Fishless Cycle - Are these numbers RIGHT?

[Jediagh]

I started my fishless cycle on 27 Jul 04 on my 10g tank and so far these are my readings.

27 Jul 04
Ammonia: 5
Nitrite: 5
Nitrate: 5

28 Jul 04
Ammonia: 4
Nitrite: 2
Nitrate: 10

29 Jul 04
Ammonia: 4
Nitrite: 2
Nitrate: 20

30 Jul 04
Ammonia: 4
Nitrite: 2
Nitrate: 5

31 Jul 04
Missed readings and to add ammonia

1 Aug 04
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 2
Nitrate: 5

Prior to starting I took a baseline reading of my water on 27 Jul 04 with the following values:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 5
Nitrate: 5
FreshWater PF 7.6
General Hardness 7

I then added 5 drop of ammonia to see when the Ammonia would get to 5 ppm. I would test after 1 hour times. I determined that it took 100 drops to go from 0 to 5ppm. So everyday I am adding 100 drops of ammonia.

So my question is are my readings so far okay? Do I need to start over since I missed a day of adding ammonia?

Thanks

 

[tstenback]

Your doing fine the one day you missed will not affect the cycle. Odd you had a nitrite reading of 5 ppm on the starting day. Did you have seed material in the tank? Just keep doing what you are doing and everything will be fine.

 

[Jediagh]

Hum.. "seed material"??

I do have 1 aqua fern and 2 frill plants in there right now and they were there when I started. Thanks for the advise and I'll keep doing the cycling...

 

[Jediagh]

The readings for today 02 Aug 04 are even more confusing to me.

Amonnia 0
Nitrite 1
Nitrate 10

??

Should not by Ammonia be at like 5? Also why is my Nitrite going down? Yet my nirate is going up? Is my ammonia going to zero everyday EVEN after I add the ammonia for the day becuase the bacteria in the filter is NOW eating all the amonia? Confused. but still cogging along on the fishless cycle...

I'm looking for a NITRITE spike right? After that I should reduce the amount of ammonia I add until I get both a 0 Ammonia and Nitrite rating right?

Thanks for all the help

 

[njnauticalnut]

It sounds like your tank currently has enough bacteria to convert the 5ppms of amonia to nitrite which is a really good thing. There is also bacteria that is converting the nitrite to nitrate, that is why you are seeing your nitrite come down and your nitrate go up. This is also a good thing.

I would cut the dose of amonia in half as you have nitrites, probably more than are showing in the test because some are being converted to nitrate.

You are looking for your amonia and nitrites to get to 0 within 24 hours. The nitrates will probably continue to rise. A big water change will lower them later on when your nitrites reach 0.

When I fishless cycled, once I was seeing amonia and nitrites at 0, I added enough amonia to read 5ppm for a couple of days, making sure it was at 0 the next day, just to be sure that the cycle was complete.

I have since learned that it is a good idea to add a little fish food during the cycle to assist the amonia-converting bacteria.

You're doing great! Don't worry about the numbers, it is not an exact science at least from the test results.

HTH!

 

[Jediagh]

Thanks for the input! I have been adding a little bit of food becuase there is 1 snail in the tank that got in when I added theAqua Fern.

But today's readings were even better! Me readings were:

Amonnia 0
Nitrite .5
Nitrate 10

I was wondering when the Nitrite would go down. It was such a disappointment to add the test liquid and IMMEDIATE see the water go purple. But today the water went a Light purple!

So I guess my bacteria is working!!!!
Should I keep my NITRATE level at 10 becuase of my plants in the tank? 1 AQUA FERN, 2 FRILL PLANTS. Will be adding 2 to 4 more aqua ferns next week. The tank is still too "plain" with no plants. =)

 

[tstenback]

ALmost there If you keep your nitrate level at 20 or lower you shouldnt run into any problems as far as your fish are concerned. HTH

 

[Jediagh]

Okay now I'm really at a loss...

Since my last post my NITRITE has gone done a bit and now is climbing slowly. My Ammonia has also begun to increase but my NITRATE has gone thru the roof!

All I've done has been adding my 100 drops of ammonia daily (1 teaspoon) until 2 days ago when I have begun to add 50 drops of ammonia to the tank.

Have I done somthing wrong? I have noticed that my frill plants seem to be dieing as they are turning brownish.

My aqua fern on the other hand is growing like crazy! It has two small babies sprouthing from it! Any clues what I've done wrong?