Smudgers First Tank

[Miss Wiggle]

yeah for the time being you don't really need to worry about nitrite or nitrate, do keep testing pH though as you need to watch out incase it drops below 6.5ish.

when the ammonia is dropping within 24hrs or so you'll start to see some nitrite creeping up, plants don't use up nitrite so for that stage of the cycle it won't be distorted by the plants, then you just wait for both to drop to 0 in 12 hrs

 

[smudger123]

Ammonia was at 0 this morning, topped back up to 4.5ish now

Noticed a silver algae covering my bogwood - its looks just like solder with air bubbles in it. The strangest bit is a 5" long piece of solder like thread growing out of my plant and dangling in the water. Its thick and sleak and for a moment I thought it was a piece of silver wire - can't find any algae that looks like it online

Edit: pH at 7.2 still

 

[waterdrop]

When you start up a new tank get going on fishless cycling, one of the first things you'll notice are the white/silvery biofilms that are the result of blooms of "heterotrophic" bacteria that are present in the water. These are not the "chemolithoautotrophic" bacteria we are trying to grow in the filter, these are other, much faster developing bacteria that are the ones that break down waste and excess food into ammonia (ever wondered how the excess food changes into ammonia? this is the answer!) These biofilms form all over the tank and they form all the time - they are just much more in evidence and much more noticable in a new tank.

(Of course I could be wrong, but I suspect this is most of what you are observing.)

~~waterdrop~~

 

[smudger123]

Thanks Waterdrop, biofilms sound about right for what i'm seeing.

Updated readings:

Tap: Ammonia 0 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 10

Day 1 Ammonia Little darker than 4
Day 2 Ammonia 4
Day 3 Ammonia 3.5
Day 4 Ammonia 1.5 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 5
Day 5 Ammonia 0 (4.5 added)
Day 6 Ammonia 0 (5 added) Nitrite 1 Nitrate 10

Something is happening!

Not had the greatest of days today, I fiddled with the layout and added new plants. Not looking good if i'm honest - layout doesnt feel right and black substrate has mixed quite heavily with sand in some areas

 

[OldMan47]

It does indeed sound like something is happening Smudger. It sounds like you are starting to enter the nitrite spike part of a new tank cycle. You can back off adding ammonia somewhat while the nitrites are very high to keep them from surging even higher. When nitrites start dropping again, be sure to get your ammonia back up to 5 ppm though.

 

[waterdrop]

Agree with oldman.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yup definately progressing

as they say ease off with the ammonia now, just top it up to 3ppm a day, keep doing this until the nitrite is dropping within 24hrs or so, then ease it back up to 4ppm of ammonia and then back to 5ppm before completing the cycle

 

[smudger123]

Good to hear!

Day 7 (16hrs later): Ammonia 0.25 Nitrite 8

Will top back up to 3ppm this evening

 

[smudger123]

Day 1 Ammonia Little darker than 4
Day 2 Ammonia 4
Day 3 Ammonia 3.5
Day 4 Ammonia 1.5 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 5
Day 5 Ammonia 0 (4.5 added)
Day 6 Ammonia 0 (5 added) Nitrite 1 Nitrate 10
Day 7 Ammonia 0.25 (forgot to top up) Nitrite 5
Day 8 Ammonia 0 (4.5 added) Nitrite 0

Big nitrite drop there? Test again in 12 hrs?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

excellent, how many hrs after adding the ammonia did you get the 0 reading for nitrite?

 

[smudger123]

Hi Miss Wiggle, it was approx 39 hours after topping up to 5ppm on day 6 that nitrite droped to 0 on day 8

Currently the tank is at 4.5ppm again. Shall I test again in 12 and 24 hrs?

I bought myself a Rio 240 a couple of days ago - its beautiful!! (The 125 is my partners and I was getting very jealous!) Ebay, had it delivered and it came with loads of extras including huge pieces of petrified wood, treatments, moonlight kit, air pumps etc. Cant afford to do anything with it yet lol, but very excited to have my own fishies!!

We chose 6 Panda Corys and 6 Cherry Barbs (2 male, 4 female) to go in the 125 along with some Amano Shrimp and Nerite Snails. They're not bought yet of course but is this a good choice? Cherrys in first is the plan..

Edit: stuff bout gloops, put it after Miss Wiggles reply..

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yeah you're certainly progressing well then.

yup you should be testing for ammonia and nitrite every 12 hrs at the moment, just add the ammonia every 24hrs.

i'd guess you've another 2 weeks or so before they'll both drop down in 12 hrs but it's always a good sign when they both hit 0 for the first time!! the missed day will be skewing the figures slightly though.

yeah sounds good to me, be careful with the panda cories though, they're very very fragile. Don't even think about adding them until 6 months after the cycle finishes and when you do you need to keep water quality spot on for them. Also be very careful about the stock you buy, we're looking for some for our tank so I've been keeping an eye on stock in the lfs's recently but i've yet to find any that look healthy enough to consider buying them!

 

[smudger123]

Good to hear its progressing well, testing has started to get exciting lol!

Talking about my new tank for a second, I filled the 240 with water last night to make sure there were no leaks etc. All was good but there was a lot of cloudy 'gloops' coming from the filter. This didnt happen with the 125 and I just want to check its ok:

In a few weeks I will no doubt be starting a "smudgers second tank" thread for this one, its a monster compared to the gorgeous little 125!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

was the rio 2nd hand...... kinda sounds like it from the extras and cos you got it from ebay. if thats the case then it'll just be gunk that had settled in the filter media, no need to worry about it.

 

[smudger123]

Midnight reading (+12hrs)

Ammonia 0.25 Nitrite 5