Fishless Cyling Help

[lucasluke]

Is this normal? I have been doing my fishless cycle for a few weeks now and I recently got seeded media and it has sped things up ALOT. My ammonia has been dropping from 4ppm in 24 hours [not ready yet i know] and been converting to nitrite. At first there was no sign of nitrites but one day they shot up to deep purple which is off the scale apparently. They have been like this for around 3 days and just today it has gone back to blue! There is tons of nitrates and now I am wondering wether or not nitrites coming down all at once is normal? Thanks!

 

[Miles_hot]

Good news mature media is a great thing

 

[Aqua Tom]

Excellent news. You Nbacs are thriving.

 

[lucasluke]

Yay thanks! Topped up to 5ppm as according to a guide so now ready to start doing 12 hours tests soon i reckon

 

[HayzH]

Yay thanks! Topped up to 5ppm as according to a guide so now ready to start doing 12 hours tests soon i reckon

<<<<<<< Jelous ...very...lol looking good x

 

[lucasluke]

Yay thanks! Topped up to 5ppm as according to a guide so now ready to start doing 12 hours tests soon i reckon

<<<<<<< Jelous ...very...lol looking good x

hi dont worry it will get there soon to kinda kick my off i added a teaspoon of bicarb soda it really did the trick. also get yourself some mature media

 

[lucasluke]

Spoken too soon - after topping up to 5ppm last night ammonia is down to around 0ppm again but nitrites have gone through roof again. Is this right??

 

[HayzH]

Yay thanks! Topped up to 5ppm as according to a guide so now ready to start doing 12 hours tests soon i reckon

<<<<<<< Jelous ...very...lol looking good x

hi dont worry it will get there soon to kinda kick my off i added a teaspoon of bicarb soda it really did the trick. also get yourself some mature media

i have mature media in there!!! grrrr

 

[waterdrop]

I believe you are experiencing what we refer to and the "bouncing" effect. This is why it is important to keep a good log and just go steadily along in fishless cycling regardless of whether the media is seeded (MM) or not. I will often bounce on you and your goal is to proceed through the 12 hour testing and then on to the qualifying week and not let any of these sudden double-zero days fake you out. They are generally a good sign though!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[lucasluke]

My log for the past few days:

AMMONIA NITRITE NITRATE
4ppm 5ppm + N/A
0.25ppm 5ppm + 100 Topped ammonia up to 4ppm.
0.50ppm 5ppm + 100
0.00ppm 0ppm 100 Topped ammonia up to 4ppm.
0.00ppm 5ppm + 100 Topped ammonia up to 4ppm.

After doing some thinking I think the double zero reading was because there was 48 hours for the nitrite to go down?

 

[lucasluke]

Another set of double zero's again today !

 

[waterdrop]

Yeah, it's bouncing. You have to log whether the readings are coming at 12 hours or 24 hours or are very far off from those readings. The third phase of fishless cycling comes after your first drop of nitrite to zero after 24 hours. After that it often bounces and then gets very reliable at dropping to zero somewhere close to 24 hours and then slowly begins working toward zero at 12 hours. You can watch the progress by watching how much less nitrite there is at the 12-hour nitrite test day after day. Once you get your first double-zero at 12-hours after dosing then you can start your qualifying week.

WD

 

[lucasluke]

Yeh I am probably going to keep adding ammonia and see if I get double zeros within 24 hours. Ill do this until Friday and then I will start 12 hour testing. Sound about right? Seen as I haven't had consistent double zeros yet in 24 hours.

I will test again tonight at my usual time and post back.

 

[lucasluke]

Ammonia:0.00ppm
Nitrite: 5ppm +

Looks like it is bouncing. It is taking roughly 48 hours from the point of adding ammonia to the point nitrites are completely clear. Is this normal in these early stages? Hopefully it is because nitrite has been dropping for about 4 days now.

 

[lucasluke]

Today's results:

Ammonia:0.10ppm (was slightly over 0ppm but not 0.25ppm)

I am gonna class this one as 0ppm as I accidently added about 6ppm ammonia yesterday. So assuming I added 4ppm it would be zero.

Nitrite: 0ppm

It goes from 5ppm to 0ppm to 5ppm to 0ppm. Hopefully I get a 0ppm reading tomorrow!

PH: 8