Tank cycling ?
- Thread starter Bubbles
- Start date
Hi me and marcy have just tested the tank and i'm a little bit puzzled about the results they are
ph 8.2 thats the same
ammonia 0 the bacteria have dealt with that
nitrite 5 still not coming down
nitrate 20-40 this was on 80 earlier today
I thought the only way the nitrates came down was doing water changes but we have not done one i did take some plants that were not doing so good out of the tank and put a large piece of bog wood in (does the bog wood eat nitrates) i am to be honest a little concerned that i have messed up the cycle now :wb: :wb: by taking the plants out or putting bog wood in. does anyone have any idea what might have caused the nitrates to drop and will this mean we need to recycle the tank. Any help would be much appreciated thanks
and to my lovely wife marcy sorry babe<3
ph 8.2 thats the same
ammonia 0 the bacteria have dealt with that
nitrite 5 still not coming down
nitrate 20-40 this was on 80 earlier today
I thought the only way the nitrates came down was doing water changes but we have not done one i did take some plants that were not doing so good out of the tank and put a large piece of bog wood in (does the bog wood eat nitrates) i am to be honest a little concerned that i have messed up the cycle now :wb: :wb: by taking the plants out or putting bog wood in. does anyone have any idea what might have caused the nitrates to drop and will this mean we need to recycle the tank. Any help would be much appreciated thanks
and to my lovely wife marcy sorry babe<3
it is strange that the nitrates have reduced from 80 down to 20-40, as you say the only way of removing the nitrates it via water changes or adding plants that use up the nitrates.
the nitrites can take a while to sort them selves out during a cycle, the bacteria that converts nitrites into nitrates takes longer to colonise than the bacteria that converts ammonia to nitrite.
if the amonia is being processed still which it seems to be i wouldnt worry too much, just continue topping up the amonia each day untill the nitrite and amonia are reduced within 12 hrs(i think).
removing the plants and adding bogwood shouldnt have messed the cycle up, but i would have left adding anything like that unteill the cycle had completed personally just incase it affected the process
the nitrites can take a while to sort them selves out during a cycle, the bacteria that converts nitrites into nitrates takes longer to colonise than the bacteria that converts ammonia to nitrite.
if the amonia is being processed still which it seems to be i wouldnt worry too much, just continue topping up the amonia each day untill the nitrite and amonia are reduced within 12 hrs(i think).
removing the plants and adding bogwood shouldnt have messed the cycle up, but i would have left adding anything like that unteill the cycle had completed personally just incase it affected the process
cheers for the reply i am going to leave the tank alone now i have bought some new plants but i dont think i will put them in now (will put them in one of the other tanks for now) and just keep on with the daily ammonia doses and just hope for the best if its messed the cycle up then i will have to start again (and buy marcy a big bunch of flowers !) cheers again for the reply
You haven't messed up the cycle at all far from it,
nitrates are also the end process of the nitrogen cycle ammonia>nitrites>nitrates
what this basically means is that the colony of nitrifying bacteria have taken good hold
nitrates are difficult to move in softer water in which case the only way after a cycle has been done is to dilute the by doing the large water change.
i would suspect that the ammonia you are adding is being consumed within 12 hours which is a good thing.
dilute the nitrites down by adding only 1ml of tank water to 4ml tap this should put you in a position to see how high they really are though i suspect they should start falling rapidly any time soon, and they do so rapidly. keep up the good work so close :clap:
nitrates are also the end process of the nitrogen cycle ammonia>nitrites>nitrates
what this basically means is that the colony of nitrifying bacteria have taken good hold
nitrates are difficult to move in softer water in which case the only way after a cycle has been done is to dilute the by doing the large water change.
i would suspect that the ammonia you are adding is being consumed within 12 hours which is a good thing.
dilute the nitrites down by adding only 1ml of tank water to 4ml tap this should put you in a position to see how high they really are though i suspect they should start falling rapidly any time soon, and they do so rapidly. keep up the good work so close :clap:
Hi many thanks for your replys and advice it really helped thank you.
we have just tested the tank again and the results are
ph 8.0
ammonia 0 (going to add more in a minute)
nitrite 5
nitrate 40-80 going back up again
I am still trying to figure out why this went down and now back up again very strange, would the bogwood absorb some of the nitrates ?
Anyway i wont worry about it too much everything seems to be back on track and hopefully we should still be able to add the fish next weekend as i had hoped to, but if not never mind i suppose its better to be safe than sorry.
Many thanks again for the replys we really appreciate it :clap:
we have just tested the tank again and the results are
ph 8.0
ammonia 0 (going to add more in a minute)
nitrite 5
nitrate 40-80 going back up again
I am still trying to figure out why this went down and now back up again very strange, would the bogwood absorb some of the nitrates ?
Anyway i wont worry about it too much everything seems to be back on track and hopefully we should still be able to add the fish next weekend as i had hoped to, but if not never mind i suppose its better to be safe than sorry.
Many thanks again for the replys we really appreciate it :clap:
Hi firstly many thanks for all the help and advice while we were cycling the tank. :clap:
we tested the tank this morning and the results were
ph 7.8
ammonia 0 ppm
nitrite 0.25 ppm
nitrate 80-160 ppm
the nitrite was on 5 ppm last night and in the last 12 hours it has come down really quickly we have added some more ammonia this morning and hopefully when we test the tank tonight ammonia and nitrite will be 0 if so we are going to add ammonia tonight and if its all gone in the morning we will do a big water change and in with the fish :woohoo: :woohoo:
I will get marcy to put some pics of the fish on here when its all done.
