L_Plates - Fishless Cycle Log - Complete

Ok will do, could this have slowed anything down ?

And are all the other sponges ok ?

Its what came with the filter.

Cheers LP
 
Ok will do, could this have slowed anything down ?

And are all the other sponges ok ?

Its what came with the filter.

Cheers LP

Wont make a spot of differnce replacing it IMO. I have 2 Jewl tank and left it the first tank with no probelms, in fact i placed it in my 2nd tank to seed the filter. I belive the problems is the black one is a carbon pad used for removing meds and tannis, if you have had any in the tank the black sponge could leech it back into the tank. I have never added anything to my tank and the bacteria now use it as there home like any other sponge
 
All sponger are all new that are in the filter.

I think it just looks like i will be one of the people who have to wait a little longer for the cycle to kick in hehe.

Cheers LP
 
MOVEMENT !!!

Day 16, 18th April 2011 - 18:30:Ammonia: 2ppm, Nitrite: Off the Scale, Nitrates: 5ppm

test2.jpg


My Tank
tank.jpg
 
When the Nitrites go off the scale i take it nothing has to be done just wait for the nitrates to start being produced ?

Looking forward to see if the remaining ammonia has been chomped on when i get home :)
 
I think high nitrites can effect your PH and make it quite acidic. I cant really advise whats best but i think a water change to dilute it a little is often needed.
 
Agree with BBA, sponges are sponges regardless of what color they are or what they've been dipped in for the marketing people. I think you're just off to a slow start and that those sponges will be ok. I think Tizer's advice works in the sense that some years later when you -replace- the black one you could use a blue one if it's cheaper.

When you hit the nitrite spike that indicates the second phase of the process, you can lower your dosing rate to 2-3ppm rather than the 4-5ppm higher rate. That way you'll be putting less nitrogen into the system, slowing the buildup of excess nitrate and nitric acid which you may just have to water change out eventually anyway. I would not disturb it for now, just lower your dosing rate and keep logging your daily results for all to see. You want to watch for pH crashes of course.

Once you get to the third phase and the nitrite spike begins clearing to zero ppm within 24 hours then it is time to ease the dosing back up to 5ppm over a period of days so that you'll be back to building up the final large and robust colonies of bacteria that you need in order to not get mini spikes of poison when the fish are introduced.

~~waterdrop~~
 
Cheers for the replies. Very helpfull as always, i will start to test across the board daily including PH.

Cheers
LP
 
My only thoughts were, with the black carbon sponge, if they are a temp measure to remove nasties, but after a few weeks then release them back into the water, then the surface area for bio bacteria to build on, in theory, would be poor. i dont fully understand how the sponges are contructed, im just a neat freak :)
 
Day 17, 19th April 2011 - 17:30: Ammonia: 0.25ppm, PH: 7.6, Nitrite: Off the Scale, Nitrates: 20-40ppm, Redosed ammonia to 3ppm

Looking good i hope it continues :)
 
18:30: Ammonia: 0ppm, PH: 7.6, Nitrite: Off the Scale, Nitrates: 20-40ppm, Redosed ammonia to 3ppm

Looking good again :)
 
18:30: Ammonia: 0ppm, PH: 7.6, Nitrite: Off the Scale, Nitrates: 20-40ppm, Redosed ammonia to 3ppm
 
Day 20, 22nd April 2011 - 18:30: Ammonia: 0ppm, PH: 7.6, Nitrite: Off the Scale, Nitrates: 80 - 160ppm, Redosed ammonia to 3ppm

Still ok ? just continue as normal ?

Cheers LP
 
My only thoughts were, with the black carbon sponge, if they are a temp measure to remove nasties, but after a few weeks then release them back into the water, then the surface area for bio bacteria to build on, in theory, would be poor. i dont fully understand how the sponges are contructed, im just a neat freak :)
I don't like to use phrases like "release back" with carbon because I feel it is misleading to beginners. It is referring to the fact that carbon, via charge, will collect as much as it can and then do a little bit of "equilibrium" balancing out at the edge. It is not really significant. Bignose did a pretty full discussion of this in the scientific section a long time ago and my take from it was that the carbon with stuff collected in it can just sit there safely, more or less forever just holding stuff until you throw it out (it collects as much as it's going to hold typically within 3 days.) The carbon surfaces will still be ok as a mediocre biomedia. One of our most common scenerios is for beginners to be pretty far in to cycling (either fishless or fish-in) before they ever hear the info that most experienced aquarists don't bother to use carbon on a regular basis (only for special short-term uses.) At that point in their cycling it is usually actually worse for them to change out the carbon (no matter what form, loose or sponge-attached) because they still don't have big enough colonies and removing the colonies will remove a significant percentage of their bacteria. (apologies if you were only referring to later after cycling, I didn't go back and re-read the flow.)

Day 20, 22nd April 2011 - 18:30: Ammonia: 0ppm, PH: 7.6, Nitrite: Off the Scale, Nitrates: 80 - 160ppm, Redosed ammonia to 3ppm

Still ok ? just continue as normal ?

Cheers LP
LP, you are fine either way. Your nitrates are getting higher, but that hasn't dropped your pH yet, so there's no real need to water change really. On the other hand we sometimes get beginners who are sitting around home for the weekend itching to -do- something to their tank as it's their new found hobby and they have some time. If that's the case I always think no harm done it doing the typical "reset" where you gravel clean all the water our (until the siphon breaks at the substrate level) and then recharge the return water with conditioner, temp-match and correct ammonia dosing (and bicarb if you are doing that to get it to 8.0 to 8.4 range.) It's just not one of those things where we can say whether it might really help your particular fishless cycle or not, so it's better left to your own judgement about your own time and interest (it's often good -practice- for beginners to do a few of these gravel-clean-water-change session during the latter part of fishless cycling because they will then have the logistics down better for when they have fish and a normally running tank (when it will be easier because the amount changed will be less.) (I usually assume most people with big 200+ liter tanks have discovered "Python" type water changing so that it's not much of a big deal to change water.)

~~waterdrop~~
 
Im happy to leave the water alone for a little longer until really necessary ie, ph drop or end of cycle.

I have a hose all ready to go that goes straight to the grid and another straight from the sink to refil :)

Cheers for the reply Waterdrop.
 

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