Fishless Cycle- Water Query

[bretty1984]

Sorry to keep clarifying things.

Right so I should remove the carbon and the biomax and leave the sponge and then fill the rest of the space up with the media that the lfs gave me?

It seems as though it is plastic??

 

[eaglesaquarium]

OK... Yes.  That's exactly what to do.
 
 
I'd replace the plastic bits over time with your biomax...  Maybe place a bit of your biomax mixed in with the other stuff.

 

[bretty1984]

I shall do that right now. Thanks

 

[bretty1984]

I have done this now, what I have noticed is that instantly the water does not look so clear. Is this normal?i have so much media left over from the Lfs what should I do with it??
What I did was remove the carbon, leave the biomax in but put lots of the Lfs media in there. I hope I haven't messed anything up, but I will take some readings in the morning.
I think something has happened and I had an algae clear bag in the filter, it is only relatively small but it seems to have split and has entered the water. Is this something I should be concerned about or should I carry out a water change?

I can't believe this.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Its ok...
 
I don't know what the 'algae clear' stuff is.  A lot of filters and tank companies sell a bunch of stuff that's not necessary.  I'm sure whatever the stuff is, it isn't dangerous in the tank. 
 
The cloudiness is probably just a bit of 'detritus' from the LFS media (which is just fish waste, etc)... which on the surface seems like a bad thing.  But, what it means is that the flow through that media is strong... which it needs to be... and that the media is full of bacteria.
 
 
As for the extra... I'd probably give it to someone else... you don't need it.  Leave it in the tank, but if you have a friend who has a tank, give it to them... or set up another tank. (MTS - multiple tank syndrome - gets a lot of us.)
 
 
Relax...  the fish will be in the tank soon.  Take a reading on the tank in about 12 hours... I think you'll be pleased with the results.

 

[bretty1984]

Well even though it isn't quite 12 hours, I have just taken a reading and the ammonia is still the same, around 0.25ppm and the nitrite has not dropped at all from the looks of things as the colour of the test solution is nowhere near the colours on the chart.
 
I am a little stumped at the moment!

 

[bretty1984]

Just to give more info I also did a nitrate reading and got a reading of 20ppm. Not sure if that is relevant at all?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

It is relevant. What's the reading in your tap water?


It will happen.

 

[bretty1984]

I will give the water a test tomorrow evening around 6pm as I am back in work tomorrow and out of the house from 5:40am.

 

[Gruntle]

Patience is the key. My nitrites were off the scale for a couple of weeks (even with mature media from another tank) and dropped from well over 5ppm to 0 within 3 days. Then it took another week til I got the magical 0/0 readings consistently.

 

[bretty1984]

that is very re-assuring to know.

 

[bretty1984]

I have just taken an ammonia and nitrite reading.the ammonia is exactly the same whilst the nitrite looks the same but it may have dropped ever so slightly, but not really enough to say that it definitely has.

 

[bretty1984]

Just to give a short update on this.
It seems as though my nitrites are dropping. It has been off the chart for some while but yesterday I took a reading and the purple test solution was a lot lighter, so much lighter that I would have said it was between 0.25 and 1.0ppm, leaning more towards 0.25.
 
Fingers crossed!

 

[Gruntle]

You're getting there! Just don't get impatient now, it could take a little bit longer than you hope.

 

[bretty1984]

Hello! Just to give another update, yesterday I got to the stage where I had two zero readings one after the other, so I now have a nice Betta in the tank who has been in there for 24 hours and is looking pretty happy!
 
It has been three weeks of patience and lots of help from this site, and I have to thank eaglesaquarium for all the help given to me via private message!
 
Now I am on my way, I look forward to using this site in more depth!