Just Started My First Fishless Cycle

[joshybjoshy]

its 180litres/47.5g and the filter does 1000litres/264g per hour so it works out about 5.5 time an hour.

the stuff im using is seachrem water conditioner. (i did mean nitrite) its reduces chloring/nitrite and nitrate

 

[fatheadminnow]

What kind of fish are you going to be getting? 5.5x is good, as 5x is the minimum you should go.

You can never "over-filter" a tanks, so it is up to you if you want to get another filter or not. And no, it will not slow down the cycle at all, if anything it will speed it up, but that is unlikely.

-FHM

 

[OldMan47]

You did the right thing Joshybjoshy. By cleaning a filter like that, you may have shortened your cycle considerably. I do something much like that and cycle a typical new filter in a week or so.

 

[joshybjoshy]

im going to have some sort of cichlids not sure yet. the lfs suggested i get this filter it is on offer and does 1500litres per hour so will help quite a bit

 

[joshybjoshy]

Just done a test because i was bored ammonia is going down nicely but so is the PH should i be worried about it yet?

 

[joshybjoshy]

just added 2 pieces of ocean rock so that should hopefully bring it back up a bit

 

[OldMan47]

You may need to do a water change or even add some buffer such as bicarbonate of soda to control that pH before it goes below 6.5. Often all it takes is a simple water change to refresh the buffer levels that are present in most tap water.

 

[fatheadminnow]

Yup, I would not be too worried yet about your pH, but definitely keep an eye on it! pH is always prone to fluctuating during a cycle tank because of the different levels of ammonia present in the tank. The pH should stabilize after the cycle has completed, if not, then we take a further look into it.n For now, just do what OldMan said, a water change if it gets near 6.5.

-FHM

 

[joshybjoshy]

my tap water is ph8.2 so will keep an eye on it for a bit if it goes below 7 ill do a 50% what you think?

ive added another Fluval U4 filter aswel instead of an external filter

 

[OldMan47]

Adding a filter rather than replacing the old one means you won't lose any of the progress on your cycle. That is a good thing. As long as the pH stays above 7.0, your cycle should keep moving forward just fine. When it is time for a water change go ahead with it. There is no reason to hold back on the size of the water change. The water that you add back in can easily be dosed up with ammonia so just change as much water as you can without destroying the tank's decor. Don't forget to deal with the heater and filter while you are doing that water change. You don't want to damage them.

 

[joshybjoshy]

its below 7 tomorrow ill do a full water change on it as the tap water where i live is ph8.2 and i have ocean rock in there so it should bring it back up.

How much bakin soda do you need to add to bring it back up?

 

[OldMan47]

If you do a full water change with 8.2 pH water, you will not need to add any bicarb to bring the pH back up. It will come up quite nicely with the water change.

 

[joshybjoshy]

3 tablespoons of bicarb did the trick back up to ph8 now

 

[fatheadminnow]

That's good, but I really would not worry about your pH during the cycle. Like I said earlier, the pH is prone to fluctuations during a cycle, as there are different levels of ammonia that can pull the pH around, as well as a high nitrate level can mess with the pH. If a couple weeks after the cycle has finished and you are still experiencing problems with your pH, then that would be a time to look into it further.

-FHM

 

[OldMan47]

I must disagree FHM. Joshybjoshy has already lost a full point of pH from over 8.0 to less than 7.0 in just a few days. Water there must have a very low KH to move like that. It means that this time the pH must be monitored to avoid a crash. As you say, when the cycle is finished is soon enough to try to finesse it.