Cycle Progress

[Alex.]

Hi guys.

After 3 weeks of having nothing much happening in my tank, a mature media donation plus a water change and some bicarb has finally brought about some movement.

The media was added 8 days ago and since then there has been the following:

19/03/12 - media added and ammonia dosed up to 2-3 ppm

23/03/12 -ammonia 1.5ppm
Nitrite a touch lighter than 0.25ppm
Nitrate ever so slightly orange (under 5ppm)

24/03/12 - ammonia 1ppm
Nitrite 1-1.5ppm
Nitrate 5ppm

25/03/12 - ammonia 0.5ppm
Nitrite 5ppm
Nitrate 20ppm

26/03/12 - ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite 5ppm
Nitrate 40ppm

Ammonia added to bring up to 2-3ppm

Today - 27/03/12 - ammonia 0ppm 24 hours later
Nitrite 5ppm
Nitrate 80ppm

From what I gather - and someone feel free to correct me on this - but it seems the media donation has enabled me to build up both sets of bacteria (ammonia processing and nitrite processing) within a week or so, as the presence of climbing nitrates means the nitrite is being processed. With the rapid increase in being able to process ammonia I'm hoping in another few days I hit the 12 hour processing stage. Despite adding ammonia (which I'll do again tonight) - I haven't had the "off the chart" nitrites.

Do you think this is because theyre also being processed? The kit with nirtites isn't the easiest to tell - but it's a very bright purple at the moment and has been a similar shade for the last 3 days, so I'd say I might not get the spike other people have.

In your experience how long do the nitrite processing bacteria take to multiply once there are some in there? Some logs I've read have it processing to zero's within a week of nitrates showing (meaning the nirtite bacteria is present).

Any feedback / thoughts are appreciated!

 

[pdludbrooke]

Hi guys.

After 3 weeks of having nothing much happening in my tank, a mature media donation plus a water change and some bicarb has finally brought about some movement.

The media was added 8 days ago and since then there has been the following:

19/03/12 - media added and ammonia dosed up to 2-3 ppm

23/03/12 -ammonia 1.5ppm
Nitrite a touch lighter than 0.25ppm
Nitrate ever so slightly orange (under 5ppm)

24/03/12 - ammonia 1ppm
Nitrite 1-1.5ppm
Nitrate 5ppm

25/03/12 - ammonia 0.5ppm
Nitrite 5ppm
Nitrate 20ppm

26/03/12 - ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite 5ppm
Nitrate 40ppm

Ammonia added to bring up to 2-3ppm

Today - 27/03/12 - ammonia 0ppm 24 hours later
Nitrite 5ppm
Nitrate 80ppm

From what I gather - and someone feel free to correct me on this - but it seems the media donation has enabled me to build up both sets of bacteria (ammonia processing and nitrite processing) within a week or so, as the presence of climbing nitrates means the nitrite is being processed. With the rapid increase in being able to process ammonia I'm hoping in another few days I hit the 12 hour processing stage. Despite adding ammonia (which I'll do again tonight) - I haven't had the "off the chart" nitrites.

Do you think this is because theyre also being processed? The kit with nirtites isn't the easiest to tell - but it's a very bright purple at the moment and has been a similar shade for the last 3 days, so I'd say I might not get the spike other people have.

In your experience how long do the nitrite processing bacteria take to multiply once there are some in there? Some logs I've read have it processing to zero's within a week of nitrates showing (meaning the nirtite bacteria is present).

Any feedback / thoughts are appreciated!

Hi Alex, from what I have been learning you need to wait till both your ammonia and NitrIte go to zero.

 

[Alex.]

Yeah that's my understanding too - ammonia is now being processed in 12 hours or less so being eaten up quite well by the bacteria.

My nitrites are bright purple but they've been the same shade for the last few days so they don't seem to be getting higher - which would indicate theyre also being processed - nitrates are bright red somewhere between 80-160 on the kit (not as dark as 160 but brighter than 80, hard to tell!!)

Is there anything I can do now to help things along - water change? Or am I best leaving it and wait for the second stage bacteria to catch up...

 

[OldMan47]

Be careful with your analysis of the nitrites Alex. Our test kits often are unable to give us a reading that is over 5 ppm. What that means is that we must interpret a reading of 5 ppm as meaning 5+ ppm. In fact each 1 ppm of ammonia is converted to 2.7 ppm of nitrite. If you have moved over 2 ppm of ammonia, you have at least 5.4 ppm of nitrite until it gets processed to nitrates. During the nitrite spike portion of a cycle, it is not unusual for someone to think that they have 5 ppm of nitrite while the real value is really in the hundreds of ppm. You will know that you have a successful clone when you see the nitrites drop back down well below 5 ppm.

 

[Alex.]

No problem - I thought as much. My nitrates are going higher and higher too, so nitrite is definitely being processed - i guess it's just a waiting game now til there is sufficient bacteria to handle the build up. I did roughly a 75% water change last night to control the build up of nitrites.

