Day 27 Of Fishless Cycling And Still No Nitrites

[Amunet]

Not sure if anyone has asked this, but are you sure you're using pure ammonia?
Which brand are you using? Maybe take a pic of the bottle making sure to get a clear pic of the label so we can see what's in it just to make sure there isn't anything else in it that could be messing something up.

 

[waterdrop]

OK, thanks for posting up all that info. We will all note that ammonia is coming in from your tap water.

I've only got a moment to look, so will not try to evaluate right now, maybe some other members will see something.

We should also note that the title is misleading and this is a fishless cycle on Day 16.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Amunet]

Ammonia in tap water shouldn't be a problem. We have that amount in ours as well, and it never became a problem.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

another thing to check is if the nitrite test kit is actually working, it doesn't happen often but any manufacturing process is open having some flaws and and as such you occasionally get a faulty product.

take a sample of the water, test it yourself then take it to the lfs to be tested (or ask your fishkeeper friend) and compare the readings, if the results are the same you can be reasonably confident that the kit is working.

 

[waterdrop]

Well I don't know where I got the "Day 16" thing last night, when I reread it this morning it looks more like its "Day 14" today. aletas, do you have the exact date in your logbook that you could give us, when you set up the AquaClear and started using it instead of the old filter?

Reviewing this, I'm now inclined to think this might just be a "bare tank" situation (there are no live plants, so no inoculation possibilities other than the mature media which seems not to have worked) and perhaps we are just at that very early stage where A-Bacs are so low that we don't yet see a steady drop to zero. I believe this was quite slow and long on my tank too, which was extremely bare in its initial fishless cycle, but I'm not home to look at Oliver's fishy notebook.

Also, aletas mentions topping-up due to evaporation, which would of course introduce a bit more ammonia, since its as high as 0.50 in the tap water, but this would only be a tiny amount, so probably not significant.

Its just not clear to me yet that we have anything unusual here other than a slow start to the A-Bacs (although I concede that the mature media not "taking" nags at the back of one's mind, leading to wondering about the nitrite kit as MW has mentioned...)

~~waterdrop~~

 

[aletas]

Hi everyone!

waterdrop, I set up the AquaClear filter and added the mature filter media on Oct 5, so yes, I'm now on Day 17 again.

While out shopping again yesterday I thought about Amunet's comment about the ammonia and decided to buy another brand, even though I think the one I've been using is fine, but it's worth a try, right?

That's a great idea Miss Wiggle about getting my water tested for nitrites at the LFS, I'll try to take in a sample this week.

I tested for ammonia and nitrites again this morning, and as usual everything remains the same, which brings me to my next question:

Should I add more ammonia to bring the level up between 4-5ppm again, or should I wait a few more days before adding more?
(The last time I added ammonia to raise the level was on Oct 16, 6 days ago.)

Thanks!

 

[waterdrop]

Six days is a long time for the 2ppm of ammonia to just sit there. Are there any other things about your aquarium you can think of that might be unusual? Is the white gravel by Marina a normal freshwater tank gravel? Its not accidently some strange thing for marine aquariums is it? Any chance the decorations have questionable paint on them? (To tell the truth, the little decoration in ours has fading paint and I've wondered but never done anything about it.. never heard members voice that this is a problem.) The aquarium is not in pitch black or bright light all the time, right?

The aquaclear seems to be running with good water flow? The 85F temp has been reasonably maintained? You are not putting any other chemicals in besides ammonia, right?

Its great that you are taking steps to further raise confidence that both the ammonia and nitrite test kits seem to work correctly, we'll watch for your findings on that.

About the ammonia add: It really shouldn't make any difference whether you add any more or not, there's plenty there for the few A-Bacs that want to eat it. If you had zero ammonia for a couple of days then the A-Bac population would start to die back a few percent, but as long as ammonia is showing on the test then there should be way more than enough for this early stage.

Without some new info popping up, it still seems to me we have to assume the A-Bacs were not present much or are somehow not happy with their environment and are just being very abnormally slow in developing. If all the conditions are right, they should nonetheless grow and reach a point where we see them drop the level to zero.

Maybe some other members will think of yet another question.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Miss Wiggle]

when you go to the fish shop pick up a plant fertiliser containing iron and start dosing with that, a little bit of iron in the water is known to help the bacteria along a bit so it may give you a small kick start.

 

[waterdrop]

euuuuu, she's sharp this morning! good idea MW

 

[Miss Wiggle]

euuuuu, she's sharp this morning! good idea MW

ha ha just can't concentrate on my work at all today. 15% of the staff in my company are being made redundant, we find out tomorrow exactly who'se going. It's the strangest atmosphere in here today!!

 

[Amunet]

Which brand of ammonia did you end up getting?
There have been a few people here who thought they were getting pure ammonia but it ended up having surfacants? in it.

 

[cheerycherry]

Is homebase ammonia ok? thats what im using

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yup pure ammonia from homebase is one of the ones we recommend

 

[aletas]

waterdrop: I can't think of anything else that would be slowing the progress, everything looks normal and the only chemical I've added is ammonia. The filter has good water flow, the painted ornaments look fine and there isn't anything unusual about the gravel. The temp holds steady between 84-85º. The only thing that I've noticed is the amount of evaporation; about a gallon a week which I top off with dechlorinated water when it gets close to the minimum water level line for the heater, but other than that nothing else is happening. The tank is in the livingroom, but doesn't get direct sunlight.

Miss Wiggle: Thanks for the tip about the fertilizer. What brand should I look for and how much should I put in the tank and how often? Will it make a difference within a short period of time? I hope to get to the lfs tomorrow and have them test my water at the same time. Thanks for your help and I hope all goes well for you at your company.

Amunet: I bought the Goldex brand of ammonia at Walmart and it doesn't contain any phosphates or fragrances.

Thanks for your input everyone!

 

[waterdrop]

ok aletas, I'd look for fertilizers that show iron on the ingredients list or perhaps some members will come along that know the ones that particularly have iron.

Since we can not see anything particularly wrong, our best plan to proceed as I see it would be to just assume that for some reason we are way at the beginning of A-Bac development and we have to hope the small A-Bac population will build to the point where our ammonia test can detect a drop in the ammonia it is eating.

I think I remember you said the Walmart ammonia does not foam, right? I don't happen to know anything about the Goldex labeled Walmart ammonia but perhaps some other member will. Otherwise we'll just have to assume its good. I assume it gives a nasty kick if you get a distant whiff of it, like all aqueous ammonia, right?

~~waterdrop~~