My Fishless Cycle

[Twinklecaz]

Ok thanks WD. I've just realised that when I'm onto my 12 hour tests I'm gonna have to be up about 6am in the mornings to have time to do it before work.

I've decided the real point of the cycle is prove that you really want to do it and are up to putting in the hard work if you need to lol

 

[Twinklecaz]

Day 13 Ammonia 2.

I had the complete oppopsite today, it looked like it was gonna be 1 but went darker kind last minute. I think I'm studying it too much lol

 

[waterdrop]

Ok thanks WD. I've just realised that when I'm onto my 12 hour tests I'm gonna have to be up about 6am in the mornings to have time to do it before work.

I've decided the real point of the cycle is prove that you really want to do it and are up to putting in the hard work if you need to lol

Yes, we invented it to weed out the non-serious people

Seriously though, since you're serious, you do indeed want to carefully tune your "add-hour" to be a good one that works for its mirror time 12 hours around the clock! I do remember though that when I was doing it, it was impossible to be perfect and be home at all the right times so sometimes you just have to do the best you can and of course always note the real time to yourself in your log entry in your notebook. (For me, the notebook always holds the real details whereas if I were doing a "thread-log" here I would just denote Day X, am/pm as the first part of a line entry.)

WD

 

[Twinklecaz]

Ah I can do 7 am and 7pm no probs, it's just a case of getting up early

 

[Twinklecaz]

Booooooooo, still 2!

 

[waterdrop]

What's your pH?

 

[Twinklecaz]

Day 15

Ph 7.6 still I think. At least, it's still a light blue colour

Ammonia still 2.

I really think I'm gonna have to top the water up or my filter won't work. Would that be a major a problem or do I just need to be aware that my next readings might not be accurate?

 

[OldMan47]

It will be no problem topping the tank up. Do take into account that you are slightly diluting the ammonia so don't be surprised if you see a small drop that is not from the bacteria you are growing.

 

[Twinklecaz]

Day 16:

I did the full lot today and got:

Ammonia - 2

Nitrite - 0.50

Nitrate - 8

PH - 7.6

High PH 7.4

BUT I added 2 litres of water earlier......should that not have affected it? I was expecting to get different (albeit fake) readings .

This has brought up two questions for me coz I'm worried that things shouldn't have just stuck at the same readings for as long as they have.

1. How do I know my filter is working properly? Of course I can see what looks like water coming out of it but does that mean it's to be working? Or is ther a chance it's just air? . The water is clear but I think of course it is because there's nothing in there making it dirty.

2. If I HAD put too much ammonia in to start with then would it still process or could this be an indicator that that's exactly what I did? I mean, I put 3ml in (measured with one of those baby medicine things so it was precise)to my prob 58l tank which the calculator says is spot on. So I don't see how I could have put too much in but I'm just not sure what's happening.

 

[Ryefish]

two litres shouldn't have effected a 58L tank at all.
To me it looks like your cycle is fine
What kind of filter do you have? (sorry if youve mentioned it previously, i have only read this and first page)

 

[Twinklecaz]

Hiya

It's a Fluval U2 (internal).

I have to confess I just threw caution to the wind and poured the 30ml bottle of Nutrafin Cycle that came free with my tank in there. It's not even as much as they tell you to put in (which makes you wonder why they give you that size bottle with that size tank) but I thought it was worth a try just to see if it boosts things even if only a little bit. I hope it won't have any adverse effect!

Obviously I'll be aware that if I get totally dfferent readings in the next few days then i'll be coz of this and not necessarily "real" readings.

 

[Twinklecaz]

Day 17:

WELL, you'll all be surprised to know that the bottle of bacteria had to effect whatsoever. What a surprise lol.

Ammonia : 2.00 ppm

 

[Twinklecaz]

DAY 18

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH. It's still 2. I'm getting concerned about this now coz to be honest I'm not even sure it is 2. Some days it looks to be but others it still looks 4.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what might be wrong?

 

[Ryefish]

have you tested your nitrites again since day 16? im curious to see where they are at

 

[Twinklecaz]

Hi, just did it, it's still 0.50. Though it does look different. It's a different lavender but doesn't quite have the pink tone that 1.00 does