Wow, Look! It's... Another Fishless Cycle Diary?

[nork]

Day 9 updated.

Any comments/questions/suggestions on my readings?

 

[waterdrop]

Day 9 updated.

Any comments/questions/suggestions on my readings?

Yes, very good that you're seeing some nitrite on day 9! That's quite early on and indicates, along with the slight drop in ammonia that there are some A-Bacs in there multiplying. You are very lucky to have a pH that is going to prove ideal for growing bacteria and you are keeping it at a good temperature.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[nork]

Day 9 updated.

Any comments/questions/suggestions on my readings?

Yes, very good that you're seeing some nitrite on day 9! That's quite early on and indicates, along with the slight drop in ammonia that there are some A-Bacs in there multiplying. You are very lucky to have a pH that is going to prove ideal for growing bacteria and you are keeping it at a good temperature.

~~waterdrop~~

My tap water comes out of the faucet with a 7.6 pH, so with this higher pH now and the high pH that's ordinary for my water, I think my cichlids will have a perfect habitat. They should be a happy little bunch.

Is there anything to watch out for as far as already picking up nitrates, too?

 

[waterdrop]

Don't put a lot of stock in nitrate(NO3) readings during cycling. They get thrown off by the presence of the nitrite and in general you will just get some strange readings. That's on top of the fact that its hard to get good NO3 readings to begin with, simply because its nearly impossible to create an inexpensive but accurate NO3 test. The truth is that when NO3 numbers seem to support our case we accept them but when they don't then we ignore them.

Once cycling is over, nitrate(NO3) will become a more important test as a way to judge how well maintenance is going. If it creeps up then more maintenance is needed.

Its not good to judge the likelihood of your future tank pH based on things that happen during cycling. The water chemistry of a cycling tank is completely different than a running tank with fish. Among other things, the addition of ammonia does drive the pH up somewhat.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[nork]

Day 10 updated.

 

[nork]

When my ammonia levels get back down to next to nothing/nothing at all, I add another 11 ml of ammonia to get back up to 5 ppm again, right? Basically do what I did on day 1 and keep doing this cycle until my ammonia disappears completely in about 12 hours, correct?

 

[nork]

Ok, Day 11 has been updated and I have a question.

Do I wait until ammonia levels are down to 0 or do I need to now add another appx 11 ml to bring it back up to 5 ppm?

 

[nork]

I added another 9 ml of ammonia to get it up to 4 ppm, as I did a second ammonia test earlier and it came back with a 0 ppm reading.

 

[waterdrop]

Looking fine Nork. Don't forget, you only ever add ammonia once in a 24 hour period (so that not too much nitrogen is building up overall) and you only add that new dose if ammonia made it to zero ppm within the previous 24 hours. If it didn't then it just gets to sit and munch on that last trace of ammonia 0.25ppm or whatever for another 24 hours. It won't make the process slower. It also helps if you make the time of day for the 24 and 12 hour tests (if and when you are doing 12 hour tests, which is not strictly necessary for you yet since you are just entering the nitrite spike 2nd phase) fairly fixed and regular but of course it doesn't hurt things really if a test on a particular day is late or something.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[nork]

My regular scheduled tests are done at 8 PM, the second test I took last night was done at 8:45 PM, which is also about when I added another dose of ammonia.

I've been off work sick the last two days, and about 15 minutes ago (at 1:00 PM), I tested the ammonia again. All gone. The nitrites are still present, but I'm excited to see my ammonia being processed very quickly now. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the cycle to be completed in the next couple of weeks or so.

I'll test again at 8 PM tonight, add ammonia, and see what happens over the weekend.

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, keep fingers crossed but also keep a healthy dose of skepticism as each "stage" of cycling can independently throw you for a loop. In the final stage we sometimes get the "sticking" problem, where that last 0.25ppm on nitrite just doesn't want to "clear" within 12 hours for the longest time! This is not to mention that sometimes the nitrite spike will for some reason seem to go forever. But having any part of it go quickly is a benefit to enjoy, and hopefully yours will keep moving well.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[nork]

Yep, I've read quite a few diaries here where that exact thing happened. So I'm definitely not counting my chickens before they're hatched here, just hoping that the rest of the cycle goes as smoothly as it has so far.

 

[nork]

Day 12 updated.

 

[nork]

Day 13 updated.

 

[waterdrop]

Nitrite spike (2nd stage of fishless cycling) is now solid! WD