Doggiebag's First Fishless Cycle - Juwel Rekord 600

[OldMan47]

It is the reason that we often suggest a qualifying week. It helps to find out, before the fish go in, that the nitrite processors are not quite up to the job yet.

 

[doggiebag]

well, Im being a good girl and waiting it out lol

 

[waterdrop]

Admire your fortitude. Good job! WD

 

[doggiebag]

aarggghhhh, tested this morning and at 24 hours there was ammonia of 0.50 !!!! First time in weeks.....what on earth is going on !

Only topped up a smaller amount of ammonia, taking into account the reading I got, will monitor it really close now.

Feeling very defeated now, can't believe there was ammonia after all these weeks of zeros............... Im a sad girly today, the prospect of moving my wcmm to their big tank seems to be getting further away,not closer.......

 

[waterdrop]

If it helps any, we see that a lot. You can have zero ppm ammonia at 12 hours for a long time and you are just waiting for the nitrites to work there way down from zero at 24 hours to zero at 12 hours and then at the very end, when the nitrites at 12 hours are just a small amount... all of a sudden the ammonia doesn't process in 12 hours anymore. I don't have any idea either why it happens so often but it -is- an observation. It either finally goes away or you give up, do the big water change and be prepared to change some water once the fish are in, but often that change seems to somehow make the whole problem just go away. Often it may just be that the stocking of fish puts less of a demand on the filter than the 5ppm of ammonia does.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[doggiebag]

okay WD, thanks, as long as Im still in the 'normal' range lol

I will see how it goes over the next few days and then amybe do a large waterchange if it still doesn't shift......ammonia seems to be processing again now, well at least it did today

 

[doggiebag]

Day 53: 01/10/09:
AM TEST: ammonia 0, nitrite 0 added 4 ppm ammonia
PM TEST: ammonia 0, nitrite 1.0

Day 54: 02/10/09:
AM TEST: ammonia 0, nitrite 0 added 4 ppm ammonia
PM TEST: ammonia 0, nitrite 1.0

Day 55: 03/10/09:
AM TEST: ammonia 0, nitrite 0 added 4 ppm ammonia
PM TEST: ammonia 0, nitrite 1.0

Day 56: 04/10/09:
AM TEST: ph 7.8, ammonia 0.50, nitrite 0 added 4 ppm ammonia
PM TEST: ammonia 0, nitrite 0.75

Day 57: 05/10/09:
AM TEST: ammonia 0, nitrite 0 added 4 ppm ammonia
PM TEST: ammonia 0, nitrite 0

Day 58: 06/10/09:
AM TEST: ammonia 0, nitrite 0 added 4 ppm ammonia
PM TEST: ammonia 0.25, nitrite 1.0

Day 59: 07/10/09:
AM TEST: ammonia 0, nitrite 0 added 4 ppm ammonia
PM TEST: ammonia 0, nitrite 1.0

Day 60: 08/10/09:
AM TEST: ammonia 0, nitrite 0, did a 90% waterchange, very lightly cleaned filter, added 4 ppm ammonia
PM TEST: ammonia 0, nitrite 0.25

Day 61: 09/10/09:
AM TEST: ammonia 0, nitrite 0 added 4 ppm ammonia
PM TEST: ammonia 0, nitrite 0.50

Day 62: 10/10/09:
AM TEST: ammonia 0, nitrite 0 added 4 ppm ammonia
PM TEST: ammonia 0, nitrite 0.25

Day 63: 11/10/09:
AM TEST: ammonia 0, nitrite 0 added 4 ppm ammonia
PM TEST: ammonia 0, nitrite 0.25

 

[waterdrop]

 

[OldMan47]

I think I like your other cycle a bit better than this one.

 

[doggiebag]

me too lol This one seems very erratic.............I forgot to add my ammonia yesterday morning, so added it 2 hours late. which meant I could only test at 11hours, but this one was at 1.0 nitrite at 11 hours, so it seems to have gone back up again. I am so close to giving up, trouble is I really need this tank for my minnows, there other tank is the one I could shut down, but I think that one is very close now. Wish it was the other way round.
I have treated both the same, except for the seachem stability in the other tank and we know that doesn't do much. The other tank just seems more what you would expect, this one is nutty.

 

[waterdrop]

Oh! Don't give up DB! You've come so far with this one! WD

 

[doggiebag]

tested last night and the nitrites are back up to around 0.75..............I just don't see how this can keep going lower then bouncing back up again, it is seriously driving me nuts now. The other tank seems far more steady and is still staying low or dropping lower, this one can't make up its mind what to do.

 

[doggiebag]

Day 64: 12/10/09:
AM TEST: ammonia 0, nitrite 0 added 4 ppm ammonia
PM TEST: ammonia 0, nitrite 0.75

Day 65: 13/10/09:
AM TEST: ammonia 0, nitrite 0 added 4 ppm ammonia
PM TEST: ammonia 0, nitrite 0.75

Day 66: 14/10/09:
AM TEST: ammonia 0, nitrite 0 added 4 ppm ammonia
PM TEST: ammonia 0, nitrite 0.75

Day 67: 15/10/09:
AM TEST: ammonia 0, nitrite 0 added 4 ppm ammonia
PM TEST: ammonia 0, nitrite 0.75


this is seriously driving me loopy now, it must have been over a month ago I got my first 0 nitrite at 12 hours, since then it has just not held it, not sure what to do really........

 

[waterdrop]

OM, have we reviewed the type filter and media in this one? Is there a chance the biomedia is just not up to capacity? Another thought is that this would almost make me want to grab a separate nitrite-only test kit, perhaps of a different brand -- perhaps a Salifert nitrite test just out of curiosity and see what it said with this water. I'm getting impatient just like DB!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[doggiebag]

Im using the juwel filter that came with the tank, it has one large fine sponge, one large coarse sponge and some filter floss , I never added the carbon sponge. It has the newer 280 litre bio-pump and the flow is strong and I added the air diffuser to the outlet too.

It is seriously driving me batty now lol

I am tempted to just move my minnows and move their filter with them, running it next to the juwel one for a week or so, or just adding their filter sponge on top of the juwel filter where the space is above the existing sponges.
I really feel like scrapping this one as it makes no sense to me what its doing, but I really need this one the most due to its size, my wcmm need the space.

It has cleared double 0's at 24 hours for months now and the 12 hour mark the ammonia has vanished for ages, just the pesky nitrites hanging on.