Fishless Cycle :)

[Prime Ordeal]

(Please see my first post)

Is it normal to see nitrite on day 2 of the cycle ... it seems to be going nice and quickly.. any comments/suggestions ?

Definitely not. Not unless, by sheer luck, you've got every parameter just right for the growth of the bacteria and looking at your readings they don't seem to be.

The only way I know to get nitrite that soon is to dose with a 'bacteria-in-a-bottle' product, or to seed the tank with mature media. Have you done either of these?

 

[the_lock_man]

(Please see my first post)

Is it normal to see nitrite on day 2 of the cycle ... it seems to be going nice and quickly.. any comments/suggestions ?

Definitely not. Not unless, by sheer luck, you've got every parameter just right for the growth of the bacteria and looking at your readings they don't seem to be.

The only way I know to get nitrite that soon is to dose with a 'bacteria-in-a-bottle' product, or to seed the tank with mature media. Have you done either of these?

It may be that the OP was lucky and had some A-bacs in the water supply. Sounds to me like Corinne is a lucky bunny.

 

[Prime Ordeal]

It may be that the OP was lucky and had some A-bacs in the water supply. Sounds to me like Corinne is a lucky bunny.

Don't see how that's possible. If there really were sufficient AOB in the source water to get nitrite on day 2 then there would also be a serious amount of pathogenic bacteria in there as well, in which case the supply company would be chloraminating the supply exactly for the purpose of killing these bacteria. Somewhat of a catch 22 situation! Or is this well water we're talking about?

 

[the_lock_man]

It may be that the OP was lucky and had some A-bacs in the water supply. Sounds to me like Corinne is a lucky bunny.

Don't see how that's possible. If there really were sufficient AOB in the source water to get nitrite on day 2 then there would also be a serious amount of pathogenic bacteria in there as well, in which case the supply company would be chloraminating the supply exactly for the purpose of killing these bacteria. Somewhat of a catch 22 situation! Or is this well water we're talking about?

To get 0.25ppm ammonia, only 0.1ppm (or approximately, the exact amount is slightly less than 0.1) of ammonia needs to be processed - I wouldn't have said that was a sufficient amount to discount the possibility.

 

[Corrine]

Prime Ordeal,

I did dose with nutrafin cycle ... as I had it in the house and thought it wouldn't do any harm .. I hope its not a false reading .. I don't know anyone with tropical fish and and my LFS has undergravel filters so haven't been able to get a hold of any mature media ..




The lock man,

I hope so fingers crossed

 

[Corrine]

OH NO !! (See first post for updated cycle)

Why has my ammonia not gone down very much but my nitrites and nitrates are increasing?!!?

Help..

 

[Prime Ordeal]

Don't worry too much about the nitrate at this stage as the reading will be affected by the presence of nitrite.

The nitrite, however, can only increase by using up ammonia, so if the ammonia is not reducing you must have another source going into the tank somehow. Did you start off with fish food to produce ammonia - is it still in there? Are there any plants or wood in there that may be decaying? Have you added any other organic products or additives?

Edit: Actually, looking at it from day 1, you had about 5ppm ammonia and now its 4ppm. So, within the accuracy of the ammonia test there has been about 1ppm ammonia processed. That converts to almost 2.7ppm nitrite, and you say the reading is between 2 and 5, so it all looks quite reasonable.

 

[Corrine]

Don't worry too much about the nitrate at this stage as the reading will be affected by the presence of nitrite.

The nitrite, however, can only increase by using up ammonia, so if the ammonia is not reducing you must have another source going into the tank somehow. Did you start off with fish food to produce ammonia - is it still in there? Are there any plants or wood in there that may be decaying? Have you added any other organic products or additives?

Thanks for your quick reply

The ammonia does appear to be lighter than 4ppm but not much. There has been no fish food added at all. There is redmoor root in the tank, but it does not appear to be decaying. No plants. I did add nutrafin cycle at the very beginning.. but heard it doesn't do much so haven't added again ... Any ideas

 

[Prime Ordeal]

Any ideas

See my ammended post.

Oh, and the nutrafin cycle can't harm so add in any you had left over.

 

[Corrine]

Any ideas

See my ammended post.

Aaaah great.. ! Sorry I missed your ammended post .

So I should continue to wait untill ammonia reaches 0, then re-dose up to 2-3ppm? Does this mean my nitrites will be way above 5ppm?? If so.. is this a problem?

Sorry for all the questions.. I am just the most inpatient person EVER and want it cycled yesterday hehe.. th thought of having to wait 2months is just DIRE!!!!

I have a whole bottle of nutrafin cycle.. So just added the amount as instructed

 

[Corrine]

Updated day 7 (at start of thread) ! Hurry up ammonia, and get to 0 !!!

 

[OldMan47]

The first drop from 5 ppm ammonia to zero often takes about 3 weeks. After that, each drop to zero goes faster.

 

[Corrine]

The first drop from 5 ppm ammonia to zero often takes about 3 weeks. After that, each drop to zero goes faster.

Thanks oldman, fingers crossed I'm on the right track then

 

[Corrine]

Day 9 updated

 

[OldMan47]

You are doing fine. The ramp up of nitrites is promising.