Cycling Query (again) Not All Ammonia Seems To Be Being Processed

[simonmac2]

hi all,

you may have read my previous post on my idiocy when refilling the tank and not putting the water into the filter without dechlorinating first....lesson learned!

anyway, that was 5 days ago, and i've been watching the ammonia and nitrite like a hawk to see the spike situation.

my ammonia goes down to .5 in 24hrs, and my nitrite is pretty constant at 2. The ammonia gets a 3ppm top up each night, and goes to the 4 mark, but the next day is back to .5 again.

before my screw up, it was being cleared out - i am a bit confused on the reason the bacteria would leave .5 going round the tank - saving it up for a late supper perhaps ;-)

the nitrite is not going the weird shade of green again, so i'll keep watching that.

will make myself a python over the weekend and avoid the buckets. Also got the pond dechlor from B&Q (thanks MW) while i was there.

Simon

 

[waterdrop]

Well, to me it sounds like you've got a reduced population of A-Bacs (they can only process 3ppm ammonia down to 0.50ppm in 24 hours, instead of 5ppm to Zero ppm in 12 hours) and you've got a very small population of N-Bacs. You sound clearly in phase 1, before the nitrite spike. Just keep recharging to your 3ppm the day after it gets down to zero. Keep logging your ammonia, nitrite and pH results from each session.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yeah you just nuked some but not all of your ABacs is all, expect it to take a little while to recover, but they'll come back.

I liek the idea of the late supper though

 

[waterdrop]

yeah MW, clearly we've gotta keep this guy... besides, we all want to see the pink tank gravel patterns after their first gravel vaccing, right?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yeah MW, clearly we've gotta keep this guy... besides, we all want to see the pink tank gravel patterns after their first gravel vaccing, right?

yeah totally!!

be funny to stick a plec in there and look at them in the morning

 

[simonmac2]

thanks guys for the confirmation...

once i make up the python thingy, and very C A R E F U L L Y clean the gravel [without flooding the kitchen] I hope the pattern remains.

FWIW the rescheduled sports day was yesterday, and Ruth won her race and has proved that she has been listening in our fish discussions, as when I asked her what fish she wanted (when the tanks is ready) for winning her race...her answer was a SHOAL of tetra's (pointing the cardinals in the book out) - "they only count as ONE fish because they get unhappy alone" as i was laughing hard at this point, i asked how many fish were in a shoal, the answer of "eleven" confirmed that i need to pay more attention to flippant remarks.

Simon

 

[Miss Wiggle]

thanks guys for the confirmation...

once i make up the python thingy, and very C A R E F U L L Y clean the gravel [without flooding the kitchen] I hope the pattern remains.

FWIW the rescheduled sports day was yesterday, and Ruth won her race and has proved that she has been listening in our fish discussions, as when I asked her what fish she wanted (when the tanks is ready) for winning her race...her answer was a SHOAL of tetra's (pointing the cardinals in the book out) - "they only count as ONE fish because they get unhappy alone" as i was laughing hard at this point, i asked how many fish were in a shoal, the answer of "eleven" confirmed that i need to pay more attention to flippant remarks.

Simon

good girl..... she's obviously learning fast...... i had my dad wrapped round my little finger with stuff like that...... works on the other half now i'm a little older too

 

[waterdrop]

you won't stand a chance simon, once she starts communicating with MW

 

[simonmac2]

always knew that women were pack animals and relied on shared experience to control us all...



Simon

 

[waterdrop]

well simon, at least your cell is padded pink and you may be able to kick back and relax for a few more years at times...

 

[simonmac2]

nah - done the maths

in 6 years time, i'm looking at an oestregen nightmare in the house - mum and daughter (menopause and puberty) I don't want to be anywhere near that!

i'll start looking for bachelor jobs in 4 years, and see if one eats the other

LOL