Sensesfail Tank Journal

[waterdrop]

Yes, looks to be a stubborn tank but in my experience its quite important to keep on keeping on (as you want to have allowed it to finally surprise you) while we all cast about for things we might have overlooked.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[SensesFail]

Today I tested the tank as I have been everyday and my ammonia levels look around the 2.4 which is a slight improvement probes another week or 2 to loose it all I gave had no nitrites what's happening with them? Are they being processed as they occur due to the slowness of the ammonia going down? My water looks like a tea bag am I better off doing a water change and topping ammonia back to 5 or just leave it to completely fall? Cheers guys

 

[kporteo]

Id leave it be and wait till it drops to 0ppmm - it will happen eventually, your bacteria just arent very hungry!!
K

 

[anon02]

Under ideal conditions the ammonia oxidising bacteria can increase in number exponentially every 20 minutes, but the nitrite oxidising bacteria under the same conditions can take up to 15 hours. That is the main reason for difference in timescale between the aob working the ammonia into nitrite and the nob working the nitrite into nitrate

If I were you I would just let things bubble along nicely for a while

On one of the tanks that I`m cycling I changed the filter and was punished with a mini cycle

 

[waterdrop]

Hang in there SF, it may just be taking a long time for the biofilms of the wrong species to degrade and give up media space for the Nitrosomonas and Nitrospira species that we want. WD

 

[SensesFail]

Tank update. No nitrites have ever appeard and ammonia is still battling. It dropped to around 1.2 so i topped the ammonia back to 5ppm. Carry on or start again? soul destroying when you see other peoples tanks and they fly through it but mines stuck in limbo haha

heres the latest results

 

[waterdrop]

Wow this is a stubborn tank! Have you thought of trying to get through to the lab people of your water authority and asking them if there is anything unusual about your local water that they can think of? Is there any chance your household water has high copper or other metals due to a particular type of heating/piping system? The water didn't come from an open attic holding tank, right?

WD

 

[SensesFail]

Wow this is a stubborn tank! Have you thought of trying to get through to the lab people of your water authority and asking them if there is anything unusual about your local water that they can think of? Is there any chance your household water has high copper or other metals due to a particular type of heating/piping system? The water didn't come from an open attic holding tank, right?

WD

Hi WD still battling been some time waiting for the cycle to complete I don't think I'll have fish this side of 2010 haha the water comes directly into the building i have no water tank with the heating and hot water coming from the combi boiler. Could the bad bacteria built up with using biomature still be present and fighting ? Would it be worth killing the process cleaning everything with tap water draining the tank and filter? Or would I need to buy new filter media?

 

[waterdrop]

Oh no, I don't think I would abandon what I've got at this point. There's no clear evidence that something bad is stopping it. You've had some dropping occur and you wouldn't want to lose that if its the beginning of it finally happening.

Can you run though the details of the filter and what the media is like that's in it for me once again?

~~waterdrop~~

 

[SensesFail]

Oh no, I don't think I would abandon what I've got at this point. There's no clear evidence that something bad is stopping it. You've had some dropping occur and you wouldn't want to lose that if its the beginning of it finally happening.

Can you run though the details of the filter and what the media is like that's in it for me once again?

~~waterdrop~~

The filter is an aquaone aquis. It has 2 baskets the bottom consists of bionoods covered over with a sponge. Second basket has another sponge followed by wool. Today's results are the same 4.9 ammonia no nitrite. I don't mind starting again if it's the best course of action. Have been doing it 3 or so months so time is not a factor haha. If we were gonna go down that line would I need to buy new noods and sponges? Or simply wrinse out in tap water for a while? I bought new sponges and wool but the sponges I bought were black 25ppi? I think mine has a 25ppi in and a 15ppi would it be ok using 2 * 25 ppi? Or is it just the noods that have to be changed?

That's if u think this would be the next best thing?

Thanks WD

 

[frida]

WD: just noticed that although the ammonia dropped, no nitrites were ever seen - isn't that a bit strange? I'm trying to figure out what's happening here... (I was just remembering that in my case, I was seeing nitrites even before I could detect the drop in ammonia)

I hope we work it out SF, you've been soooo patient!

 

[SensesFail]

WD: just noticed that although the ammonia dropped, no nitrites were ever seen - isn't that a bit strange? I'm trying to figure out what's happening here... (I was just remembering that in my case, I was seeing nitrites even before I could detect the drop in ammonia)

I hope we work it out SF, you've been soooo patient!

Its taking sooooo long, i see everyone else flying through. So im toying with renewing all filter media, draining the tank and starting again haha whats an extra 2 months lol. Would you start again?

 

[frida]

WD: just noticed that although the ammonia dropped, no nitrites were ever seen - isn't that a bit strange? I'm trying to figure out what's happening here... (I was just remembering that in my case, I was seeing nitrites even before I could detect the drop in ammonia)

I hope we work it out SF, you've been soooo patient!

Its taking sooooo long, i see everyone else flying through. So im toying with renewing all filter media, draining the tank and starting again haha whats an extra 2 months lol. Would you start again?

I think I'd try to figure out what exactly is happening before doing something drastic like that - let's see if WD has any bright ideas. It just would be a shame if it is starting, but just really slow for some reason.

Otherwise, if I were in your shoes, I would probably try to get a generous amount of media from a mature tank and see if that helps at all. If things still don't move on with the cycle then, I would probably consider starting from scratch.

 

[kporteo]

Thing is your ammonia IS dropping so you DO have Abacs, theyre just not growing and reproducing as quickly as they should be....maybe you should pipe some Barry White music in the tank to get them in the mood???
Sorry, i know how annoying it is to have a tank that doesnt cycle, I only persevered for 6/7weeks before i gave up, but, I had no movement in my ammonia levels, have you done a massive water change? Maybe theres somehting in the water thats halting your bacteria? I sure it was WD who suggested adding soil to my tank too, its an option before you give up completely?

K

 

[SensesFail]

Have fluval BioMax coming today just in case we go for a restart will this be anygood as a replacement for the noods. Just had my head bitten off by a LFS when they asked about why I needed new bio noods and when I told
Him
What I was doing I went home with a note!! He was extremely annoyed at my choice of cycling l not going to that shop!!!