Rye's Fishless Cycle

[Ryefish]

GAH!

Day 16:
PH: 7.9, Ammonia: 0, Ni: 5+, Na: 5.0
Topped the ammonia up

 

[Ryefish]

On the days i think i will hate my fish tank after ive done the daily tests are the days that i am most happy with it lmao

Day 17:
PH: 8, Ammonia: 0, Ni: 5+, Na: 160+

wahoo!

 

[Ryefish]

and today it sucks yet again. Topped the ammonia up last night, have just topped it up again

Day 18 -
PH: 7.8, Amm: 0, Ni: 5+, Na: 5.0

I wish my Nitrites would go away lol

Looking at the diary on the first post i am on day 12 of my Nitrite spike today. I thought this would be a fast cycle lol. Damnit

 

[waterdrop]

Now you've got me confused! I don't see why this seems bad to you..? Often we don't even see nitrites start to spike until day 20 or so and yet at day 18 you have already had 12 days of it! When I watch cycles, I'm usually expecting to see the nitrite spike drop perhaps around day 40 or something. We all want the same two species of bacteria and those species always grow at the same rate. Its true if you can luck into getting a bunch of mature bacteria via a mature media transfer it can go much faster but that's a pretty hit or miss thing sometimes.

Anyway, hang in there! A slow cycle is a good cycle!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Ryefish]

The ONLY reason why this is bad is because of a bit of impatience on my side. I believe everyone suffers with this at some point though lol.
My cycle is becoming rather predictable now, except for my PH of course.

Day 19 - PH: 7.6, Ammonia: 0, Nitrites: 5+, Na: 160+
Topping up ammonia.



At what point do we start doing every 12th hour readings?

Oh, and at what point would i be able to get plants?

 

[waterdrop]

I knew it was the impatience .. just putting a remark like that keeps you going for another day, lol.

To beat the boredom I suppose you could now consider the occasional weekend water change (90%) to get rid of those nitrites (and whatever nitrates are in there (which is basically unknown since all the nitrites are probably making the the nitrate reading go sky high.)

If you do that be sure to recharge the ammonia and bicarb to the bacterial growing soup back to optimal as quickly as possible. My personal opinion is that once you have skyrocketing NO2 and NO3 you can do these occasional water changes and they serve as good practice for the logistics of how you will carry them out once you have the full tank up and running (they get a bit harder with fish and plants in there anyway!)

Personally I would wait on plants to happen after the big water change, just like fish, but there's really not a rule that you have to do that. I would not go with your most expensive plant choices since the high ammonia may not be great for some species and a new tank is also a difficult place for a plant (no fertilizer!)

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Ryefish]

I tested the Nitrites twice today when i did the tests.
The first reading the drops stayed blue in the bottom of the tube, and then it went to around 1 after a few seconds. I thought it was a bit odd so i did another test and the drops went purple at the bottom so fast.

Not too sure what that was all about.

I have really low lighting in my tank so the plants will be inexpensive Java's and Anubias.

Tomorrows predictions: PH will have dropped, Ammonia will be gone, Nitrites will be sky high and Nitrates will be low - LOL

 

[waterdrop]

 

[Ryefish]

Day 20..
PH: 7.4
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: BACK ON SCALE!!! WAHOO! ..ahem... 0.25
Nitrates: 160+

Can that be right??
My Nitrites going from 5+ to 0.25 in 24 hours? I will admit to doing a sneaky test at 2pm this afternoon (four hours ago - my day has been SO boring! i couldnt resist! ) and the nitrites were at 1ppm


I need a plan of action. Am i going to top up Ammonia now and test again tomorrow at 6pm again?

ETA: i never did a water change. I contemplated doing one today but i decided against it.
ETA again, thanks to everyone who has helped me so far with all this its greatly appreciated

 

[OldMan47]

It is entirely possible that your nitrites would suddenly come on scale. That would mean that the nitrite processing bacteria have finally grown to a population capable of dealing with any amount that the ammonia processors can throw at them. When a bacteria population finally reaches numbers big enough to bring down the nitrite levels, they will definitely overcome the minor traces still being produced by the AOB in the filter. What that means in terms of testing is that teh nitrites will go very quickly to zero and the nitrates resulting from nitrite conversion will suddenly jump upwards.

 

[Ryefish]

I've had a look around but i can't find when i am supposed to be doing the 12 hour testing?
When you do 12 hour testing do you top the ammonia up on the 12th hour or still on the 24th? That bit is a little unclear to me.

 

[Ryefish]

Day 21 -
PH: 6.9 ish
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0.25
Nitrates: 160+

Getting there!

Thinking about adding some more bi-carb to up the PH to 8 again. Stalling now would break my heart lol

 

[Dan-CR4]

I've had a look around but i can't find when i am supposed to be doing the 12 hour testing?
When you do 12 hour testing do you top the ammonia up on the 12th hour or still on the 24th? That bit is a little unclear to me.

I have been testing ammonia every 12 hours since around day 7 when my ammonia was dropping within 12 hours. I have been testing the nitrite every 12 hours since around day 22 once i noticed my nitrite started to drop to 0 within 24 hours. I still only add the ammonia on the 24 hour mark, i think this is correct maybe waterdrop or oldman47 can advise on that, but thats what i been doing so far.

i am now just waiting for the nitrite to start to drop to 0 within 12 hours and hopefully i will be in sight of my qualifying week. you can see my cycle by clicking on my link in my signature.

 

[Ryefish]

I have been reading your cycle
Its nice to be able to follow somebody elses cycle to get an idea of where you are at yourself.

Thanks for clarifying the testing and ammonia dosing. I think i have a few more days until my Ni's are 0 at the 24th hour. Ill begin my 12 hour testing then

Thanks again

 

[waterdrop]

Agree with Dan, you've drawn the right conclusions. Ammonia is only ever added at your 24hour testing time, not 12. Beginning to do 12 hour testing is probably the most interesting about the time that nitrite is dropping to zero in 24 hours because from then on the 24 hour test usually is just always zero whereas the 12 hour test becomes the one that shows you something new in its gradual falling numbers.

The big goal is zero ppm ammonia and zero ppm nitrite(NO2) at 12 hours after ammonia was added. Once that clearly happens you can start your qualifying week.

~~waterdrop~~