Fishless Cycle Diary

[djl08]

Update, Finally seeing a significant drop in ammonia levels. Perhaps, before it was a little too high and didnt feed the correct type of bacteria.

Regarding the mature media i added on day 5, will that still be beneficial or would the bacteria colony the media have died off. If this is so, would i be better off removing it.

- Dj -

 

[waterdrop]

I'd leave it. You never know. You can work your way back to your own choice of media at a much later time, say a year down the road.

Conrats! Was looking at your stats and I'm sure you're happy to be seeing some movement.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[djl08]

Conrats! Was looking at your stats and I'm sure you're happy to be seeing some movement.

~~waterdrop~~

Hell yeah i am! lol. I wonder if it was the high levels of ammonia that was stalling the n-bacs progress.

- Dj -

 

[djl08]

Added a picture of my tank, forgive the shoddy positioning of the plants, waiting for the delivery of the rest of them before i start positioning them properly! Plus i need to change the tube at the back because its a marine tube and is too strong.

 

[waterdrop]

Nice! I like the look of the whole thing!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[djl08]

Cheers, Gonna look even better when my delivery of plants comes.

Updated, got some nitrites and nitrates now.

 

[djl08]

Update, ammonia finally dropped to zero. Was a bit cautious when adding the second dose of ammonia, and it turned out to be just right.

A couple of observations today;

1) seems to be a lot of brown algae collating on the glass, plants, ornament and well just about everywhere.

If you look at the picture in my original post you can see the start of it on the plants.

Wondered if anyone could give me some advice about controlling this, or would it be better to just leave it be?

2) Noticed a tiny little snail on the glass of my tank back last week.

I thought nothing of it at the time. But as the days go by, im noticing more and more, and some are getting quite big. They dont seem to bother the plants and all they seem to do is move around the tank eating the algae!

Any advice on this matter, should i start to remove some of them before it gets out of control or again,should i leave them be.


Thanks again,

- Dj -

 

[waterdrop]

Congrats on the zero ammonia!

re the algae, I've noticed that some of the plant guys will start out there new tanks with the lighting timers set to only turn on for 4 hours, then 5 hours somewhat later on. Timers are ideal so you can have the tank come on perhaps an hour in the morning when you will be seeing and working with it and perhaps 3 hours in the evening when you want to know that yes, you're in the hobby even though you don't have fish

~~waterdrop~~

 

[djl08]

I've noticed that some of the plant guys will start out there new tanks with the lighting timers set to only turn on for 4 hours, then 5 hours somewhat later on.

~~waterdrop~~

I'll look into this, deff a good idea.

How about the Snails, any thoughts?

- Dj -

 

[waterdrop]

OK, I'll say two things about the snails: Firstly, they are an aesthetic choice and you can go either way. They are harmless and natural as far as your aquarium goes, but most aquarists consider them to be quite unsightly after a point and many can't stand seeing -any- and consider them difficult pests. If you have small children they can be quite entertaining if you want to leave one or two big ones but it means you'll always be getting eggs and small snails. There -are- some pretty species that are sold (MTS, others?) and some of those species may not be as prolific, the members would know.

Secondly, assuming you decide to take action and begin fighting the pests before they take over your tank so to speak, I advise a multi-faceted approach. After you get fish you can make a habit of crushing any small snails you can reach and feeding them to your fish, who will love that activity. You can of course, be careful with your feeding as its mostly excess food that they will multiply on. You can periodically sink a weighted leaf of lettuce on a saucer and leave this contraption overnight. In the morning the lettuce will have hopefully attracted a lot of snails and you can slowly lift the contraption out with the saucer hopefully catching most of the ones who have a way of detaching at the right moment and getting away! You can experiment with different veggies and see which ones catch snails better (some of your fish will enjoy the veggie treat perhaps too.) Whenever you remove snails be sure to take them directly out to the garden. If you put them in the indoor trash they will crawl out and get quite a ways through your house before they die, leading to unpleasant crunching noises under your wife's/husband's foot at inconvenient moments!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[djl08]

Thanks again WD! Wow you really are a fountain of knowledge.

I didnt know fishes like to eat snails, perhaps i will keep a few in there then feed them to my fish when i finally finish my cycle. Kind of a house warming gift lol.

Ive updated my log to include today's results, my ammonia has dropped to 3 ppm, and my nitrite and nitrate tests are showing a reading. Is it me or are the N02 and N03 colour codes hard to read. Im finding my nitrite tests especially hard to read.

Thanks again,

- Dj -

 

[waterdrop]

Yeah, I always got frustrated trying to read my chart matchings correctly too, even though I always used the same bright spotlight the same number of inches away. In the long run its better to have a laugh as you're doing, relax, put down your best guess and what will really matter will be when you look back up and down the long line of numbers in your daily logbook and see the "trend!"

~~waterdrop~~

 

[djl08]

Hmm, i know what you mean. Hopefully it will get easier the more i do it.

Updated with yesterdays and todays test results. Ammonia has dropped to zero for the second time, and ive got some nitrites and nitrates. But my Ph has dropped to 7.4. What could have caused this?


- Dj -

 

[waterdrop]

Every time I go back to that top post I think what a great looking tank and cabinet!

Getting some drop in pH is of course totally normal because when you get nitrates, you get some nitric acid, sending the pH downward! No worries yet but of course that's why we bother to measure pH along with ammonia and nitrite.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[djl08]

Well thanks WD.

I still havent received my shipment of plants, its been a week now. I have emailed them today but have not received a reply as of yet. Will look much better when i get them planted.

Glad this Ph drop is normal, will be monitoring it carefully over the next couple of days.

- Dj -