New Juwel 96 Tank - Fish/Plants/Cycle Log

[waterdrop]

Unless you're just curious and willing to do them, 12 hour tests won't be necessary until after the nitrite spike is over and ammonia and nitrite are dropping in less than 24 hours. Although, when you -do- post up results here it really helps to designate them as a "12hour" or 24hour type test along with which DayX of cycling it is.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[bushbrother]

Thanks again for the help waterdrop, much appreciated

I tested this morning anyway and the ammonia has dropped to 1ppm in 12 hours, Nitrite still spiking. My question is this ... should I now be leaving another 12 hours and then rechecking ammonia is 0ppm before re-dosing, or should I re-dose to 5ppm every 12 hours if it is falling to 1ppm?

At the moment I have left it as it is, but if it "ate" 4ppm over 12 hours then my readings should be 0ppm tonight ... will this harm the process?

Day 10:

12 Hour Test:
Ammonia = 1ppm (down from 5ppm in 12 hours)
Nitrite = >5ppm (purple drops)

24 Hour Test:
Ammonia = 0ppm
Nitrite = >5ppm (purple drops)

Have re-dosed to 5ppm ammonia

 

[waterdrop]

No, surprisingly its quite the opposite. You actually -want- it to get down to zero and sit there a bunch of the day and then finally dose your new surge of 5ppm at your usual hour. It won't hurt the bacteria growth at all (in fact one of the big areas of interest in autotrophic bacterial growth in waste water treatment plant research is pulsed feeding versus steady feeding!) and what it does accomplish is to not be putting so much material into the overall system. Each 1ppm of ammonia will process to 2.7ppm nitrite and then to 3.6ppm or so of nitrate. N-Bac development can suffer as the concentration of nitrite and nitrate become extra high, so we'd rather keep the overall dosing lower by not overfeeding the ammonia.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[bushbrother]

No, surprisingly its quite the opposite. You actually -want- it to get down to zero and sit there a bunch of the day and then finally dose your new surge of 5ppm at your usual hour. It won't hurt the bacteria growth at all (in fact one of the big areas of interest in autotrophic bacterial growth in waste water treatment plant research is pulsed feeding versus steady feeding!) and what it does accomplish is to not be putting so much material into the overall system. Each 1ppm of ammonia will process to 2.7ppm nitrite and then to 3.6ppm or so of nitrate. N-Bac development can suffer as the concentration of nitrite and nitrate become extra high, so we'd rather keep the overall dosing lower by not overfeeding the ammonia.

~~waterdrop~~

excellent, so should I dose to 5ppm @ 8pm tonight if it has reached 0ppm (which it should have) or should I wait until 8am the next day?

 

[waterdrop]

It sounds like your previous 5ppm dosing was at 8pm last night so yes, 8pm tonight would be your next opportunity to dose. You always dose 24 hours apart regardless of when during the 24 hours the ammonia reached zero. (Now there's nothing wrong with "switching" it over the the "other" time of day if that's more convenient or something.. you'd just keep it consistent after having switched to a different hour of the 24hour day.)

You're probably settled in for a while now as we usually expect the "nitrite spike" phase to go on for a bit except where a mature media seeding was extremely good.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[bushbrother]

Adding todays results ...

Day 11:

12 Hour Test:
Ammonia = 0.5-1ppm
Nitrite = >5ppm (purple drops)

24 Hour Test:
Ammonia = 0ppm
Nitrite = >5ppm (purple drops)
pH = 8.0

Redosed ammonia back to 5ppm after 24 hour test.

 

[waterdrop]

OK, good, your results look as expected.

To repeat about the "reporting" of the results. If you only report "time of day" rather than "12-hour test" or "24-hour test" then you are making us "work" (ie. we have to go back in the thread and try to remind ourselves what time of day "you" are adding ammonia. If instead, you report just which type of test (12 or 24) it is, and additionally it helps to must mention within the test where it was done.. that you, say "added ammonia to reach 4ppm" then we've got our info directly which speeds us up for checking on a bunch of other fishless cyclers!

Remember, this is because what we -care about- is how much drop there was in 12 hours or how much drop there was in 24 hours. Testing and reporting in a consistent manner day after day is a way for both you and us to more easily understand how things are going. You also are not yet reporting pH, which should be tested and reported at least once a day so that we build up a picture of that over time. Nitrate(NO3) tests are harder to perform and give us much less reliable results during fishless cycling, so we can do without those for long spells until we get more curious.

