How is my cycle going?

[whiddett]

Hi. I have not done a PWC yet. I was asking how much to change? But what I have now also done is put a stocking full of gravel from the old tank into the new tank, plus transferred an ornament and a couple of small plants.
Do you think I'm likely to see a change in Ammonia levels very soon with these actions? My biggest concern now is what to do regarding my holiday thats coming soon. CB says not to bother with Ammo-Lock but do I have much choice seeing as I will be unable to monitor the water for 10 days?

[CatatonicBug]

The Ammo-lock does not do anything. You might as well be adding expensive water to your tank. It's simply a waste. A PWC of 20-40% would not hurt. Just be sure to closely match the temperature and add the dechlorinator to the tank as you are adding the new water.

As for the holiday, all you can do is a PWC right before you go and hope for the best. It does not sound like you are looking at really horrible conditions, so I wouldn't be horribly concerned about it.

[whiddett]

What you say MisticX is very interesting. If I understand correctly are you saying that by putting old filter media into a new tank you can immediately fully stock it and basically avoid a cycle all together? If that is correct would you expect that having transferred an old sponge and a stocking full of gravel to my new tank I should notice almost magical results on my Ammonia levels with the next 48 hours? Or have I interpretted your comments all wrong?
I also noticed that the front on the Stress Coat bottle says that it removes Ammonia from tap water as well as the chlorines. Presumably that means it would remove ammonia from the tank too? Although I believe it may just convert it to harmless Ammonium which will still register on the API test kit Ammonia test?
On the positive side my 2 Denison Barbs so appear much happier and more colourful in the new tank than they did in the old tank where I am sure the Red Tailed Shark was stressing them out by chasing them. Their red stripe is much brighter now than it was and they like to swim in and out of the ship wreck . I'm more concerned about the Pim Pictus Catfish if anything as I am sure he would be the first to suffer from bad water conditions and I really wouldn't want to lose him. I thought his stomach was possibly a bit enlarged the other day but he seems happy enough today, albeit quite shy.

[whiddett]

Originally Posted by CatatonicBug

The Ammo-lock does not do anything. You might as well be adding expensive water to your tank. It's simply a waste. A PWC of 20-40% would not hurt. Just be sure to closely match the temperature and add the dechlorinator to the tank as you are adding the new water.

As for the holiday, all you can do is a PWC right before you go and hope for the best. It does not sound like you are looking at really horrible conditions, so I wouldn't be horribly concerned about it.

Hi CatatonicBug. I am not doubting what you say but I'm interested to know what makes you say the ammo-lock does nothing? Surely API could be sued if their product does not do what it says? I have heard that this type of product converts Ammonia to Ammonium and still shows up on Ammonia tests and so I wondered if that is your experience and hence why you think it does nothing? Or maybe you have some better explanation? Thanks.

[CatatonicBug]

What MysticX says about the "instant cycle" is true. If you add cycled filter media to a new filter, the bacteria will very quickly transfer over and you will not see the normal cycle. This is assuming you have food for the bacteria to consume in the new tank.

This is where the Ammo-lock problem comes in. The bacteria need the ammonia to eat, and by using Ammo-lock, you are in essence fouling their food. As a general rule, everyone here will tell you that it is always best to solve the cause of the problem rather than the symptoms. The ammo-lock is temporarily reducing a symptom, not fixing the problem. Ammonia is produced constantly in the tank, and so if you treat it, the only thing that gets treated is the currently existing ammonia. The new stuff that appears in a few hours will not be treated.

As long as you moved the media over, I would say your tank will be set for your holiday.

[whiddett]

OK cool that sounds good. I hope you are right.
As far as the Ammo-lock though, my understanding is that it converts Ammonia to Ammonium which is harmless but that the Ammonia consuming bacteria will still feed on the Ammonium. I'd rather not use these products at all as like you say they are just are sticky plaster solution and very expensive. So hopefully the bacteria that I had sitting in my other tank all along will quickly and cheaply solve the problem.

[whiddett]

Another question - does anyone know how long the bacteria can survive without food? The reason I ask is that my test showed zero Nitrite. So having added an established sponge to the system, could the Nitrite converting bacteria die before the ammonia is converted to Nitrite? And if the Ammonia gets consumed quickly and my low stocked tank does not produce much new ammonia, could those bacteria die too?

[Purrbox]

You will probably see a reduction in the amount of bacteria, to the level of fish that you currently have. Depending on how well you seeding the aquarium, you'll either see an instant cycle, or a shortened cycle. Not at all unusual for it to be shortened to two weeks or less with the amount it sounds like you've added. Obviously since there will be some die back in the bacteria, you'll need to increase stocking slowly once the cycle is finished to give the biofilter time to catch up with the increased bioload.

[whiddett]

I tested again yesterday and today. Yesterday I thought the Ammonia was still about 1ppm or maybe just under going by the colour chart. But today I think my Ammonia level has dropped now closer to 0.5ppm. I'm still not reading any Nitrite and the Nitrate has not increased significantly if at all - still reading about 10ppm.

[whiddett]

Since my last post I have continued testing my water as follows but the results seem a little odd to me. The first set of results were PH 8, Ammonia 1ppm, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 10ppm. I then added some seed material from my old tank as I was concerned about the ammonia and wanted to speed up the cycle. 2 days later the ammonia had dropped to around 0.5ppm. Everything else stayed the same. I was then away for 10 days and tested again on 24 June and found nothing had changed again. The ammonia had possibly dropped from the high side of 0.5ppm to the low side of 0.5ppm. I then tested again yesterday and got PH 8, Ammonia 1ppm, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 10ppm again. It seems odd to me that I am yet to see any Nitrites or increase in Nitrates. Is this normal? The tank has been up and running since 15 May and has 8 fish in there.