 

[OldMan47]

If you can back calculate, each 1 ppm of ammonia becomes 3.6 ppm of nitrate. If you are not yet close to that measurement, the nitrite is really sky high. If you are close to matching that ratio, the nitrite may actually be close to 5 ppm. It is impossible to say from this end.

 

[Alex.]

I decided the last 2 days to dose ammonia every 24 hours to allow the nitrite bacteria to catch up.

Yesterday my results were:
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 5+
Nitrates 40-80+ (bright red)

I dosed ammonia and tonight, 24 hours later
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0.25
Nitrates seem odd - and I tested 3 times.... They were only a yellowy orange after yesterday being bright red.

I tested ph and that seems to have dropped a touch, so I've added a bit of bicarb and re-dosed ammonia and will now dose every 12 hours as the bacteria seems to have caught up. I'm just a bit worried about the nitrate reading, where can it have gone? I must admit the other day after I did a 75% water change nitrates still seemed really high and nitrites the same, but I just thought this was because they were so off the charts to begin with.

Anyway - im really hoping this is the start of the end of the cycle so I'll eagerly be awaiting the results in the morning and I'm just hoping the nitrate results were a one off...

Thoughts anyone?

 

[pdludbrooke]

I decided the last 2 days to dose ammonia every 24 hours to allow the nitrite bacteria to catch up.

Yesterday my results were:
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 5+
Nitrates 40-80+ (bright red)

I dosed ammonia and tonight, 24 hours later
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0.25
Nitrates seem odd - and I tested 3 times.... They were only a yellowy orange after yesterday being bright red.

I tested ph and that seems to have dropped a touch, so I've added a bit of bicarb and re-dosed ammonia and will now dose every 12 hours as the bacteria seems to have caught up. I'm just a bit worried about the nitrate reading, where can it have gone? I must admit the other day after I did a 75% water change nitrates still seemed really high and nitrites the same, but I just thought this was because they were so off the charts to begin with.

Anyway - im really hoping this is the start of the end of the cycle so I'll eagerly be awaiting the results in the morning and I'm just hoping the nitrate results were a one off...

Thoughts anyone?

 

[pdludbrooke]

I decided the last 2 days to dose ammonia every 24 hours to allow the nitrite bacteria to catch up.

Yesterday my results were:
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 5+
Nitrates 40-80+ (bright red)

I dosed ammonia and tonight, 24 hours later
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0.25
Nitrates seem odd - and I tested 3 times.... They were only a yellowy orange after yesterday being bright red.

I tested ph and that seems to have dropped a touch, so I've added a bit of bicarb and re-dosed ammonia and will now dose every 12 hours as the bacteria seems to have caught up. I'm just a bit worried about the nitrate reading, where can it have gone? I must admit the other day after I did a 75% water change nitrates still seemed really high and nitrites the same, but I just thought this was because they were so off the charts to begin with.

Anyway - im really hoping this is the start of the end of the cycle so I'll eagerly be awaiting the results in the morning and I'm just hoping the nitrate results were a one off...

Thoughts anyone?

If your using the API test kit you really have to bang that second bottle as you shake it about six or seven times against a hard table, make sure your getting any stuff that may have got stuck at the bottom of the bottle (good knows what's in there) mixed in, then add to the test tube after bottle one in the sample water from your tank, I had readings like yours, but after giving the second bottle a good going over on the table while shaking I got there, I doubled the time to shake it too.

 

[pdludbrooke]

I decided the last 2 days to dose ammonia every 24 hours to allow the nitrite bacteria to catch up.

Yesterday my results were:
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 5+
Nitrates 40-80+ (bright red)

I dosed ammonia and tonight, 24 hours later
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0.25
Nitrates seem odd - and I tested 3 times.... They were only a yellowy orange after yesterday being bright red.

I tested ph and that seems to have dropped a touch, so I've added a bit of bicarb and re-dosed ammonia and will now dose every 12 hours as the bacteria seems to have caught up. I'm just a bit worried about the nitrate reading, where can it have gone? I must admit the other day after I did a 75% water change nitrates still seemed really high and nitrites the same, but I just thought this was because they were so off the charts to begin with.

Anyway - im really hoping this is the start of the end of the cycle so I'll eagerly be awaiting the results in the morning and I'm just hoping the nitrate results were a one off...

Thoughts anyone?

If your using the API test kit you really have to bang that second bottle as you shake it about six or seven times against a hard table, make sure your getting any stuff that may have got stuck at the bottom of the bottle (good knows what's in there) mixed in, then add to the test tube along with your sample water and stuff from bottle one, I had readings like yours, but after giving the second bottle a good going over on the table while shaking I got there, I doubled the time to shake it too.

by the way feeling really pleased your cycles getting there, I am doing the same as you with the fishless cycle, not quite as far as you have got though, but feeling your achievement with you, I can't wait!! But all good things do come from patience and perserverance!

