Sensesfail Tank Journal

[kporteo]

Nah, just leave it be now and continue testing, all youve done is refresh the natural micronutrients that bacteria like to have around when reproducing, seen as youve been going so long all of these in your original water will be long gone!
Just a quick wonder....do you have extra airation in your tank? Does it have a lid?

K

 

[SensesFail]

Nah, just leave it be now and continue testing, all youve done is refresh the natural micronutrients that bacteria like to have around when reproducing, seen as youve been going so long all of these in your original water will be long gone!
Just a quick wonder....do you have extra airation in your tank? Does it have a lid?

K

All I have is the filter which agitated the top of the water. The tank has a lid on it so it's completely covered. The back part of the lid sits up slightly where the filter tubes come into and out of the tank.

 

[kporteo]

hmmmm.....wonder if my trick i use could help you then!!

Bacteria need extra oxygen to reproduce in our tanks when fishless cycling due to the higher temp and other factors driving it out of the water. In the fishless cycling bible on here it says that you should have extra airation. Well, cos im a tight wad and thought my tank etc cost enough,I didnt want to buy an airstone etc when i wouldnt need it after cycling, sooooo i leave the back half of my lid off altogether, this increases surface oxygen exchange and, as a side effect i get water evaporation which i top up every couple of days and this tops up all the nutrients i keep blathering on about!

Why not give this a go? Its worth a try, aint it??

K

 

[SensesFail]

hmmmm.....wonder if my trick i use could help you then!!

Bacteria need extra oxygen to reproduce in our tanks when fishless cycling due to the higher temp and other factors driving it out of the water. In the fishless cycling bible on here it says that you should have extra airation. Well, cos im a tight wad and thought my tank etc cost enough,I didnt want to buy an airstone etc when i wouldnt need it after cycling, sooooo i leave the back half of my lid off altogether, this increases surface oxygen exchange and, as a side effect i get water evaporation which i top up every couple of days and this tops up all the nutrients i keep blathering on about!

Why not give this a go? Its worth a try, aint it??

K

I shall remove it now definitely worth a go! have 2 heaters int he tank at the mo trying to get the temp back up after my water change this morning. Still low. My heater is playing up so currently have a tech question posted to Hagen to see if they can renew it. Many people have had problems with them so hopefully they will replace. Thankfully i have a spare heater to use if this happens,

 

[OldMan47]

You really do not need the high tank temperatures to cycle a tank. Warmer tanks will cycle slightly faster but even a goldfish tank, completely unheated, will cycle quite nicely in not much longer times. I maintain several species of livebearers that are really just subtropical and need no heater. When I set up a new tank for them, I don't even buy a heater for their new tank. A filter clone from one of my other filters makes that tank ready for fish in about a week, even with the water at room temperature. I do these as fishless cycles but give my new filter a big head start from an established filter.

 

[waterdrop]

Agree with OM47. So many of the things we discuss are "tweaks." Actual numbers of bacteria are probably by far the largest factor, making mature media a much larger factor in shortening the time of the process than other things. Many other aspects of the process are important to watch and do correctly but few stand out like this one.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[kporteo]

Seen as SF's cycle is going sooooo slowly though, anything is worth a tweak to try and hurry the little blighters up??
K

 

[kmur]

//edit. Neglected to realize this was a 4 page post before replying. I'm a forum n00b. \o/

 

[kporteo]

Hows the readings looking SF?

K

 

[SensesFail]

here the latest results no change really seems to peak out at 3 S and no nitrites have ever shown up? Another tank drain? I added some fresh bomax with my old bio-noods week today and changed the wool pad. Left the other 2 filter sponges in as they were just rinsing them in tank water again last friday. Im loosing faith in my tank slightly haha

 

[kporteo]

I didnt start getting any nitrite readings till my ammonia dropped below 1.5ppm, so dont panic. Id give it a couple of weeks seen as youve done a few tweaks the last few days - ive got my fingers and toes crossed for this working for ya!!

K

 

[waterdrop]

Its good you've got K, shes become something of an expert in the really abnormally slow ones! WD

 

[kporteo]

How you getting on??

K

 

[SensesFail]

How you getting on??

K

Hello K.

I'm going to pick up some mature media on Monday. I was still getting no drops in ammonia so I drained the tank reset the filter and now it's sitting ammonia-less waiting for the media on Monday. Filters running with just sponges it at the mo. I'm hoping the media will take and it will all be cycled quickly but I'm not counting my chickens until they've hatched as they say! I hope I don't go through another 3-4 months.

How's your tank?? Noticed a few posts by you!?!?

 

[kporteo]

When I re-started to cycle I used some media from my Bi-orb and left a couple of filter sponges in the Bi-orb for about a week to see if that would help the bacteria build up, it obviously has cause I'm nearly finished my cycle, thing is it looks like its missed out the nitrite spike!!

K