the tap..

Ben

 

[OldMan47]

You should be fine at a pH of 7.6. Keep an eye on it every few days so that it can't drop too far without you noticing.

 

[355858]

pH is gone up for some reason what could cause this? will it be a problem?

 

[fishyfeet]

ph isnt a problem till you come round to putting fish in which wont be for a week or two, it will prob go up and down during that time but should settle down. If you want it to rise, add rocks, coral gravel etc, to lower it add wood, plants etc, i never even check mine now to be honest, ive been keeping fish for 20 years, fish adapt to the ph within reason, im sure that why rams, bettas, gouramis suffer in my tank, i bet they would do better at a lower ph, but messing about with ph is stupid, much better to keep it steady, also eggs fungisize in hard water oh i wish i lived in a soft water area. di

 

[waterdrop]

Nope, not a problem. There are all sorts of things that can change pH (for instance, in newly filled tanks or tanks that have just received a significant water change from the tap the pH will be lower because there will be a higher CO2 content from the water being under higher pressure in the pipe system. Once the water is made free and relaxed to atmospheric pressure the excess CO2 will gas off, raising the pH)... but you are not concerned about that, you are only concerned about downward movements that might eventually move you past pH=6.2 quickly enough to stall out the nitrogen cycling activity.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[355858]

oh ok thanks guys, was worrying abit then lol, when should i start to see some nitrite and nitrates present?

Ben

 

[fishyfeet]

dont worry about ph, it will be what it is, and you dont want to raise it and lower it, worse thing you can do. hopefully you will see some nitrites soon first, then nitrates, when its all sorted then test the ph, you can then decide if you need to alter it for the fish you want to keep. di

 

[355858]

Ok Thanks Di

 

[waterdrop]

Now that you've put the first dose of ammonia in, you've just got to settle in and wait Ben. It can sometimes take 2 weeks before that first ammonia dose drops to zero the first time. This is because relative to the 2 or 20 or 200 or 2000 microscopic bacterial cells (A-Bacs) that might be in there, the ammonia dose in huge!

So those little guys will be processing some ammonia into nitrite(NO2) but the amount will be so small that you probably won't see ammonia going down or any evidence of nitrite(NO2) yet for some days. Meanwhile, if you're lucky, there'll be 2 or 20 or... microscopic N-Bacs that will indeed be processing a tiny bit of the nitrite(NO2) into nitrate(NO3) but its unlikely you would detect any of that yet with your kits.

In order to reproduce, these bacteria need to attach to a hard surface in small groups and secrete a sticky biofilm structure with little water channels in it, preparing their microenvironment for cell division. After this construction, they finally start to have cell divisions and these particular two types of species divide at one of the slowest rates, compared to most common bacteria.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[355858]

had a bit of a worry earlier with the ammonia thought it had dropped to 1.0 but retested and it was ok lol

 

[355858]

still no changes.. seems bit weird to me?

 

[waterdrop]

Take a look at the thread of beginner "scotty" who got nothing showing for 10 days then suddenly started seeing some action...

 

[LilyRose Tank]

Hi 355858.. thats if i got the number right lol. I'm at the same stage as you ... the long wait..... it will p you off, then do something,... then p you off again....patience......is required in huge amounts here. ( i dont have much either lol!) so fingers crossed and with a bit o luck something will happen between day 8 and day 16... aim for it that way. this process can take 6 weeks and you aint gonna be the guy to beat the clock, none of us do. so... learn crochet, read a book and watch some tv. coz you'll be an expert at all 3 and then your tank will say, oh ok then, have an ammonia drop, just to keep you interested...................(sorry, our thoughts are with you, chin up)