Very Odd Fishless Cycle Readings...!

[lukejwindsor]

Hey all,

So i set up my latest tank on Saturday morning , Rio 240, and all was good. cleaned sand thoroughly, added about 12 plants, some mopani wood. heat of 26C. water's clouded up a bit, as per new tank, guessing tannins from the wood.

Last night added enough ammonia (jeyes kleen off, as recommended on the site) to take the levels upto about 4ppm.

So, just retested the water... and got really interesting results. Anyone got any ideas...

Ammonia 3.5ppm
Nitrite 0.8
Nitrate 75

Surely it'd impossible to be cycling this fast? The only thing I could think of is that the plants were from my LFS, which has fish swimming around in the plant tanks - so i guess there was bacteria already on them?

 

[rdd1952]

It's quite possible that some ammonia has been processed and created the .8ppm of nitrite you have. I would strongly suspect all the nitrate is from your tap water. Hae you tested it?

 

[mibson]

It's quite possible that some ammonia has been processed and created the .8ppm of nitrite you have. I would strongly suspect all the nitrate is from your tap water. Hae you tested it?

Nitrate of 75 is very high for tap water here in Canada, where do you live?

 

[rdd1952]

In the UK, especially near London, it's pretty normal. I'm not sure where he is though. Since he referened his temp in C, I felt that may be where he was although I know those of us in the US are in the minority by using F.

 

[lukejwindsor]

I'm in London guys... just testing the tap now... will let you know asap.

So, should I just leave it alone, until the ammonia completely drops to about one, before topping it up?

I've just noticed that on the underside of one of my big piece of mopani, there is like a white-ish translucent slime waving about! It's just on that one piece of wood... but doesnt look especially friendly, and has kind of appeared out of nowhere, considering the tanks only been full about 24 hrs...

Cheers
Lucas

 

[rdd1952]

Not certain what could be on your wood other thansome type algae but it's probably a little too soon for that. As far as the ammonia is concerned, you are right that you just wait till it drops back to 0 to 1.

 

[lukejwindsor]

Plot thickens...

My London tap water is 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrite and only 5 Nitrate... pH is 7.5 by the way...

hmmm...?

 

[rdd1952]

I think the tap water there fluctuates quite a bit. It could be that when you filled the tank they were high and that they have gone down now. Actually, for London, the 7.5 pH is quite low. CFC affectionately refers to London tap water as liquid rock. You may want to try testing the tap water or a few days to see if there is any change.

 

[lukejwindsor]

Ok thanks very much I will do that...

Am working very early to very late tomorrow, so will have to see what has happened by Tuesday night! I'll probably just end up topping up the ammonia to 4/5ppm and letting it be, as i'm going to dublin on business til friday night. this wouldnt be a problem right?

RE: the white fungusy thing - i took out the wood, washed it in boiling water til all the white stuff was gone, and put it back in with a bit of dechlor. thing is, i noticed some more on there already - could it be something coming out of the wood?

Cheers,
Lucas