A Fish Tank For Children, Some Advice Please...

[upsy daisy]

Anyway, I did about 40% water change, washed out the filter sponge a bit. I am seriously starting to doubt my test reading abilities.

 

[waterdrop]

Looks to me like you've got zero ppm ammonia and zero ppm nitrite and are just trying to read too much into it. The quesion is, are these your 12 or 24 hour results? (ie. did you do these tests we're looking at 12 hours after you added ammonia to the tank or 24 hours after you added ammonia to the tank?

If the tests are the results at 24 hours, then you need to start also testing at 12 hours after the ammonia is added. If they are 12 hour results then you are ready to start your qualifying week. During that week you just keep testing and adding ammonia as you have always done (adding ammonia at the 24 hour mark whenever ammonia dropped to zero ppm withing the last 24 hours.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[upsy daisy]

Waterdrop, thank you very much for posting a reply!

I was really starting to get discouraged. Last two weeks have been difficult family wise (regarding my son's health situation) plus confusion about this.
No, all the tests have only been the 24 hour tests. Today, this morning I added ammonia, again (this is second time, first being at the very beginning of cycling). I added about 2.5 ml plus a few fish food flakes for good measure. Tested after about 20 mins, ammonia was showing about at 4.

 

[waterdrop]

Totally understandable. A hobby activity is obviously something that can get tossed aside if the health of one's child is in question. I'm sure all of us would share my hope that all will get back to being ok in that department. I'm currently having the great joy of sharing my love of this hobby with my son and even though he is not at the stage of sharing direct responsibility for the activities, he is clearly getting lots of great things from it and enjoys having the tanks running in his room.

I'm back on track with your log. You're on a typical track where the first full ammonia drop to zero was about the end of the second week. Now we'll look for that to get faster and for the beginnings of the nitrite spike to show up. No need to be worrying about 12 hour tests at this early stage of fishless cycling. That can wait until the 3rd phase after the nitrite spike is over. Keep up the good logging. The sequential day number of your fishless cycle is more helpful than the actual calendar date information but its good that you're noting pm vs. am as eventually that will be helpful with the 12 hour tests kicking in. Also good that you continue to test pH and log it.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[airbusa1]

It looks at the start that your fish tank was properly cycled.
I have an api master test kit and it is very easy to mess up the nitrate test and it is sometimes hard to match the colours up!
Small tanks flourish with bacterial additives such as Tetra Safestart.

 

[upsy daisy]

[quote ]I'm sure all of us would share my hope that all will get back to being ok in that department.
[/quote]
Thank you for your kind words! It's actually a chronic and ongoing bowel and toilet related problem and it's probably best to keep the gruesome details to myself..
So, thanks again for your support and advice, I would really be lost otherwise!

 

[waterdrop]

OK, hopefully between all the members checking on your log every now and then we can help keep you on track even if you're distracted. WD

 

[upsy daisy]

 

[upsy daisy]

Finally some excitement! Long awaited changes in nitrite!! 0.1 (+?) after being on constant 0!!!
It really seems that nitrate is also up, around 1, it just seems to have a hint of orange. Can't wait to test tomorrow!

 

[waterdrop]

Congrats upsy-daisy!

 

[upsy daisy]

pH 8.0? ammonia 2? nitrite 0.25? nitrate 0-1
I am finding that now I feel very unsure about determining the test results aginst the card "swatches"..
Not even sure if the pH is correct or not.. anyway.. It is obvious that after a long time of nothing happening ammonia is falling and the nitrite is going UP! So, testing is becoming really exciting now, can't wait to test tomorrow, again!

 

[waterdrop]

You don't need to test nitrate(NO3) every day. Its a long tiring test and you could maybe do it every third day or something. WD

 

[upsy daisy]

I tested the water tonight and it seems ammonia is nearly 0. Nitrite has been going up last few days but now is going down to 0 again, is that a good sign? So, now nitrate should be going up, right?

 

[OldMan47]

With both ammonia and nitrites near zero, you should indeed be seeing some nitrates unless your tank is heavily planted.

 

[waterdrop]

I thought I was remembering plastic plants?

upsy, you're performing all tests waiting the right amounts of time and following all the shaking instructions, right?

WD