Day 42 In The Kporteo House.....

[kporteo]

Well, as the title says, its day 42 of my fishless cycle and after a big discussion with the hubs last night we've decided to start again from scratch.
Heres a quick recap of what we've dealt with so far...

* 18th Aug, got tank and set it up, stuck backing decor on with General purpose AntiMould silicone, realised this was a mistake , removed backing, hacked off all of the silicone and cleaned tank of it too, refitted it with aquarium silicone.
* 19th Aug, added water, conditioner etc, ammonia to 4ppm.
* 5th sept, water getting cloudy, turned lights off on a night and cracked lid open slightly - water cleared - readings still 4ppm
* 18th Sept, emptied 90% of water, took ammonia back to 4ppm
* 19th Sept, added Biorb ceramic to filter container, reading 4ppm
* 3rd Oct, cleaned filter sponges in Biorb water (wondering if theres remnants of the antimould silicone hiding in there)
* 5th Oct, reading 4ppm

So there it is, after 7 weeks of nada happening, we've been out today, bought new filter sponges, gravel, backing, aquarium silicone, Boots own ammonia (which i had to prove i wasnt a terrorist before theyd sell me it!!!). Ive stripped the tank completely, cleaned it all down, scrubbed the rocks/decor and soaked them in ammonia solution.

We will be sticking the backing on tomorrow, hopefully! Then adding water etc over the weekend... tbc


Everyone keep their fingers and toes crossed for us please!!!

K

 

[anon02]

Well, as the title says, its day 42 of my fishless cycle and after a big discussion with the hubs last night we've decided to start again from scratch.
Heres a quick recap of what we've dealt with so far...

* 18th Aug, got tank and set it up, stuck backing decor on with General purpose AntiMould silicone, realised this was a mistake , removed backing, hacked off all of the silicone and cleaned tank of it too, refitted it with aquarium silicone.
* 19th Aug, added water, conditioner etc, ammonia to 4ppm.
* 5th sept, water getting cloudy, turned lights off on a night and cracked lid open slightly - water cleared - readings still 4ppm
* 18th Sept, emptied 90% of water, took ammonia back to 4ppm
* 19th Sept, added Biorb ceramic to filter container, reading 4ppm
* 3rd Oct, cleaned filter sponges in Biorb water (wondering if theres remnants of the antimould silicone hiding in there)
* 5th Oct, reading 4ppm

So there it is, after 7 weeks of nada happening, we've been out today, bought new filter sponges, gravel, backing, aquarium silicone, Boots own ammonia (which i had to prove i wasnt a terrorist before theyd sell me it!!!). Ive stripped the tank completely, cleaned it all down, scrubbed the rocks/decor and soaked them in ammonia solution.

We will be sticking the backing on tomorrow, hopefully! Then adding water etc over the weekend... tbc


Everyone keep their fingers and toes crossed for us please!!!

K

I dont have a clue what could have caused your first attempt at fishless cycling to fail, but why dont you ask the members for a mature media donation ?

Either way, good luck

 

[kporteo]

We've presumed it was the silicone had left some remnants and that knacked it all up!!
Ive currently got 2 of the 5 Juwel filter sections in my Biorb (levels are always perfect) so fingers crossed this should give the filter a kickstart once i start cycling again, il also put some of the Biob ceramic and sponge in the filter compartment once we get going.

K

 

[Timmy_Bee]

I had a biorb and then got a Juwel Rio 180.
All i did to get it going was take all the filter media out of the BiOrb and put it in front of the filter (covering the water inlet) - whacked the fish in on day 1 and didnt have any probs. After a week or so, i started gradually taking the BiOrb media out and back in its original tank (now empty) - is this doable in your situation? or are you leaving fish in the BiOrb?

 

[kporteo]

Nah ive got a fish in the Biorb, looks like its gonna be thurs before any water goes back into Juwel so the 2 filter sponges will surely be full of bacteria!! Il also be sticking some of the ceramic into the filter compartment too.

Did you stack the the ceramic at the bottom inlet where the gravel is nearest the compartment?
K