Kporteo's Fishless Cycles.....taaaake 3!

[anon02]

That`s good to hear K

 

[waterdrop]

great K! WD

 

[kporteo]

Down to 0.5ppm today for my ammonia and Nitrite looks the same 0.125ppm.....fingers crossed il get my 1st 0ppm reading tomora or wed cos im off work!!
K

 

[anon02]

The a bacs lead you into a false sense of security then the n bacs put the knife in, buggers

 

[waterdrop]

I think you should get one of our patience awards.

 

[kporteo]

I think I should too!! I first filled my tank on 20th Aug!!! If someone had said I still would be cycling, and barely cycling too, 2 months later I think Id have laughed in their face!!!
Tested today and its definately lighter than 0.5ppm but not quite 0.25ppm yet!
K

 

[waterdrop]

Those of us that watch these over and over for years can't help but wish for more parameters that we could measure. There are always a certain percentage of cyclers that have a very hard time and its often very difficult to figure out why. (Of course, historically, it was worse before the nitrogen cycle itself was really recognized for its practical value in controlling the procedure.) WD

 

[kporteo]

Got my first 0ppm today!!!
Added more ammonia to get it to 4ppm again, do i continue to test ammonia and nitrite daily? When ammonia gets to 0ppm I add more each time? When do i set an 'add hour'? When do I start to test every 12hrs?
K

 

[kporteo]

Tested again today and ammonia is reading 1.5ppm so my A-bacs seem to be little greedy beggars now ive got them!! Do i just continue to test every 24hours?
K

 

[anon02]

Shortly you will need to test at 12 hour intervals (but only dose if the level has dropped to 0ppm in the last 24 hours since dosing), so I would pick a time that suits you best like 9am and 9pm. So you would test and dose at 9 am and then test at 9pm for instance

 

[kporteo]

I cant do 12 hour testing.....argh!!! I work shifts and could maybe manage 15hrs? Would that be ok?
K

 

[anon02]

It will be a couple of weeks until your filter reduces the ammo to 0 in 12 hours on a regular basis

It`s the dosing at 24 hours that`s the important bit, the 12 hour test is just to keep an eye on where the cycle is up to

I was reading an article where the guy would dose 1ppm four times a day to fit in with his work and his tank cycled in 21 days

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, 15 hr will be fine to help give you an idea of how much faster than 24 hours its getting. WD

 

[kporteo]

Just a quick update, tank is consuming 4ppm of ammonia down to 0ppm in 48hrs, nitrites reading at 0.25ppm, so Ive done something right this time!!!

K

 

[waterdrop]

Yeah, am I not remembering correctly that last time your tank kept getting stuck for super long periods doing nothing? Now at least its repeatedly -doing- something! Hang in there K.