My Fishless Cycle

[Twinklecaz]

Day 29

Ok so I did a water change of about 50% and it doesn't seem to have made any difference to the PH. What is it I have to add to it then, bicarbonate of soda? How do I work out how much?

Ammonia and Nitrite are still the same by the way so I just redosed again.

 

[PDSimon]

Day 29

Ok so I did a water change of about 50% and it doesn't seem to have made any difference to the PH. What is it I have to add to it then, bicarbonate of soda? How do I work out how much?

Ammonia and Nitrite are still the same by the way so I just redosed again.

Well, Mine was 6.6-6.8 and I added 1.5 tablesoons of bicarbonate of soda to bring it to ~7.8 (make sure its not baking soda which has other ingredients).

Waterdrop advised 2 tablespoons but I was unsure about my testing so took some of just incase. Bare in mind my tank is approximately 100L (even if it is a fluval roma 125)

So you can either work it out from that or wait for waterdrop

 

[Twinklecaz]

I'm thick with maths so I'll wait lol. Thanks.

How annoying is the litre thing? My 58 litre tank is supposedly 60!!!!!

 

[PDSimon]

I'm thick with maths so I'll wait lol. Thanks.

How annoying is the litre thing? My 58 litre tank is supposedly 60!!!!!

Hmm It doesn't surprise me to be honest! Apparently the volume is based on the outside dimensions. Like they can't find the volume of the inside!!

bit cheeky but what can you do

It may have been 110 L, but when i was putting the buckets in I swear it was 100... oh well Definately not more than 110.

oh and one thing I found was that after i had added the bicarb, the pH wasn't readable but the next day it was so don't worry if its not anything normal.

 

[Twinklecaz]

Ok thanks

 

[waterdrop]

Partial water changes have little meaning during a fishless cycle, might as well always change down to the substrate during a fishless cycle. That way you get more effect for your work. Tablespoon per 50L was my rough working guide on bicarb. You can try lower and work up some if you want. If done, pH=8.0 to 8.4 is the ideal range one is aiming for. Large water change with recharge of both ammonia and bicarb is the best of both worlds and for you caz, would probably give more siphon practice! WD

 

[Twinklecaz]

LOL@Siphone practise......yeah I think I need it!

Thnaks!

 

[Twinklecaz]

DAY 30

All the same ( am putting all this in my log properly btw just in case it looks like I'm getting lax) but my PH has now dropped to 6.8 so I'll definitely be needing some bicarb. I don't think it helped that I put my second peice of bogwood in but it looks so nice! lol. I'm guessing with a PH that low I may very well be stalled until I sort it??

Quick question...how long can I leave it before I redose the Ammonia before the bacteria starts dying off? Just for the future in case I want to change my times around (at the weekends etc).

 

[PDSimon]

I wouldn't have put the bogwood in It's known to lower pH.

It didn't appear to have an effect when mine went to 6.6 so you'll be ok if you dose it in the next couple of days, unless it really actually just crashes badly (but i've never read about that).

 

[Twinklecaz]

Ha I know but I couldn't resist putting it in. Plus my first peice didn't make any difference so I hoped I'd be lucky.

I've realised what a small tank it is now though. I don't actually have room for half as many plants as I was thinking.

 

[OldMan47]

As long as you dose daily, moving from say 5 PM to 8 PM would not affect the cycle much at all. If you started stretching to 2 or 3 days you would see a small loss of your cycle progress.
Bicarb will drive pH to about 7.8 in almost all cases. It is just the pH that bicarb itself tries to move toward. A single teaspoon more than you need or a full tablespoon more than you need will give the same final pH. I would dissolve the bicarb in a sample of tank water and then add that back into the tank. That way you will get it dissolved more easily.

 

[Twinklecaz]

Thanks. Still don't have it coz I've not been out, will try tomorrow.

It's dropped to 6.4 now ( I think, so hard to tell.....it's very pale green).

 

[PDSimon]

Thats quite a quick drop! Might be worth doing a water change? I'm not sure - best asking waterdrop/oldman47

Definately get the bicarb asap

 

[Twinklecaz]

I'm hoping the bicarb will work coz I won't have time to do a water change until Sunday now.

 

[Ryefish]

i topped my tank up with Bicarb each time it hit a PH of 7 (which was quite often) so it didn't stall the cycle. I didn't wait for it to get lower, just bumped it right back up to 8