Fishless Cycle - Add & Wait (Take 2)

[Little_Nemo]

3RD MARCH - DAY 20 AMMONIA 0.25PPM NITRITE 1.0PPM NITRATE 80PPM (Mums 2nd opinion)

Retest tonight at 10pm and according to my other half 2moro's 10am result should show Ammonia at 0PPM

 

[Little_Nemo]

If results show double 0's - Ammonia & nitrite do I dose to 2/3ppm or carry on dosing to 4/5ppm?? I'm confused as i read it on here on someones post double 0's you dose to 2/3ppm?!!

 

[Little_Nemo]

4TH MARCH - DAY 21 AMMONIA 0PPM NITRITE 1.0PPM NITRATE 80PPM (NITRITE QUITE LIGHT BUT IT DOESNT MATCH 0.50PPM)

Ammonia dropped from 4PPM to 0PPM in 12 hours! Yay!!

 

[Aqua Tom]

 

[Warehouse]

If results show double 0's - Ammonia & nitrite do I dose to 2/3ppm or carry on dosing to 4/5ppm?? I'm confused as i read it on here on someones post double 0's you dose to 2/3ppm?!!

Re-dose to 5ppm when the Nitrite is being crunched, just once every 24 hours. I'm sure the reason we have to re-dose lower is to stop the Nitrites getting ridiculously high while the n-bacs are growing.

Loving the log, looks like your so close now.

 

[Little_Nemo]

If results show double 0's - Ammonia & nitrite do I dose to 2/3ppm or carry on dosing to 4/5ppm?? I'm confused as i read it on here on someones post double 0's you dose to 2/3ppm?!!

Re-dose to 5ppm when the Nitrite is being crunched, just once every 24 hours. I'm sure the reason we have to re-dose lower is to stop the Nitrites getting ridiculously high while the n-bacs are growing.

Loving the log, looks like your so close now.

Re-dosed last night to 4/5ppm in the end. Made a swift decision and was like 'I'll just dose to 4/5ppm, could always water change if it was too much'

 

[Skins]

Looking very goog L Nemo.
Dropping the ammonia dosage tweak is when you are in the nitrite spike stage(phase 2), now that you are in phase 3 and testing every 12hrs you want to be dosing 4/5ppm ammonia, just remember LN to keep an eye on your pH its at this phase with high nitrate content you could well experience a pH crash.

Keith.

 

[BIG BAD BARRY]

Great advice from Keith.
Test your ph at least once in the 24hr period. If you have an APi kit, you will have loads left even after you finish cycling.

With nitrite you need to wait 5 minutes for the test to work but you get to know whether its going to be 0ppm or not.
When the nitrite is high 5ppm+, the drops turn purple as soon as they get to the bottom of the tube.
When they go pale blue like on the chart for 0ppm, you know its going to be good news and 0ppm.
You have to wait 5 mins after shaking the tube to get an accurate result.

 

[Little_Nemo]

So what happens in phase 3 then?
Does nitrate keep rising, and then start dropping to a level such as 40PPM for example? Or would it stay high, this meaning the water change at the very end would take all the nitrate away?

And as for my nitrite will that fluctuate for a couple of days before it decides to settle at 0PPM before my qualifying week?

 

[Skins]

So what happens in phase 3 then?
Does nitrate keep rising, and then start dropping to a level such as 40PPM for example? Or would it stay high, this meaning the water change at the very end would take all the nitrate away?

And as for my nitrite will that fluctuate for a couple of days before it decides to settle at 0PPM before my qualifying week?

The only way of reducing your nitrAte content is with the water change and when you are stocked and you wish to keep live plants then these will remove some of the nitrate content. As for your nitrIte the small level you are seeing at the 12hr mark can be stubben and hang around for a while but fingers crossed you will get your double zeros soon.

Keith.

 

[Kesaph]

Double zeros is a great place to be It takes my Nitrites a full 5 mins to clear to blue and I'm sure I hold my breath for that whole time too.

 

[Little_Nemo]

Feel as though I've had a set back

Todays results show Ammonia at 0.25PPM whereas the previous results show that my ammonia was reducing from 4PPM to 0PPM in 12 hours!! Please tell me this isnt something to be worried about

 

[BIG BAD BARRY]

Dont worry.
How is your ph doing?

May be just a blip.
When something like this happens, firstly go over everything to make sure things are working such as filter, heater, thermometer.

Im sure you are doing this already but make sure your dosing is accurate as well as timings
Test tubes have been thoroughly rinsed out (also important is drying if your tap water contains any ammonia or nitrite)
When using test kits i found that holding the dropper fully vertical bottle gives consistent drops but some dropped slowly and others nearly poured out so lost count and had to start again!

 

[Little_Nemo]

Dont worry.
How is your ph doing?

May be just a blip.
When something like this happens, firstly go over everything to make sure things are working such as filter, heater, thermometer.

Im sure you are doing this already but make sure your dosing is accurate as well as timings
Test tubes have been thoroughly rinsed out (also important is drying if your tap water contains any ammonia or nitrite)
When using test kits i found that holding the dropper fully vertical bottle gives consistent drops but some dropped slowly and others nearly poured out so lost count and had to start again!

ph is doing fine - holding up between 7.2 & 7.6, its been consistent throughout my cycle.
I really dont want to touch the filter I'm prone to messing things up eventually If i start touching stuff that seems to be working (Laptops, phones, tv etc)

I'm wondering whether or not my dosage was slightly over the half way mark. Whereas before i've been able to get it sitting exactly on the half way line. As for the test tubes im rinsing them out with hot water, and giving them a shake with the lid on with water in, then drying them by tapping them on a towel so the water drops fall out the top.
The 2nd bottle of ammonia test you have to be careful with as the drops come out really fast paced!

 

[Warehouse]

I wouldn't worry about it Nemo. The bacteria are still very young and growing every day, there are bound to be blips. If the ammonia had stuck at 1 or higher then maybe a slight concern, but it's so close to 0 that I'll wager tomorrows 12 hour test shows 0.