Another Cycling Question

[Adie]

Hi,

Quick question RE: cycling.

Doing a fishless cycle on my new 180l, ammonia was being processed in 12 hours within 7 days thanks to some mature media I added.

However, things seem to have stalled. 3 Weeks later my Nitrite is off the scale (and has been since day 7 but not dropping, my Nitrate is only around 10-20ppm and does not seem to be moving up indicating that the nitrite is not being processed? Has the process stalled due to too much nitrite being in the water? Would a large water change help at all?

Temp is set to 31.7 degrees C at the moment. Is it just a case of sitting and waiting, and adding and waiting........................

 

[Gremily]

Do you know your pH?

 

[Gazpug]

Do you know your pH?

If your PH is god you will need to sit on your hands and wait unfortunatly. When the nitrite gets processed it will happen pretty quicky. What is your stats for ammonia nitrite and ph

 

[Adie]

Ammonia is going from 4-5 ppm to 0 in 12 hours.

Not considered the PH actually....I've only got test kits for Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate. Good thinking, I'll pop to my LFS later and pick one up.

What PH range should I be looking for?

 

[Gazpug]

Ammonia is going from 4-5 ppm to 0 in 12 hours.

Not considered the PH actually....I've only got test kits for Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate. Good thinking, I'll pop to my LFS later and pick one up.

What PH range should I be looking for?

My PH sits a 7.5. My fish are quite happy with that. between 6 & 7 is fine.

Regards

Gaz

 

[Gremily]

When fishless cycling a tank the pH can drop if you have very soft water, as the pH gets below 6 the bacteria seem to slow down and it takes a while to process ammonia/nitrite which prolongs cycle. Try to keep the pH above 6 for the cycle, if you find that it's dropping try adding something to buffer the pH or do some water changes to bring it back up.
Hope that helps, if it is a low pH/soft water that's causing you problems let me know as I've experienced this a couple of times.

 

[Adie]

Tis ok....cycled today!!!

Excellent.....One is off the the LFS for some stocking!!!