Fishless Cycling Trouble! Any Advice Appreciated1

[Mamashack]

wahhhhh! my pH crashed from 7.8 this morning to 6.4 this evening!
nitrAtes at 160ppm so maybe a conversion to nitric acid caused the crash!
done a 60% water change to try to recover the pH and hopefully the FBs are still alive!
Retest in ½hr!!
Watch this space!

 

[Welshweeks]

Hope you sorted it out!

 

[Mamashack]

Did a 60% W/C last night at midnight! ½hr later pH was still only 6.8 and nitrAtes @ 80ppm, but didn't have energy to do another W/C before bed so I've just done 85% W/C this morning and about to check pH which is 7.0 so at least it's neutral tho was hoping it would be over 7 tbh.
Will be checking nitrAtes later - wish I'd done the W/C when the nitrAtes first showed 160 but the pH was ok at that time. Didn't realise how quickly it could all change!
Just hoping I don't have to start from scratch now! Will add ammonia now and do tests later this evening

 

[Welshweeks]

I've got a feeling this is whats happened to my tank, I let the nitrates get too high. Didn't have to worry about them when I cycled my 180L tank, strange. Hope it gets sorted for you.

 

[Welshweeks]

Just tested water and finally the ammonia has started to drop, it's down to approx 0.5ppm a definite shade lighter than last night so hopefully things will start to go in the right direction. The nitrite is reading slightly above 0ppm.
 
Will wait and see (as I ain't got any other choice)! 

 

[Mamashack]

me too!
 
 
Think we posted at same time! lol
 
Good luck with yours! It's quite trying at times! lol

 

[aaronc]

Good stuff guys! Hope you are nearing the end of the cycle

 

[Welshweeks]

Checked my ammonia again this eve and still no change looking like 0.50-1.0ppm this eve so maybe I was a bit optimistic this morning! Will give another few days and if nothing happening may ditch the media in there and put a "fresh" batch of mature media in from my 180L filter.
 
Not really sure how much I can take from the external 180L filter, I'm sure I read I could take/replace upto a third, anyone confirm this?

 

[Mamashack]

Sorry have no experience of switching media from filter - good luck with that!
Believe it or not, my tank seems to have recovered from its spectacular pH crash last night <crosses fingers, spits and turns round in a circle!>
12 hrs after adding ammonia to 2ppm following 85% w/c:
pH tonight is back to 7.8
ammonia 0!!!!! yay
nitrItes  0-0.25 (but much closer to 0 than 0.25!)
nitrAtes 40-80
Am so relieved! I know it's too early to crow, but I can't help it! lol
Hope yours settles down soon!

 

[Welshweeks]

Good news then.
 
I think I'll buy some new sponges for my larger external filter tomorrow and then take some more mature sponge to fill my little internal one. I have 3 baskets in the external so there's plenty to spare I think.

 

[This Old Spouse]

Checked my ammonia again this eve and still no change looking like 0.50-1.0ppm this eve so maybe I was a bit optimistic this morning! Will give another few days and if nothing happening may ditch the media in there and put a "fresh" batch of mature media in from my 180L filter.
 
Not really sure how much I can take from the external 180L filter, I'm sure I read I could take/replace upto a third, anyone confirm this?

 
Yes, you should be able to safely take up to a third. Replace with new media so the colony can start rebuilding.

 

[Welshweeks]

Thanks old spouse

 

[Welshweeks]

Well, I just removed the majority of the media that was in the filter and replaced it with mostly ceramics from my 180L external filter so it's all mature stuff (around 1 year old), picture below. Hopefully this will kick start the cycle BIG TIME (I hope)!!!!!
 
I thought it best to put some sponge top/bottom to help catch any particles. 
 

 
I'll just keep a careful eye on the nitrates this time! A smaller tank is harder to maintain than a larger tank (water chemistry wise)!

 

[Welshweeks]

Almost 48hrs since adding the "new" mature ceramics and guess what....................
 
 
Still no change at all!
 
Ammonia - 2.0ppm
Nitrites - 0ppm
Nitrates 20-40ppm (same as tap water)
PH - 7.6ppm
Temp - 30 Deg C (I raised it slightly from 29 last night)
 

 

[Welshweeks]

Still the same this morning 

 
I'm getting to the point where I'm thinking of doing a full water change and then adding 20 RCS and monitoring the water as I would think the bio-load would be tiny from the shrimp.
 
Desperation starting to kick in!!