OP
OP
Do you have anything with them?
Bacterial Additives...
- Thread starter eaglesaquarium
- Start date
Do you have anything with them?
KISSfn
Fish Herder
No. I can't add anything until my water parameters are perfect.
OP
OP
Gotcha. How is that going, btw?
KISSfn
Fish Herder
The fantastic forum moderator/admin Tolak was kind enough to ship me a very generous amount of very mature media yesterday! So, it is only a matter of time before my filter is perfectly established and I can finally get the King Kong sized cycle monkey off my back!
OP
OP
KISSfn
Fish Herder
Barbs are very entertaining and interesting creatures and my next fish will be 2 more of them!
OP
OP
Day 7: 5/06/11 - 07:00 - pH:N/A, NH3: 0.5ppm, NO2: <0.25ppm (more purple on the bottom of the vial), NO3: >5ppm, temp: 83F could this be actual movement? 
Well, I think maybe ammonia is finally being processed. The drop in ammonia doesn't match the gains in nitrite or nitrate, but they are definitely there.
Well, I think maybe ammonia is finally being processed. The drop in ammonia doesn't match the gains in nitrite or nitrate, but they are definitely there.
OP
OP
Well, I left my nitrates test in the tube while I went off to work and by the time I got home the tube appeared to have darkened to the point of reading at least 20ppm. 
My experience with this test is very limited (to say the least), but what might that indicate? Am I not shaking enough? Is the nitrate level building while it sits there somehow? (that doesn't make sense to me) Does anyone know if the test can give such a false positive reading after sitting for a few hours?
My experience with this test is very limited (to say the least), but what might that indicate? Am I not shaking enough? Is the nitrate level building while it sits there somehow? (that doesn't make sense to me) Does anyone know if the test can give such a false positive reading after sitting for a few hours?
KISSfn
Fish Herder
I've read that the reagent in the nitrate bottle settles and the bottle needs to be tapped sharply on a table a few times to loosen it up prior to shaking the heck out of it. I know that the ammonia test reading will continue to rise if read after 5 minutes.
OP
OP
Oh man! Major mea culpa coming here! 
My most sincere apologies for this...
Well, it turns out that I have been completely mistesting the nitrates. I was shaking the TEST TUBE after adding reagent #1, rather than Reagent bottle #2 (as per the directions, because I only skimmed the directions!). Then I would shake the TEST TUBE again after adding a slightly shaken reagent #2 bottle was added to the bottle.
SO, here is the question. My tap water is still reading 0ppm, but the tank is now reading 40PPM! So, it is possible that the nitrates have been rising this entire time, but I wasn't getting it to show up, because I didn't shake the bottle enough? Is it now giving a higher reading that it should because the concentration of the proper reagent is incorrect? Either way, it would appear (at this time) that SafeStart DID have viable bacteria and they DID colonize my tank in this short amount of time. They aren't up to the 4ppm in 12 hour rate yet, but it would appear that they might just be munching through the ammonia and nitrite at a very similar rate, which is why I am not getting nitrite readings.
Thoughts or venom! GIve it to me... I deserve it. Let the roasting begin. I wish I could just start this all over to give everyone better readings since the beginning!
My most sincere apologies for this...Well, it turns out that I have been completely mistesting the nitrates. I was shaking the TEST TUBE after adding reagent #1, rather than Reagent bottle #2 (as per the directions, because I only skimmed the directions!). Then I would shake the TEST TUBE again after adding a slightly shaken reagent #2 bottle was added to the bottle.
SO, here is the question. My tap water is still reading 0ppm, but the tank is now reading 40PPM! So, it is possible that the nitrates have been rising this entire time, but I wasn't getting it to show up, because I didn't shake the bottle enough? Is it now giving a higher reading that it should because the concentration of the proper reagent is incorrect? Either way, it would appear (at this time) that SafeStart DID have viable bacteria and they DID colonize my tank in this short amount of time. They aren't up to the 4ppm in 12 hour rate yet, but it would appear that they might just be munching through the ammonia and nitrite at a very similar rate, which is why I am not getting nitrite readings.
Thoughts or venom! GIve it to me... I deserve it. Let the roasting begin. I wish I could just start this all over to give everyone better readings since the beginning!
KISSfn
Fish Herder
If you didn't follow the directions for Nitrates testing then I would think you got incorrect readings. My understanding of a cycle is first the A-bacs kick in lowering the ammonia readings but this leads to very high Nitrite readings in twice the time of the ammonia drop phase. Then later the N-bacs kick in lowering Nitrites and this leads to high Nitrate readings.
OP
OP
Agreed, but according to the BB products, they provide BOTH bacteria from the onset.
Either way. here are the latest readings: NH3: 0-0.25ppm, NO2: 0ppm, NO3: 40-80ppm. temp: 84F.
Now, maybe I am completely messing EVERYTHING up, but I don't think so. I've now re-read EVERYTHING in the test kits, and I haven't been mistesting the ammonia or nitrite. Ammonia levels are currently dropping RAPIDLY, and nitrite has yet to show up, but FINALLY (now that I am testing properly) nitrates are showing up in a BIG way.
Something that we are all aware of is the sensitivity of the nitrate test to thorough mixing. Unless you are careful to mix your test chemicals at least as long as suggested, don't even bother reading the results. I always shake up test chemicals twice as long as recommended in the test pamphlet because I am well aware of the limitations of the test. I get fairly consistent results doing things that way but would not trust much less for an accurate reading.
KISSfn
Fish Herder
You know what I think of BB products
So, I think we need to wait for the real experts here to interpret your readings! 
OP
OP
Yeah, I am shaking the crap out of them ALL now. Even so, the ammonia is dropping pretty fast now. It was "processed" in 2 days.
Ignoring the nitrate test, is it POSSIBLE that this product might actually be doing what it claims based only on the rapid drop in ammonia now?
You know what I think of BB products
Yeah, I know.
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