I'm not sure how much to add tonight do i put it up to 4 ppm or is 2 ppm enough ?
I think i will probably put 4 ppm in just to make sure that the tank is good to go we cant wait to get our fish in their new home but i want it to be just right for them.
I cant believe that today is day 17 of this fishless cycle and its almost finished. when i read the review: fluval fx5 vs the eheim pro 3 ( i went for the fx5) and it says in there that a complete fishless cycle for the fx5 only took 13 days ! I really thought it would take much longer but we probably could of had our tank done 3-4 days ago if we had not messed up with the doses of ammonia :wb: :wb: we were putting small amounts in 3-4 times a day instead of one dose every 12 hours.
since we changed to doing the 12 hourly doses the cycling process had been very quick.
Many thanks again to everyone that helped :clap:
we tested the tank this morning and the results were
ph 7.8
ammonia 0 ppm
nitrite 0.25 ppm
nitrate 80-160 ppm
the nitrite was on 5 ppm last night and in the last 12 hours it has come down really quickly we have added some more ammonia this morning and hopefully when we test the tank tonight ammonia and nitrite will be 0 if so we are going to add ammonia tonight and if its all gone in the morning we will do a big water change and in with the fish :woohoo: :woohoo:
I will get marcy to put some pics of the fish on here when its all done.
I'm not sure how much to add tonight do i put it up to 4 ppm or is 2 ppm enough ?
I think i will probably put 4 ppm in just to make sure that the tank is good to go we cant wait to get our fish in their new home but i want it to be just right for them.
I cant believe that today is day 17 of this fishless cycle and its almost finished. when i read the review: fluval fx5 vs the eheim pro 3 ( i went for the fx5) and it says in there that a complete fishless cycle for the fx5 only took 13 days ! I really thought it would take much longer but we probably could of had our tank done 3-4 days ago if we had not messed up with the doses of ammonia :wb: :wb: we were putting small amounts in 3-4 times a day instead of one dose every 12 hours.
since we changed to doing the 12 hourly doses the cycling process had been very quick.
Many thanks again to everyone that helped :clap:
:hi:
time truly does fly when your enjoying yourself
i know its had its highs and lows but this tank is going to be great when its finished and the Pardy's and the "Rescue Fish" are making the most of all that space.
Fingers Crossed for tomorrow
:hi:
time truly does fly when your enjoying yourself
i know its had its highs and lows but this tank is going to be great when its finished and the Pardy's and the "Rescue Fish" are making the most of all that space.
Fingers Crossed for tomorrow
Hi chuck
I must admit it has been a big learning curve and have enjoyed it :yes:
The Nitrogen cycle has taken on a new dimension for me, i find it very fascinating now whereas i admit before i just took it for granted ( hope that makes sense).
It has had its high and lows
:yes: but it has really helped that this forum has experienced and kind members
Thanks Princess though we still have a reading of 0-0.25 nitrite, i am keeping my fingers crossed those bacteria will do the job : D will have to see in the morning.
how quickly the nitrites are dropping i wouldn't be surprised they do drop rapidly when they start :yes: when are you planning a shopping trip or is that already sorted :lol:
they do drop rapidly when they start :yes: when are you planning a shopping trip or is that already sorted :lol:
:hi:how quickly the nitrites are dropping i wouldn't be surprised
Its all sorted : D
Unfortunately i have some bad news, due to lack of concentration ( family problem) sat night a little too much ammonia was added :wb::wb::wb: and the nitrite reading went back up again, to 1.0 ( sun am reading).
This morning it was back to 0.25. So no fish have been put into the tank. I admit we are gutted but whats done is done :wb:
I was surprised at how quickly the nitrite reading dropped :huh:
Will keep posting.
Awww pooh
TBH i imagine a big ammonia dump like that is similar to what will happen when you've got the fish in and overfed them for the 1st time, i don't imagine the fish will only create 2-4 ppm ammonia, maybe its less i'm no expert on this but if your nitrates have been dropping well for the past few days then i believe your cycle is pretty much complete and your bacteria levels are near enough adequate for the task.
Hope the "family problem" wasn't major
:hi:
TBH i imagine a big ammonia dump like that is similar to what will happen when you've got the fish in and overfed them for the 1st time, i don't imagine the fish will only create 2-4 ppm ammonia, maybe its less i'm no expert on this but if your nitrates have been dropping well for the past few days then i believe your cycle is pretty much complete and your bacteria levels are near enough adequate for the task.
Hope the "family problem" wasn't major
:hi:
Awww pooh
TBH i imagine a big ammonia dump like that is similar to what will happen when you've got the fish in and overfed them for the 1st time, i don't imagine the fish will only create 2-4 ppm ammonia, maybe its less i'm no expert on this but if your nitrates have been dropping well for the past few days then i believe your cycle is pretty much complete and your bacteria levels are near enough adequate for the task.
Hope the "family problem" wasn't major
:hi:
:hi: chuck
I agree aww pooh lol, i cant imagine the fish we will be putting in will create 2-4 ppm either and we will be adding the fish with caution and monitor the water parameters ( you guys know what i am like :lol: ).
Nothing too major sweety and thankyou for asking