Please Help!

[Mowbz]

Awesome.

Yup, literally just find somewhere to get it in, near the start of the process if you can (unless its floss as it will just clog up too quick, put that in the middle) that way the water is drawn past the mature into the "sort of" cycled media. If you notice a big drop in flow take some of your own media out to counter what you put in.

 

[-Jo-]

Briliant - thank you for letting me know. that makes a lot of sense - and definitly sounds more worth while then the water idea.

I have set the tank back up and running, so am feeling a little better about the whole thing! I left it for 30 mins to run and ive just taken my first readings from it:

PH: 7.6
PH High: 8.0
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 0ppm

its strange to see that theres nothing in there for a change Ive added some ammonia to the tank and will give it another read tomorrow morning.

 

[Mowbz]

It will just be showing the same as your tap water right now i imagine, will be interesting to see what it says in the morning.

 

[-Jo-]

I tested the water at 7.25am this morning and my ammonia read: 1.0ppm. I added 4 drops of ammonia, and have just tested the tank now (4.20pm) and ammonia: 1.0ppm and Nitrite: 0ppm.

Considering I added 4 drops of ammonia and the tank is still reading the same as this morning - is this a good sign? Has the tank cycled the ammonia in that time?

x

 

[snazy]

So the high Ph test is showing 8.0?
If you are using your old sponges and they hadn't dried up completely then you might have a better result than expected considering the circrumstances, unless your old media lost most of the bacteria due the Ph drop issue you had.
If there is bacteria left on the sponges it might take a day to kick in but it should eventually.

Good luck. Hope you get that cycle done in no time now

 

[-Jo-]

Yeah the High PH is showing 8.0 - which is pretty high! I will do another PH test shortly, as when i was cycling the first time, there was a drop in PH which may have stalled the cycle temporarily.

Thank you! I hope it starts to kick off soon too! Such a long time that I dont want wasted! ha!

 

[Mowbz]

It may indeed have survived. Pretty impressive, really happy for you!

Just keep to the 24hr dose for a few days, and if its ok with that, go for 12hrs!

 

[-Jo-]

I really hope so!! Am going to test it before I go to bed just to check that everything is going ok. Then will stick to the 24 hour testing. Really hope it gets going quickly. x

 

[-Jo-]

I have tested the water again this evening just to check if everything is running ok. I will write the readings from day 1 (of the the new cycle so to speak) just so its easier to see then scrolling up the page!

Day 1
PH: 7.6
PH High: 8.0
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 0ppm

added 7 drops ammonia

Day 2
Ammonia: 1.0ppm (7.30am) added 4 drops ammonia
Ammonia: 1.0ppm (4.30pm) added 3 drops ammonia
Nitrite: 0ppm (4.30pm)
Ammonia: 0.50ppm (10.00pm) added 5 drops ammonia
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 5.0ppm

I hope that makes sense! As you can see, even with the amount of ammonia im putting into the tank - its definitly dropping. Ive put in 5 drops of ammonia into the tank and will start testing 24 hours again - is it wise to not put any ammonia into the tank now until it goes to 0ppm? or do i still need to be dosing like the early stages of when i first started? getting the ammonia up to 4.0ppm?

 

[snazy]

Don't worry about not dosing ammonia until it completely drops to 0. It won't affect it. Watch your nitrIte level to make sure this one goes to 0 before you pile it up to unreadable level. And of course keep an eye on the Ph in case it crashes.

 

[-Jo-]

great! Nitrite is still at 0ppm whilst ammonia is at 1.0ppm at the moment. Im going to test it every 24 hours now and see how that goes. On my last cycle before it went AWOL, the ammonia reaching 0ppm was very irregular. there wasnt a specific patter - it would go down to 0ppm in 9hours, 24 hours or a couple of days. Im guessing that was due to my PH dropping - so will be testing that at all times too!

 

[-Jo-]

tested water a few minutes ago:

Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0.25ppm

So my nitrite has definitly risen as my ammonia has gone down. I havent added any ammonia to the tank - was going to add ammonia when the nitrite drops. Am i on the right lines doing that?

 

[snazy]

I waited for the nitrites to drop when doing my fishless cycle and the ammonia bacs didn't mind at all.
It could be 2-3 hours max before the nitrites drops as well. So test and redose once down to 0.

 

[-Jo-]

Its been 2 days now that ammonia and nitrite have both gone down to 0ppm in 24 hours yaaaay! I know its only 2 days, but im still stupidly excited to see this. will carry on with the 24 hour testing for a few more days just to make sure and then switch to 12 hours.

 

[-Jo-]

Tested my water during a 12 hour period - and its not there quite yet! Still on a 24 hour period. When I was cycling before it went on its @rse I hadn't reached the 24 hour period anyway, so im not that annoyed as of yet! ha! just glad its definitly doing the 24 hour period.