Fishless Cycle First Week Results

[rabbut]

Looks like you are almost done After nitrite hits zero, keep adding ammonia for a week after, as a new bacteria is fragile. Even a slight knock can caurse a mini-cycle. Not too bad if the ammonia source is artificial, but if you have fish in the tank....

All the best
Rabbut

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yay, glad it's moving on, and it'd also say wait a week, keep adding your 5ppm of ammonia every day, if it's stable still after a week then do a big water change and your good to go.

 

[Jazee B]

yay, glad it's moving on, and it'd also say wait a week, keep adding your 5ppm of ammonia every day, if it's stable still after a week then do a big water change and your good to go.

thank you for everyones support and wise words. Just thought, is it best to do the big water change the day before I pick up my fishy friends so then I can check the levels again the morning of he big day. I've just tested my nitrite at its at 0 for the first time so I feel like i'm really getting there now.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

best bet is the day you're going to get your fish, do the large water change, then while the waters coming up to temp you go and pick up your fishies and it'll all be read for when you get back.

If you leave it too long after doing the water change you'll need to add ammonia again, which means you'd need to do another water change again. Not really any need to test the water after the big water change tbh.

 

[Jazee B]

Sorry to hassle everyone again with more questions but I'm a little confused. I've been testing my tank every 12 hours to make sure that all the levels are going the right way. My ammonia has been cycling in less than 12 hours for about week and my nitrite has just started cycling in 12 hours. haven't tested the nitrate in a while so I have just done it tonight expecting it to be bright purple but it was completely clear. Is this normal? Have I done something wrong? thanks in advance for any words of wisdom. becky

 

[Miss Wiggle]

nitrate test kits are notoriously dodgy so i would suspect it's a duff test, did you do a re-test?

at any rate don't be overly concerned about it, the ammonia and nitrite tests are more accurate and they are the critical ones, so longas you know the 5ppm of ammonia is processing to 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite in 12 hrs then youre good to go.

 

[Jazee B]

nitrate test kits are notoriously dodgy so i would suspect it's a duff test, did you do a re-test?

at any rate don't be overly concerned about it, the ammonia and nitrite tests are more accurate and they are the critical ones, so longas you know the 5ppm of ammonia is processing to 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite in 12 hrs then youre good to go.

Hi MW, I did do a retest and its still clear!! I had a little blip yesterday and the nitrite took about 18 hours to process but it's back to 12 hours now. is this normal? becky

 

[Jazee B]

just another thing, sorry! You know I've been having a problem with my pH level dropping well it's gone up to 7.5/8 over the past few days, is this an indicator that the chemical levels are stabilising ie end of cycle???

 

[Miss Wiggle]

probably just a dodgy nitrate test kit, don't worry over it, like i said so long as you know the ammonia and nitrite are being processed that's what matters.

refresh my memory, did you add anything to get the pH to stabilise?

 

[Jazee B]

yeah i added 1 tablespoon of baking soda that was over a week ago though now.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

cool, well it's the effect of the baking soda that's stabilised the pH, that's what it's meant to do so it's all good.

I honestly would not stress over the nitrate at all.

 

[Jazee B]

I've just done my usual tests nitrite is still cycling in 12 hours did a nitrate test and the water did go very slight pink colour but i'm just going by my other results as you said. I'm still planning on fish day on sunday, I can't believe how excited I am.

 

[waterdrop]

Sounds great Becky, getting excited for you! Keep testing after you get fish, to watch for ammonia and nitrite then too.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Miss Wiggle]

brilliant!

what fish are you planning on getting.

 

[Jazee B]

brilliant!

what fish are you planning on getting.

I was thinking 6 cardinal tetras. 6 rummy nose tetras, either a clown or bristlenose plec and a banded gourami. i worked out gourami at 4", plec at 5" and my tetras at 1" each. I just hope my nitrite behaves itself between now and sunday morning.