Help..

[Miss Wiggle]

any plant growth, algae included will hinder cycling to an extent. the extent obviously depends on the amount of plant growth. They will absorb ammonia and nitrite from the water thus preventing the beneficial bacteria from absorbing it and growing. While it will reduce the levels of ammonia and nitrite which is good it will also pro long the cycling perios which is bad. In theory if the algae is doing some of the work of reducing ammonia from the water and you then get rid of it you could see a mini cycle as the filter takes up the slack.

However in reality unless the tank is literally covered with algae or plants the effects will be pretty minimal so really not somethng to be concerned with.

it's like the old myth that drinking milk before bed time sends you to sleep, yes there is something in milk that can make you sleepy, but you'd have to drink buckets of the stuff, one glass isn't gonna make any difference either way

 

[-germ-]

Brilliant, many thanks....

 

[Miss Wiggle]

no probs

 

[-germ-]

Right, i appear to be getting somewhere.
But my readings are confusing...
I have no nitrite whatsover, extremely low ammonia to the point where its closest to zero on my chart although there is a little present, but i also have no nitrate which i thought should be present in low quantities......
Am i missing something?
My chemical treatment only detoxifies ammonia and nitrite and previously they have been present in tests but in obscure off the chart colours, so it can't be that.
Also the small forthnight old tank hasn't cycled, i was so mixed up by the big tank results i double checked the testing kit on the older tank.
How come my old tank isn't cycling while my newer appears to have done so?
Can a tank cycle this fast (week and a half)?
The only thing i can think that may be effecting it would be the foliage, old tank has one plant, new tank about six......
But older tank is tiny, newer tank about 3 times the size if not larger, and the plants have never seemed to have an effect before unless it was their presence that prevented the tank suffering the severe toxic spike i was encouraged to expect.....
I think i may have done it?

 

[-germ-]

---BUMP----

 

[Miss Wiggle]

tanks can often take different times to cycle, size doesn't appear to make a difference. I think there's just a lot of different factors that can affect it so it can be very unpredictable. It's not uncommon at all for people to have 2 cycling tanks and one go a lot faster than the other.

unless you have more than 50% of your substrate covered in plants then don't worry about they're effect on cycling, it won't be noticeable. even if you do then don't worry too much!!

 

[-germ-]

Heres hoping that is the end of my traumatic cycling experience.....
Cheers for your patience and advice wiggles
Anyone else thats helped out with my various queries thanks for your input and comments

 

[Miss Wiggle]

no problem