New Tank, Cycling Queston

[peter212693]

Hello all,

Ive got a 200L Fluval Roma tank with a Aquamanta EFX 400 external filter, with a hydor 300w in-line heater. Now ive started a fishless cycle but don't know if its in full swing yet. Ive added ammonia to the tank but it doesn't seem to be going anywhere. Ive added 100ml of SafeStart to the mix too. Here are some of my readings:

19/5 - Ammonia = 1-2 ppm Nitrite = 0 Nitrate = 0
23/5 - Ammonia = 1-2 ppm Nitrite=0.5 Nitrate = 10
24/5 - Ammonia = 3-5 ppm Nitrite = 1 Nitrate = 10 <<-- Little more ammonia added here
25/5 - Ammonia = 3-5 ppm Nitrite = 0.5 Nitrate = 10-20

Now it seems to be producing Nitrite and Nitrate which is good (my water has none from the tap) but ammonia doesn't seem to be coming down. pH is a steady 7-8 so this seems ok too. Heater is keeping water at around 29oC too.

Any advice? Am i being too impatient?

Thanks in advance.

Pete

 

[SirGoodFish]

19/5 - Ammonia = 1-2 ppm Nitrite = 0 Nitrate = 0
23/5 - Ammonia = 1-2 ppm Nitrite=0.5 Nitrate = 10
24/5 - Ammonia = 3-5 ppm Nitrite = 1 Nitrate = 10 <<-- Little more ammonia added here
25/5 - Ammonia = 3-5 ppm Nitrite = 0.5 Nitrate = 10-20

Is 19-5 the 19th day of May? If so, do you have any data for June? How long have you been cycling for? Your temperature sounds to be at the right level.

 

[peter212693]

Oops! sorry I ment June (06) not May

 

[fluttermoth]

In that case, it's very early days yet. You could try and get some already mature media to seed your filter, either from your LFS or a friend who has a tank, if you have one.

 

[peter212693]

Correct me if im wrong but it looks like im on the right path

25/6 - Ammonia = 2-3 , Nitrite = 0.5 , Nitrate = 10-20 <<-- This was the readings the night before I posted
26/6 - Ammonia = 2-3 , Nitrite = 0.5-1 , Nitrate = 20
27/6 - Ammonia = 2-3 , Nitrite = 1-2 , Nitrate = 40

Thanks

 

[4seasons]

Am i being too impatient?

YES!

My fish-less cycle is starting week 8. Took 2 weeks to see anything. I am finally seeing a nitrite drop after 7 weeks.

You are losing patience after only 1 week. If you have seen any progress in a week you are way ahead of most fishless cycles.

 

[Petie]

Started my cycle 4 weeks ago

Only started showing nitrites and natrates 2 days ago



Your actually going quite fast, just wait it out

 

[peter212693]

Bit of an update guys.

Ammonia is still hovering around 2-3ppm and doesnt seem to be going lower

Nitrites and Nitrates however are as dark as my test kit goes Nitrite = 8+ppm and Nitrate = 80+ppm

 

[Bugdozer]

Peter, I'm trying to message you and can't. Why is this?

 

[peter212693]

I dont think my account has been validated by an admin yet

send me an email if it easier pete1988(at)hotmail.com

 

[Easy]

Bit of an update guys.

Ammonia is still hovering around 2-3ppm and doesnt seem to be going lower

Nitrites and Nitrates however are as dark as my test kit goes Nitrite = 8+ppm and Nitrate = 80+ppm

I wonder what would make your nitrates read that high?

 

[peter212693]

Ive tested my tap water and there is a reading of 0 ammonia and nitriate and very slight reading of nitrate maybe 5ppm

 

[peter212693]

Dosed the ammonia back up to 2-3 last night as it dropped to about 0.5. Tested when I got back from work before and ammonia had dropped down to 1-2ppm and nitrite was as low as 0.5.

Is it normal for the nitrite eating bacteria to convert all the nitrite before the ammonia is all used up?

 

[waterdrop]

It is biology, not chemistry, by which I only mean that there are lots and lots of variables and each fishless cycle will have its own variations compared to the fishless cycles that others report. To me, the start off of your fishless cycle looks fine. There can be situations where you happen to get a larger number of established N-Bacs and they get do a better job of converting nitrite(NO2) a little earlier in the game. It usually doesn't mean you won't still need to just keep keeping on and logging what goes on. It is nearly always better to give the fishless cycle plenty of time no matter what it is doing - even just watching what seems to be a perfectly well-running biofilter repeatedly drop both ammonia and nitrite to zero for a period of time can be good because it lets you watch for a "hiccup" where the system was "fooling" you for a while and still needs more time to get better established.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[OldMan47]

Let's not forget the ratios involved too. Each 1 ppm of ammonia shows up as 2.7 ppm of nitrite and eventually to show up as 3.6 ppm of nitrates, chemistry, not biology. If you have other things in the tank that remove ammonia or nitrates, like plants for example, then all of the numbers go out the window, biology not chemistry, as WD said. It takes very little ammonia being converted to drive a nitrite test kit right off scale unless something else is removing ammonia.
Often an un-planted tank will lose lots of ammonia to something people seldom think of, tiny plants we call algae.