 

[Alex.]

I decided the last 2 days to dose ammonia every 24 hours to allow the nitrite bacteria to catch up.

Yesterday my results were:
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 5+
Nitrates 40-80+ (bright red)

I dosed ammonia and tonight, 24 hours later
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0.25
Nitrates seem odd - and I tested 3 times.... They were only a yellowy orange after yesterday being bright red.

I tested ph and that seems to have dropped a touch, so I've added a bit of bicarb and re-dosed ammonia and will now dose every 12 hours as the bacteria seems to have caught up. I'm just a bit worried about the nitrate reading, where can it have gone? I must admit the other day after I did a 75% water change nitrates still seemed really high and nitrites the same, but I just thought this was because they were so off the charts to begin with.

Anyway - im really hoping this is the start of the end of the cycle so I'll eagerly be awaiting the results in the morning and I'm just hoping the nitrate results were a one off...

Thoughts anyone?

If your using the API test kit you really have to bang that second bottle as you shake it about six or seven times against a hard table, make sure your getting any stuff that may have got stuck at the bottom of the bottle (good knows what's in there) mixed in, then add to the test tube along with your sample water and stuff from bottle one, I had readings like yours, but after giving the second bottle a good going over on the table while shaking I got there, I doubled the time to shake it too.

by the way feeling really pleased your cycles getting there, I am doing the same as you with the fishless cycle, not quite as far as you have got though, but feeling your achievement with you, I can't wait!! But all good things do come from patience!

Thanks mate - I know the position your in at the moment trust me! I started mine at the beginning of march and didn't see anything for pretty much 3 weeks, I was so happy when I saw ammonia finally dropping and nitrites appearing!

I'm not going to jinx myself now but I hope its getting there!

 

[pdludbrooke]

I decided the last 2 days to dose ammonia every 24 hours to allow the nitrite bacteria to catch up.

Yesterday my results were:
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 5+
Nitrates 40-80+ (bright red)

I dosed ammonia and tonight, 24 hours later
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0.25
Nitrates seem odd - and I tested 3 times.... They were only a yellowy orange after yesterday being bright red.

I tested ph and that seems to have dropped a touch, so I've added a bit of bicarb and re-dosed ammonia and will now dose every 12 hours as the bacteria seems to have caught up. I'm just a bit worried about the nitrate reading, where can it have gone? I must admit the other day after I did a 75% water change nitrates still seemed really high and nitrites the same, but I just thought this was because they were so off the charts to begin with.

Anyway - im really hoping this is the start of the end of the cycle so I'll eagerly be awaiting the results in the morning and I'm just hoping the nitrate results were a one off...

Thoughts anyone?

If your using the API test kit you really have to bang that second bottle as you shake it about six or seven times against a hard table, make sure your getting any stuff that may have got stuck at the bottom of the bottle (good knows what's in there) mixed in, then add to the test tube along with your sample water and stuff from bottle one, I had readings like yours, but after giving the second bottle a good going over on the table while shaking I got there, I doubled the time to shake it too.

by the way feeling really pleased your cycles getting there, I am doing the same as you with the fishless cycle, not quite as far as you have got though, but feeling your achievement with you, I can't wait!! But all good things do come from patience!

Thanks mate - I know the position your in at the moment trust me! I started mine at the beginning of march and didn't see anything for pretty much 3 weeks, I was so happy when I saw ammonia finally dropping and nitrites appearing!

I'm not going to jinx myself now but I hope its getting there!

Let us know how you got on with the NitrAte test!!

 

[Alex.]

Just over an hour after dosing ammonia and adding bicarb tonight -

Ammonia 2-3ppm
Nitrite 2-5ppm (definitely not off the chart as it took a few minutes to turn purple, no instant change and comparing pics it's much lighter purple than off chart colour)
Nitrate 40ppm (better!!)

Ph is 7.6-7.8

Still a little confused where the nitrates went earlier, I'm going to put it down as an odd result at the moment as before I tested this time I thoroughly cleaned the test tubes and made sure they were dry.

So looks like ammonia even after an hour is processing nicely.

The mornings results are going to be a big one for me, I'm crossing everything!!!

 

[Rhiny]

Cracking reading this log for me. I'm on day 11 of my fish less cycle and I'm checking every night when I getting in from work my ammonia levels. Still 5ppm. Boooo. The wife thinks I'm nuts and my 9 month old laughs at me. Oh well anything for a healthy tank.

Good luck one and all

 

[pdludbrooke]

Cracking reading this log for me. I'm on day 11 of my fish less cycle and I'm checking every night when I getting in from work my ammonia levels. Still 5ppm. Boooo. The wife thinks I'm nuts and my 9 month old laughs at me. Oh well anything for a healthy tank.

Good luck one and all

I'm with you there, it's quite funny how people respond when I say, and try to explain "I am doing a fishless cycle"