I forget, which brand of liquid tests are you using?

~~waterdrop~~

 

[bushbrother]

To repeat about the "reporting" of the results. If you only report "time of day" rather than "12-hour test" or "24-hour test" then you are making us "work" (ie. we have to go back in the thread and try to remind ourselves what time of day "you" are adding ammonia. If instead, you report just which type of test (12 or 24) it is, and additionally it helps to must mention within the test where it was done.. that you, say "added ammonia to reach 4ppm" then we've got our info directly which speeds us up for checking on a bunch of other fishless cyclers!

Remember, this is because what we -care about- is how much drop there was in 12 hours or how much drop there was in 24 hours. Testing and reporting in a consistent manner day after day is a way for both you and us to more easily understand how things are going. You also are not yet reporting pH, which should be tested and reported at least once a day so that we build up a picture of that over time. Nitrate(NO3) tests are harder to perform and give us much less reliable results during fishless cycling, so we can do without those for long spells until we get more curious.

Whoops, sorry, it is sometime quite easy to just assume that people know what you are taking about I will go and edit the posts so they read 12 and 24 hours. I did note where I dosed it back to 5ppm

As for pH, I did not realise it was needed already, i thought that the varying ammonia and Nitrites threw it off a bit. It is also something I was going to ask about. Mine is currently fluctuationg from about 8.2 to 8.4 and if I remember right the tap is about 8.0. Now this seems pretty high looking at other peoples results ... is this due to hard london water? Will it restrict my fish coices?

I forget, which brand of liquid tests are you using?

I am using API Freshwater Master kit ... as recommended on these forums

 

[waterdrop]

Don't take it personally ...its just something I throw out there periodically, hoping, probably to no avail, that some of the beginners will report in a more efficient manner for the bunch of us that advise, but it never works because they're all new over and over of course!

Your pH (good old hard London water as you say! hey, drink one for me buddy, always wishing I could get there more often!) is fantastic for a fishless cycle. The research papers put 8.0 to 8.4 as the pH that our autotrophs like the best and grow the fastest in!

Yes, planning your aquarium -around- your given water parameters is an impotant thing to do (Amazon river creatures may not work out the best for you!) but it may not be as big a thing as you think as many of our fish are tank raised within the industry now and can get along.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[bushbrother]

Todays stats:

Day 12:

12 Hour Test:
Ammonia = 0.25ppm (almost doing 5ppm in 12 hours now)
Nitrite = >5ppm (turning purple at the bottom now)

24 Hour Test:
Ammonia = 0ppm
Nitrite = >5ppm (purple @ bottom)
pH = 8.0

 

[waterdrop]

Ahh, satisfaction! Results understood at a mere glance.

 

[bushbrother]

Ahh, satisfaction! Results understood at a mere glance.

Glad to be helpfull

So now my ammonia is pretty much being processed in 12 hours, I still wait till I have done my 24 hour test before dosing back to 5ppm right?

Also, how long is it generally before Nitrites start to come down ... I suddenly realised that I am going away on holiday for a week on the 3rd October What should I do ???

 

[waterdrop]

Right, you wait to your 24hour mark to dose up.

Don't worry about it too much, the bacteria won't die back all that much. The best solution of course is to have someone you trust just come in and do some periodic ammonia dosing. I did that with a neighbor kid during my fishless cycle and it worked no problem. I'm amazed on this forum how many people seem to not have anyone they can trust to do stuff like that. I'm probably just out of touch with the life of the singe urbanite or something!

We've had this discussed a fair bit... just putting in a last dose (don't overdose) of ammonia before you leave and/or a pinch of fishfood flakes or such. I don't remember what other members were feeling the consensus was on the best approach if you don't have anyone dropping by the house, so maybe another member will remember/comment...

~~waterdrop~~

 

[bushbrother]

Todays stats ...

Day 13:

12 Hour Test:
Ammonia = 0.25ppm
Nitrite = >5ppm (almost looks like it is 5ppm now, not going darker after 5 mins)

24 Hour Test:
Ammonia = 0ppm
Nitrite = >5ppm
pH = 8.0

 

[waterdrop]

Yeah, each of the phases of fishless cycling is a long slog. Just hang in there and be steady and thorough.

~~waterdrop~~