Oops

[Mogs26]

I always hold the test bottles against the card-I seem to remember reading that on here somewhere, but what I found was, if I test in artificial light it looks like I have ammonia. Someone said energy savinf bulbs and flourescent lighting affect the readings, but whatever my bulbs are, they do too-I was getting truly hacked off by the trace ammonia reading, until I discovered that!!!
One tip for tank maintenance that helps me is that I set reminders on my phone calendar to tell me when I am due a full filter removal/impeller clean. A month flies by and I am sure I would have missed a couple without the reminder on! (I just put recurrence to monthly and it reminds me on the 3rd Sat of every month!) When I first started, I had a reminder set for the weekly ones too, just to nag me, but I remember that anyway Good luck with the cycle
Carole x

 

[Cracken]

Hi Carole,

Beautiful avatar shot, is she a border collie? I have a red girl border collie that looks very similar to that shot. I read some posts of yours over on the planted tank forum I think and thought how beautiful she was at the time...

Thanks for your input too!

I've just got home and completed my daily checks and changeouts and turned up the following:

Friday 21/1/2011

Ammonia 0.5ppm (oh dear)
Nitrite 2ppm (oh dear again)
Nitrate 5ppm (constant at this level)
pH 7.2 (constant at this level)

So, with the spike in Nitrite and the increased Ammonia level I decided to do a 75% changeout and retested on completion as follows:

Ammonia 0.25ppm
Nitrite 0.25ppm

I was surprised the Ammonia didn't come down further and it was borderline a 0.5ppm reading still. Don't understand why a 75% water changeout would not reduce my Ammonia reading unless I'm reading it wrong. I did clean a lot of gunk out of my gravel during these changeouts too. And I mean A LOT.

All the fish seem OK for now, so I'll persist with this daily regimen and see how I go. I suppose its good to see Nitrite on the rise from a cycle perspective. I might see if my LFS can donate me some mature filter media tomorrow to speed things along.

Thanks all,
Michael

 

[Mogs26]

Hi Carole,

Beautiful avatar shot, is she a border collie? I have a red girl border collie that looks very similar to that shot. I read some posts of yours over on the planted tank forum I think and thought how beautiful she was at the time...

Thanks-she's a saluki collie cross-more pics on pet forum!

 

[nehpets81]

So, with the spike in Nitrite and the increased Ammonia level I decided to do a 75% changeout and retested on completion as follows:

Ammonia 0.25ppm
Nitrite 0.25ppm

I was surprised the Ammonia didn't come down further and it was borderline a 0.5ppm reading still. Don't understand why a 75% water changeout would not reduce my Ammonia reading unless I'm reading it wrong. I did clean a lot of gunk out of my gravel during these changeouts too. And I mean A LOT.

All the fish seem OK for now, so I'll persist with this daily regimen and see how I go. I suppose its good to see Nitrite on the rise from a cycle perspective. I might see if my LFS can donate me some mature filter media tomorrow to speed things along.

Thanks all,
Michael

Hi there,

I am far from being an expert (in fact, I have not even set up my first tank yet!) but I did test my dechlorinated tap water just to see what the figures were and although there was no nitrite, I found 0.25ppm of Ammonia in it (and also quite a bit of nitrate). I'm not sure if Ammonia in tap water is common, but could be worth checking if you haven't already?

 

[Cracken]

I think my tank might be cycled now!

For the last few days the Nitrite has consistently been coming up at zero, a nice beautiful blue without any hint of Nitrite. My ammonia is stubbornly at 0.25ppm but never moves from that level without any water change outs. I haven't done a change out in 3 days and still get 0.25ppm ammonia and NIL nitrite. pH is consistently 7.4-ish and Nitrate around 5ppm.

All the fish seem happy and healthy and there's even a few guppy fry trying to outrun the plateys. I added a green plastic fry ball to the tank to give them somewhere to hide and a fighting chance.

So, do you think its cycled???

Thrilled if it is, and love this tank. All the plants are doing well now too with the addition of the 8w light in this tiny 40ltr tank. I even spotted a nice little snail in there now too...

The addition of this liquid nutrient rich product to speed the cycle along seems to have helped a lot to establish the bacteria colony. Can't remember its name and I know they don't rate well on here but it certainly seemed to have helped.

If its cycled, then I'll just leave it be for a while now and not stock it up any more. There's 5 guppies and two plateys. A few fry might eventually naturally add to my little colony. In the meantime I'll move to weekly checks and 25% change outs with a gravel clean. Is that the recommended mainteance routine if you guys agree she's now cycled?

Many thanks in advance,
Michael

 

[Mogs26]

I don't know cos I'm a noob too, but that ammonia level doesn't seem good-can't understand why unless it's in the tap water. Are you cleaning your tubes and pipette with hot water and drying with kitchen towel? A murky tube can play havoc with readings too! Fingers crossed for your cycle
Carole x

 

[Skins]

I don't know cos I'm a noob too, but that ammonia level doesn't seem good-can't understand why unless it's in the tap water. Are you cleaning your tubes and pipette with hot water and drying with kitchen towel? A murky tube can play havoc with readings too! Fingers crossed for your cycle
Carole x

I agree with Carole it would be a good idea to check your water supply for ammonia. Your test kit could also be detecting ammonium and not ammonia which, if this is the case is not harmful. Are you using seachem prime water conditioner?

Keith.

 

[sXeLifer]

This is the first forum I've ever used and I've had fish now for 3 years all of which were unsuitable for the tank, unsuitable tank mates, everything I was doing was wrong. I started getting the hang of it around a year ago. Don't worry about these fish dying, most of the people on this forum will have done something similar at some point. I know I have Remember that when you go to a local shop they're out to make money and will most of the time do anything for a sale whereas people on this forum are providing advice from experience. Welcome to the hobby too by the way!!!

 

[Cracken]

I don't know cos I'm a noob too, but that ammonia level doesn't seem good-can't understand why unless it's in the tap water. Are you cleaning your tubes and pipette with hot water and drying with kitchen towel? A murky tube can play havoc with readings too! Fingers crossed for your cycle
Carole x

Hi Carole,

That sounds like good advice. At present I just quickly rinse the tubes under a running tap then cap them and pop them back in the API test kit. I'll give them a thorough clean and see if it still turns up an ammonia result. Many thanks...

I agree with Carole it would be a good idea to check your water supply for ammonia. Your test kit could also be detecting ammonium and not ammonia which, if this is the case is not harmful. Are you using seachem prime water conditioner?

Keith.

Keith,

I don't think its due to the tap water as I haven't done a water change in 5 days now and its still reading trace ammonia and no nitrite. I'm not sure what water conditioner I'm using, I'll check this tonight when I get home.

Thanks,
Michael

 

[Cracken]

Are you using seachem prime water conditioner?

Hi Kieth,

Went home and checked and yes, I am using Seachem Prime. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

I didn't test the water last night but did a 20% change out and gravel vac as it was starting to get a bit messy. All inhabitants still very happy now, except maybe the fry as I seem to have lost the last one to a hungry tankmate...

Ah well, they've got a fighting chance now with the fry ball. Lets hope the next ones are smart enough to make use of it.

Cheers,
Michael

 

[Skins]

Hello Cracken,
Seachem prime is proberly the best water dechlorinater on the market.
How are your water parameters now?

Keith.