FC week 2

[Sibley]

Started testing for NitrItes this week and actually got a reading of 1ppm the first day. My ammonia went down to 0ppm by day 4 of week 2. Thanks to advice here I added 10 drops of my starter ammonia for a 20gal tank to get it back up to 1ppm and keep feeding the bacteria.

On day 4, my NitrIte reading was 5ppm. And so, on a whim, I tested for NitrAtes. And I got a reading! Of 5ppm. I was completely shocked. I just tested because I had extra time this morning and wanted to practice at my own pace rather than at the pace of week-day life.

So, I guess I'll be testing for all 3 from now until the end of the cycle.

This seems to be going much faster than I thought it would... esp since I didn't seed with anything....

 

[Sibley]

End of week 2 - I'm still at 0 for ammonia, 5ppm for NitrItes, and 5-ish ppm for NitrAtes. I'm adding ammonia every day to help feed those little bacteria, but I can't help but be a little frustrated that I've (a) been at 5 and 5 for both Ns for 4 days and (b) the NitrItes liquid test color is hard to read - the 1ppm color and the 5ppm color are almost identical. I'm still sticking with my 5 readings, though.

Son is getting very excited. He would like fish now, please, mommy. I told him maybe next weekend (giving me a 2 week cushion as today is Tuesday), if all the tests come out right.

I gotta say, having the notebook is a great idea. It's really helping me to track everything and I've already put the dates in for week 3.