Whats Going On With My Cycle?!

[sketchy]

This morning I checked my Nitrites, and they were off the scale. Just now the test's coming back as clear blue as a very clear blue thing! Ammonia has also dropped rather quickly in comparison to previous days.

Anyone have any ideas???

EDIT: I'm in week 2 and a bit of a fishelss cycle BTW!

 

[waterdrop]

Well, your Nbac population might have taken off and put you near the end of cycling. Its best to "qualify" the biofilter anyway by watching it drop 4-5ppm of ammonia within 10-12 hours for a full week, so you'll have plenty of time to see whether the sudden switch was just a quirk, or the real thing.

Overall, should be a very good sign though!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[sketchy]

Thanks very much. If I'm honest, I haven't been checking the nitrites at all really, as untill the ammonia is dropped that quickly I dont have to worry about nitrite levels. I was just thrown by the (very) sudden change, from off the charts to none at all!

 

[waterdrop]

The usual description is that when it happens its quick. Nice that you were not fussing over nitrites, seems they tend to be all over the place prior to suddenly dropping to zero.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yup as waterdrop say's, sometimes it just goes quickly. keep adding your 5ppm and testing for ammonia and nitrite daily, if they're both dropping to 0 in 12 hrs then keep it up for a week as sometimes levels will fluctuate just after completing a cycle, once the week's up you're pretty safe and you can go get yourself some fishies

 

[sketchy]

Woop! Only thing I'm concerned about is the fact that i'm only going to be half stocking my tank to start with as some of the fish I want to be adding are a little more sensitive that ones I've kept in the past, so I dont want to be adding them for a few months anyway (or at least not 'till I come back from holiday!)

Will I have problems adding them as my filter wont be fully able to cope with the greater bio-load? (I plan on adding german rams, or similar - 2 maybe 3 of them)

As I said - I have read that these fish should only go into an established tank, and so I am a little worried about their sensitivity to a (perhaps relatively small) ammonia or nitrite spike.

Thanks again

 

[Miss Wiggle]

once the bacteria colony is well established and mature it can double in 24 hrs. so once you've past the cycling phase and you're a couple of months down the line, as long as you don't go adding loads of fish at once you should be fine. Just add a couple of fish, leave it a few weeks, then get some more etc etc

 

[sketchy]

Thanks very much for that! I figured the filter would sort itself out rather quickly!

Now, to wait for my water to settle down! (the tanks right next to my bed, so I can't help but look at it, and it's getting somewhat boring watching bubbles, and the odd up-rooted plant floating about aimlessly!)

 

[Miss Wiggle]

lol, watching a cycling tank can be very frustrating, but when the fish are in and happy you'll be glad you did it

 

[sketchy]

And to be fair - coming up to exam time, I don't think I can afford to have yet another distraction to keep me away from my studydin! Its bad enough thinking about fish, so god only knows what I'd be like if I had fish to stare at instead of bubbles!!!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

lmao!

what exams you doing?

 

[waterdrop]

lol, whatever the exam, if he's successful he's going to attempt to recreate his profile picture, titled:

"And Sketchy feted the Merry Wench agin O'jolly England"

 

[Miss Wiggle]

LOL

 

[sketchy]

lmao!

what exams you doing?

Analytical and Organic chemistry, followed by Human physiology and some ginetics one.

And as for re-creating the profile picture - I doubt it! I got quite royally told off shortly after that picture was taken for spilling beer all down her!!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Analytical and Organic chemistry, followed by Human physiology and some ginetics one.

oooooh get you!