Hello!
I am into my second week of fishless cycling. Currently, I have about 4ppm ammonia, 2 ppm nitrites, and 7 ppm nitrates.
Does 1ppm ammonia->1ppm nitrites->1ppm nitrates?
My reason for asking is this: I had added enough ammonia to get to 4 ppm, however, I have not yet had to add to that quantity to maintain this level. However, I have 9ppm total of nitrites and nitrates. Does this sound correct?
I am wondering if the ammonia may be from rotting plant leaves: I lost most of my anacharis, and many vallis leaves turned to brown goo. I have tried to pluck all of the dead leaves out, but since it turns to goo, I cannot get a hold of it and sucking it out is extremely hard, as it sticks to the other plants.
Finally, my aquarium is overtaken by this whitish/transluscent stuff, I would describe it as dusty cobwebs: it initially looks just like dust, but given a few days, I notice long cobwebs of the stuff. It is very slimy. I would presume this is some type of algae, but it isn't green and doesn't seem to fit the descriptions I've read about. It is also seeming to make the hornwort rot and die as it covers it in a nasty clog. The bad thing is it's really starting to cover the plants. I attempted to brush it off, but there is so much of it! Is there anything I should do at this stage?
The good news is that after plucking 5 pond snails out of the tank in the first 3 days, I haven't spotted any new ones in a week. I also noticed that my java fern is growing new plants on its leaves. Two of my vallis already sent out shoots and are growing a new plant. It has recovered nicely after initially turning entirely to goo.
I am into my second week of fishless cycling. Currently, I have about 4ppm ammonia, 2 ppm nitrites, and 7 ppm nitrates.
Does 1ppm ammonia->1ppm nitrites->1ppm nitrates?
My reason for asking is this: I had added enough ammonia to get to 4 ppm, however, I have not yet had to add to that quantity to maintain this level. However, I have 9ppm total of nitrites and nitrates. Does this sound correct?
I am wondering if the ammonia may be from rotting plant leaves: I lost most of my anacharis, and many vallis leaves turned to brown goo. I have tried to pluck all of the dead leaves out, but since it turns to goo, I cannot get a hold of it and sucking it out is extremely hard, as it sticks to the other plants.
Finally, my aquarium is overtaken by this whitish/transluscent stuff, I would describe it as dusty cobwebs: it initially looks just like dust, but given a few days, I notice long cobwebs of the stuff. It is very slimy. I would presume this is some type of algae, but it isn't green and doesn't seem to fit the descriptions I've read about.
It is also seeming to make the hornwort rot and die as it covers it in a nasty clog. The bad thing is it's really starting to cover the plants. I attempted to brush it off, but there is so much of it! Is there anything I should do at this stage? The good news is that after plucking 5 pond snails out of the tank in the first 3 days, I haven't spotted any new ones in a week. I also noticed that my java fern is growing new plants on its leaves. Two of my vallis already sent out shoots and are growing a new plant.
It has recovered nicely after initially turning entirely to goo.
... before I added fish my tank registered .25 ppm Ammonia .. my tap water 0.0 ppm Ammonia ... the reason I suspect was that the stones I added to the tank contained Lichens which were rotting several days before I added the fish ... 
