Leeroy's Fishless Cycle Log..... Day 33 Am Test

[m00se]

Keep the faith! Seriously, it'll get frustrating, but those little Nitrospira will rally soon enough, and when they do they tend to do it pretty much overnight. Try and focus on something else in the meantime, or you'll go crazy and start dreaming about bacterial colonies...

 

[leeroy]

Try and focus on something else in the meantime, or you'll go crazy and start dreaming about bacterial colonies...

thats 1 i wouldn't like to admit

thankfully im quite busy at work at the mo so i not at home to much looking at the empty tank otherwise i'd be much more impatient. Im trying to get some used media and gravel from me mates tank to help speed the process up a little....

I've got a funny feeling i've dosed possible twice as much ammonia in the first hit as well so this initial ammonia drop is gonna take ages

 

[m00se]

On the plus side, your resulting colonies will be mahoosive if you've overdosed the ammonia

 

[waterdrop]

At about 8ppm ammonia concentration the wrong species of bacteria may "win out" over the species we are trying to encourage. If you feel the overdose could have been that much higher than 5ppm then you need to change out some water to dilute it.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[leeroy]

Well on saying that the day 8 test seems to have shown the nitrites jumping up to 5+ ppm although the colours are getting a little harder to distinguish!!

Do you still reckon a partial water change???

 

[waterdrop]

Well, the problem is that the "wrong" species that's encouraged at 8ppm are also ammonia processors and will produce plenty of nitrites, but then when the ammonia concentration gets lower on a regular basis, they will die out causing period without ammonia processors or a big slowdown in the cycle process while the correct (Nitrosomonas) species re-populates their spaces. So you don't want to be fishless cycling up at 8ppm. You keep listing 5+ppm, so I don't really know what that means.

 

[leeroy]

You keep listing 5+ppm, so I don't really know what that means.

my ammonia test kit only goes up to 5ppm and the colour is developing to 5ppm well within the time quoted to leave the test.

after the ammonia has dropped i'll ensure that any other top up is a little more precise than the first dose

 

[waterdrop]

Just go for a color below the 5ppm

 

[leeroy]

Just go for a color below the 5ppm

5ppm is all my tetra test kit goes up to so i have no colout to match to....




been major busy this past week and haven't had time to update daily buts here a quick update...

ammonia level has dropped to zero all of a sudden so each evening i have been topping back up to 2ppm as the Nitrite leves have gone off the chart. Im measuring the amount of ammonia added correctly now with the help of the calculator . it appears that the 2ppm of ammonia i being processed within 12hrs

Nitrite level have gone off the chart now so wating for these to drop.

Nitrate levels have also gone off the chart. I assume this is a good thing.

Do i need to be keeping the ammonia at 2ppm by added every 12hrs or is just adding 2ppm of ammonia every 24hrs ok??

any other comments or advice welcome

 

[jmkgreen]

Every 24 hrs should be fine. Just keep an eye on your pH level - if you nitrates go high enough it'll cause a pH drop which in turn can reduce bacteria development.

 

[leeroy]

pH seems to be at a pretty stable 7.4 so far

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, agree that was good advice, your pH can drop all of a sudden.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[leeroy]

Day 14 done now.... still waiting for the nitrites to drop........

Was thinking of maybe popping so decor into the tank and start getting an idea of how to have it. plus it'll save looking at an empty tank..

 

[leeroy]

day 15 and nitrites still spiking!! come down damm you!!!

 

[waterdrop]

Oh calm down now, martinking just passed Day 100.