My Very First Tank...

[Iwantsomefish]

Continue to wait...
 
What was your nitrate from the tap?
 
Also, what's your pH now?  8.4 is the sweet spot
What's the temp?  84F/30C is the sweet spot
How is the water surface agitation? More is better...

 
 
I doubt PH would have changed. I couldn't find baking soda when I went to Tesco, only baking power and that had three ingredients in it so wans't sure that that would do right really.
 
Temp is 29 according to the heater but sometimes I think it lies...
 
surface agitation good as tank oly 90% full so splashback.
 
Nitrate test on the tap water, tested just for you, says: 40ppm?
 
That's odd - how come my nitrates are way higher in the cold water tap than the tank?
 
What does all this mean?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

You want a thermometer in the tank, aside from the heater, many heaters are either miscalibrated or don't get sufficient circulation to show the proper temp.  What you set the heater to and what you get aren't always the same.
 
 
 
Nitrates?  Weird!  Are you sure about the 5ppm?
 
 
Any plants in the tank that could be using up nitrate?

 

[Iwantsomefish]

You want a thermometer in the tank, aside from the heater, many heaters are either miscalibrated or don't get sufficient circulation to show the proper temp.  What you set the heater to and what you get aren't always the same.
 
 
 
Nitrates?  Weird!  Are you sure about the 5ppm?
 
 
Any plants in the tank that could be using up nitrate?

Ok, I'll try all three tests again tomorrow evening and let's see what they say tomorrow.
Yes the digital thermomenter is saying 26 ish. I've pushed hte heater back under the filter flow.
No, all silk plants.

 

[Iwantsomefish]

OK today's readings. Seem the same as yesterday except the nitrate.
Ammonia 3ppm
Nitrite 0.25ppm
Nitrate looks as if they're almost back at 0.
 
Haven't a clue what's going on.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

What are the readings in the established tank?

 

[Iwantsomefish]

Sorry I didn't get your question. It's my only tank..?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I confused this thread with another one... Sorry...

I'm wondering if the issue is related to lack of carbon... What's your kH?


And you were right not to buy the baking powder. You want either baking soda or calcium carbonate (chalk). Any old seashells laying around you dont't want anymore?

 

[Iwantsomefish]

K, so are you flummoxed now too?
I ordered some Evolution Aqua Pure Aquarium balls which came today as I heard they might help the cycle.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I've heard that too, but no direct experience with them. And a little bit, yes. Any chance you have a kH reading?

The bacteria need food (ammonia), oxygen, and carbon. That's the big three. There could be some inhibitors, but what they are I can't tell. We've had some folks whose tanks are just difficult to cycle. The good news though, is that usually cycles that take longer to happen end up with more robust colonies and very rarely struggle with ammonia spikes in the future.

 

[Iwantsomefish]

I've heard that too, but no direct experience with them. And a little bit, yes. Any chance you have a kH reading?

The bacteria need food (ammonia), oxygen, and carbon. That's the big three. There could be some inhibitors, but what they are I can't tell. We've had some folks whose tanks are just difficult to cycle. The good news though, is that usually cycles that take longer to happen end up with more robust colonies and very rarely struggle with ammonia spikes in the future.

I don't know. The API test kit I'm using doesn't offer that test... Ah well I'm gonna stick some Pure in there and see if any change tomorrow. Odd that the ammonia's still not dropping despite being able to see some nitrite, which I understand normally leaps up but mine's sitting solid at .25 3 days running.
 
This is annoying...I'll post if there's any change tomorrow.

 

[kazc31]

Do you use use de chlorinated water! Just a thought

 

[Iwantsomefish]

Do you use use de chlorinated water! Just a thought

 
Yes I dechlorine it.
 
Just to update since I was sick and tired of seeing no changes the other night I did a 1/3ish water change.
 
Result:
 
Ammonia : 1ppm
Nitrite: not sure it doesn't match any of the blue/lilacs or purple it's kind of purple but with more pink in it
Nitrate: about 10ppm
 
So???

 

[Mamashack]

Your question is rather abrupt - what are you asking? Your results are difficult to judge since you don't say how long after dosing with ammonia the tests were done.
You need to keep topping up with ammonia to 2ppm and when both the ammonia AND nitrItes have cleared to 0ppm in 12-24hrs the tank will be fully cycled and the nitrAtes will be quite high so at that point you'll need to do a massive water change and then it will be ready.

 

[Iwantsomefish]

Your question is rather abrupt - what are you asking? Your results are difficult to judge since you don't say how long after dosing with ammonia the tests were done.
You need to keep topping up with ammonia to 2ppm and when both the ammonia AND nitrItes have cleared to 0ppm in 12-24hrs the tank will be fully cycled and the nitrAtes will be quite high so at that point you'll need to do a massive water change and then it will be ready.

Yeah not very clear is it, oops. It's the same ammonia as I put in originally. It's a bit of a long story -  you'd have to trace back through the thread. It seems the only time I can get any change is if I do a water change but it seems the nitrites are going up now. I'm worried about topping up with ammonia since ammonia in the water seems to stifle things for me. Maybe I should see if ammonia drops to zero tomorrow without putting any more in..

 

[Mamashack]

I have been following the thread and it's a pain having to read through it all to find out requested information when it could be anywhere in the thread.
Best to do the wait and drop method rather than top-up daily method. That way you'll know when bacteria are actually developing - the more you do water changes at this stage the longer the process will be as you are diluting the bacteria's food source by doing so and therefore they will only develop to what food (ammonia) is available. They don't know that's it's you adding the ammonia - to them it could be a small number of fish peeing and pooping. If you put in slightly more ammonia you'll get slightly more bacteria developing (altho the old figure of 5ppm has now been reduced to 2ppm as a good level to aim for.) This is why it is good policy to add only a couple of fish at a time when it's fully cycled and wait for a couple of weeks then check the water parameters before adding another couple of fish and so on. The bacteria then get chance to grow with the slowly increasing fish population. If too many fish go in too quickly the bacteria won't be able to cope with the sudden increase in ammonia.