Hungrydoug's Continuing Fishless Cycle

[Hungrydoug]

Morning.

Been busy getting a promotion at work and building a shed and things, so not had much time to browse the forum, however I've been continuing with the testing and ammonia dosing.

I'm beginning to get a bit bored of the whole thing now! Second attempt at the fishless cycle is progressing as per the graph. I'm slightly beyond the stage I was at when the first attempt failed (in the nitrite spike, but the ammonia is clearing within 24 hours). The nitrite reading on the spreadsheet is noted as 5 as this is as high as the colour chart goes, but the drops turn purple just after hitting the bottom of the tube indicating a much higher reading. The current nitrate reading is between 5 and 10 on the colour chart so I leave it a 7.5 on the chart.

My question is, do I just grit my teeth for another few weeks to get it finished? I'm getting real pressure to get some fish in the tank that I've had for over six months now, I had to concede a bit and get some plants and rocks for SWMBO so at least there's something to look at in the tank. I'm guessing the nitrate drop the day after I got the plants is a result of their inclusion?

It's taken so long that I've had to order another API ammonia test as my other one ran out! I managed to break one of the other test tubes though, so was handy to replace that at least!

Thanks!

 

[waterdrop]

Makes you want to roll in the mass spectrometer, the gas chromatograph and the nuclear magnetic resonance machine and figure out why some people's water just doesn't want to make the bacteria happy! Oh heck, maybe there's a flaw in your process.. I'm sure the guys will analyze... WD

 

[OldMan47]

You might try a big water change to get your nitrites down to where you can measure them again. I don't know why, but it sometimes seems to help if you can actually read the nitrite levels.

 

[Hungrydoug]

Thanks guys.

This is pretty much the stage I got to in the first attempt (except the ammonia was taking around 36 hours to clear instead of <24 hours) so I was planning on a 75% water change on tonight and redose everything. The nitrite spike should be over soon?

I’ve also noticed that I have a healthy crop of algae on the tank now, a little bit of brown and a lot of fine white strands. My main concern though is the ‘oil slick’ on the surface of the water. It’s quite cohesive in that when you push something through it, it breaks into shards then re-congeals after a while. Not sure where this has come from or how do get rid of it. Any ideas?

 

[OldMan47]

If it is from a simple bacterial action or a breakdown of fish food, an oily slick can be removed using a bit of paper towel laid on the surface and then removed.

 

[Hungrydoug]

Thanks OM47, a few paper towels mopped it up.

Did a 75% water change and the nitrite test immediately after had the drops turning straight to purple in the bottom of the tube. Guess I've got another wait on my hands for the nitrite bacteria to build!

 

[Hungrydoug]

The good news is that the nitrate is beginning to rise again, (indicating that the nitrite is being processed?) Hopefully not long now!

Started looking at fish with regard to stocking yesterday and was a bit shocked to see the Ultimate Aquatics in Cupar has closed!

 

[waterdrop]

We continue to find anecdotes that high nitrite and nitrate are develpmental inhibitors, fueling speculation that larger, more frequent water changing -during- the last periods of fishless cycling might lead to a faster process than leaving things undisturbed. In a case like yours where a 75% water change left enough nitrite in the water to give dark purple when the reagent drops were added, my feeling would be that you didn't get as much benefit from your work as you could have. I'd even consider a dual water change (a second right after the first, maybe refilling with dechlor water to about 50% height and running the filter 10 min between) to try and get as much nitrite and nitrate out as possible. Even though nitrite is the fuel for the N-Bacs, it will be back in sufficient quantity shortly after ammonia is re-dosed at this stage because the A-Bacs are now so efficient. If you think about it, anything less than a down-to-the-gravel water change during fishless cycling has no meaning because there are no fish. Partial water changes exist only to provide some protection to fish.

I do think you're getting much closer now.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[FishyWishie]

I was suprised too Doug given there website is still running we wen't through in the car to look at there stock and it wasn't there

 

[Hungrydoug]

I was suprised too Doug given there website is still running we wen't through in the car to look at there stock and it wasn't there

Apparently they're only doing mail order, but I phone their number the day i went through and it just rang out.

Anyway...

Nitrates have finally shown an increase again after the previous spike so I'm hoping that the nitrite spike will soon finally be over. Currently at day 66 of the fishless cycle (attempt two) so it's really day 156!

Thanks WD for the advice above, Did a 95% change on Thursday and planning another tomorrow night.

 

[Hungrydoug]

Of course the second I bemoan my lack of progress in processing the nitrite last night's test result was 0ppm! Dosed 4ppm of ammonia this morning and am interested to see what the test results are this evening.

Nearly there (at long last)!

 

[Hungrydoug]

Now I'm getting really annoyed!

Added the 4ppm of ammonia yesterday morning so of course last night's test was off the scale! Same result tonight so I can only imagine I did something wrong with the test yesterday. Did a nearly 100% water change tonight and the nitrite test just after showed 0.25ppm. Added ammonia after the water change so fingers crossed for tomorrow's test and so much for possibly getting fish on Saturday.

And the nirites are so high that I can;t even get the fish anyway and do a fish-in cycle.

Just had to rant there, sorry!

 

[Hungrydoug]

SUCCESS!!!!

Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday have had double zeros at 12 hours, so after 163 days I'm finally ready for fish.

Just had to share!

 

[waterdrop]

Sheesh! This would have to come in the middle of my busy period and I missed it!

CONGRATS DOUG!

 

[PDSimon]

I missed it too, congratulations, its nice to see this end it must have been difficult!