What Is Happening To My Cycle?

[Blue Diamond]

Let's all back up a second.

Blue Diamond... welcome to the forum, your experience and knowledge is appreciated but as I said it does seem to be in the minority. You seem to suggest that I shouldn't have used donated media, when standard practice seems to welcome this. Is there a reason behind your statement?

This just put it this way it isn't something I would do , I think its best to leave it at that , as you say I am in the minority on this one , and each to their own.

My preference on my own tanks are is to do an ammonia cycle , it only takes a few weeks and elimanates any chance of cross contamination , but then I also quarantine any new fish before adding them to the tank, as I say just my preference.

My Discus cost from £80 to £150 per fish so I couldn't afford to take risks with 42 of them in one tank.

As I said above I wasn't trying to upset anyone , infact the opposite I want info myself.

 

[slimeneo]

I agree with your plan of action faildeadly - looks like you're on the right track to me!

Agreed , let us know if you have any more questions

 

[fluttermoth]

Let's all back up a second.

Blue Diamond... welcome to the forum, your experience and knowledge is appreciated but as I said it does seem to be in the minority. You seem to suggest that I shouldn't have used donated media, when standard practice seems to welcome this. Is there a reason behind your statement?

This just put it this way it isn't something I would do , I think its best to leave it at that , as you say I am in the minority on this one , and each to their own.

My preference on my own tanks are is to do an ammonia cycle , it only takes a few weeks and elimanates any chance of cross contamination , but then I also quarantine any new fish before adding them to the tank, as I say just my preference.

My Discus cost from £80 to £150 per fish so I couldn't afford to take risks with 42 of them in one tank.

As I said above I wasn't trying to upset anyone , infact the opposite I want info myself.

I understand where you're coming from, Blue Diamond.

Of course, we would never recommend taking media from an unhealthy tank. The OP is doing a fishless cycle though, and even with the mature media it's likely to take a couple of weeks and there would be only a very rare pathogen or parasite that could survive that long without a host. It would be such are rare thing that in general it's perfectly safe to donate media and I've done it myself many times, though if you're dealing with particularly,rare, expensive or wild caught fish I would agree that it's probably not worth the risk.

 

[faildeadly]

And we're all friends again. Time for tea and cake!

 

[Blue Diamond]

Let's all back up a second.

Blue Diamond... welcome to the forum, your experience and knowledge is appreciated but as I said it does seem to be in the minority. You seem to suggest that I shouldn't have used donated media, when standard practice seems to welcome this. Is there a reason behind your statement?

This just put it this way it isn't something I would do , I think its best to leave it at that , as you say I am in the minority on this one , and each to their own.

My preference on my own tanks are is to do an ammonia cycle , it only takes a few weeks and elimanates any chance of cross contamination , but then I also quarantine any new fish before adding them to the tank, as I say just my preference.

My Discus cost from £80 to £150 per fish so I couldn't afford to take risks with 42 of them in one tank.

As I said above I wasn't trying to upset anyone , infact the opposite I want info myself.

I understand where you're coming from, Blue Diamond.

Of course, we would never recommend taking media from an unhealthy tank. The OP is doing a fishless cycle though, and even with the mature media it's likely to take a couple of weeks and there would be only a very rare pathogen or parasite that could survive that long without a host. It would be such are rare thing that in general it's perfectly safe to donate media and I've done it myself many times, though if you're dealing with particularly,rare, expensive or wild caught fish I would agree that it's probably not worth the risk.

And we're all friends again. Time for tea and cake!

 

[fluttermoth]

Mmmmmm...cake

 

[Gvilleguy]

Looking forward to hearing your results, FD...

 

[faildeadly]

Over the last 36 hours my results have been odd.

-----------------pH----NH3----NO2-----NO3
Day 13 - AM -6.8---3ppm---2-5ppm-20ppm Did 50% WC
Day 13 - AM -7.6---2ppm---2ppm----10ppm
(After WC)
Day 13 - PM -7.6---1ppm---2ppm----40ppm
Day 14 - PM -6.4---0.5ppm-2ppm----80ppm

Now I suspect I'm reading my nitrite wrong, it's gone a bright purple and it doesn't actually seen to match any shade on the chart. I now have the dreaded algae growth going on... ick. Is it worth WC again to bring nitrates down, or leave as is? I'm also worried about my pH crashing.

Totally confused, may have to take a step back and breathe.

 

[Electric Warrior]

Over the last 36 hours my results have been odd.

-----------------pH----NH3----NO2-----NO3
Day 13 - AM -6.8---3ppm---2-5ppm-20ppm Did 50% WC
Day 13 - AM -7.6---2ppm---2ppm----10ppm
(After WC)
Day 13 - PM -7.6---1ppm---2ppm----40ppm
Day 14 - PM -6.4---0.5ppm-2ppm----80ppm

Now I suspect I'm reading my nitrite wrong, it's gone a bright purple and it doesn't actually seen to match any shade on the chart. I now have the dreaded algae growth going on... ick. Is it worth WC again to bring nitrates down, or leave as is? I'm also worried about my pH crashing.

Totally confused, may have to take a step back and breathe.

I have been having the same issues with Ph while cycling my tank. I did a 90% WC to get nitrates down and PH up. It stayed that way for a while, but then started to fall again, and I discovered that I had to next to no buffering going on in my tank because my GH/KH was very, very low. That, combined with a high nitrate reading seemed to make my PH continue to drop. Do you know your GH/KH reading?

 

[Gvilleguy]

For a fishless cycle there is no harm adding Arm & Hammer Baking Soda (USA) to temporarily raise your pH levels. It usually lasts for days. FD - I would raise your pH back up.

 

[faildeadly]

Have done a 95% water change and redosed Ammonia to 2ppm.

My readings now show:

pH: 7.8
NH3: 2.0ppm
NO2: 0.25ppm
NO3: 5.0ppm

I'll test again later on tonight and see what change there has been.

I discovered that I had to next to no buffering going on in my tank because my GH/KH was very, very low.

Scottish water = soft as a fluffy cloud.

 

[Gvilleguy]

I also have soft water - GH/KH = zero, pH = 6.0. I buffer it with a bag of crushed coral in the filter outflow....keeps the pH around 6.4 - 6.8.