fishless cycle so far

[eco23]

hi all
done a 50% pwc heres the results
ammonia 0.25 ppm
nitrites 5.0 ppm ?
nitrates 5.0 ppm
ph 7.8
thought nitrites would of gone down abit after pwc ?

Hmm...good news is that your cycle is far along if your levels were so high that the 50% pwc didn't bring them down much. If you've got the willpower and your backs not too sore from the first pwc, I'd do another to get them down further. There's really no harm in pwc's during a cycle as long as you remember to dechlorinate, they're just not normally necessary except midway and at the end. Go ahead and do another (75% wouldn't hurt) and try to get the nitrItes down a good ways so you can measure them clearly.

I think you're just about done with your cycle in the next days or week. If we don't get your levels down far enough you may not know when the cycle actually complete.

 

[rubyjess]

ok blimey
after another 50 % water change (walking like an old man)
the results are in
united kingdom nil points lol
no really ammo 0.50 ppm
nitrites 5.0 ppm
nitrates shot up to 80 ppm
ph down to 7.4
god this is so knackering how did you lot cope lol

 

[eco23]

ok blimey
after another 50 % water change (walking like an old man)
the results are in
united kingdom nil points lol
no really ammo 0.50 ppm
nitrites 5.0 ppm
nitrates shot up to 80 ppm
ph down to 7.4
god this is so knackering how did you lot cope lol

Test your tap water...you've got to have no2 and no3 in it. BTW, I hate to tell you this, but my beloved Barca is gonna crush Man U at Wembley, lol.

 

[rubyjess]

sorry for all the pics by the way ,i just love the whole upload pic thing its great

 

[rubyjess]

??????

 

[eco23]

Also, make sure you're testing right. 99% of people do the API test kits wrong. For the no3, you've got to shake the heck out of the #2 solution for a solid 30 seconds, then shake the entire tube for a solid minute.

 

[rubyjess]

ok mate will do now cheers for the advice by the way

 

[eco23]

ok mate will do now cheers for the advice by the way

Happy to help, you've gotta either have nitrIte and nitrAte in the tap water, or the test is wrong. There's no other explanations.

 

[rubyjess]

ok tested nitrate properly via your guide lines the results were between 40/80 ppm now gonna test tap water

 

[rubyjess]

ok results of the tap water test
nitrite is 0 ppm
nitrte is 80 ppm
god i give up

 

[eco23]

ok results of the tap water test
nitrite is 0 ppm
nitrte is 80 ppm
god i give up

Good lord! How big is the tank again? The lfs's sell RO water. That may have to be an option.

 

[eco23]

The problem you're gonna have is that once you have fish, you have to keep nitrAtes under 40ppm, preferably around 10. The way you keep the nitrAtes down is by doing weekly pwc's. Problem is, instead of lowering the nitrAtes you're going to be raising them every time you change the water. You're either gonna have to buy water from the lfs, buy yourself a RO to filter your water, or drain the water and go buy an iguana or something, lol. I'd vote for buying an RO.

 

[rubyjess]

blimey bugger all that ,looks like its time to buy a hamster much easier to keep ,if i would have to buy water or an ro unit id be better of having sw fish,which is wat i wanted to start with lol

 

[eco23]

blimey bugger all that ,looks like its time to buy a hamster much easier to keep ,if i would have to buy water or an ro unit id be better of having sw fish,which is wat i wanted to start with lol

I have virtually no knowledge of SW tanks, but I'm pretty sure you can easily convert FW to SW as long as you've got the right equipment. If that's the route you decided, you'd still already have a semi cycled tank. I might still recommend taking a water sample to the lfs for them to test. Maybe you got a bad kit. It's hard to believe no3 would be that high out of the tap.

 

[rubyjess]

thanks for your advise its been brilliant ,sw is not the way i want to go at all its just i got on the right track then crash lol
just done another tap water nitrate test with my tetra test and it reads 12.5 mg/l??

 

[eco23]

thanks for your advise its been brilliant ,sw is not the way i want to go at all its just i got on the right track then crash lol
just done another tap water nitrate test with my tetra test and it reads 12.5 mg/l??

Is the Tetra strips? If so, they're basically garbage. The first thing I'd do before we do anything drastic would be to bring a water sample to the lfs and have them test it. I have a feeling something's up with the test kit.

 

[rubyjess]

ok
my test is liquid by the way api test kit
thought they were good ??

 

[rubyjess]

do i in the mean time have to dose my ammo back to 4.0 ppm aswell cheers

 

[eco23]

The API is considered the best, but I guess you could have gotten a bad batch or something. I'd keep dosing up the ammo since it's possible nothing is wrong and it's just faulty readings.

Bring a sample of both the tank water and the tap water to the lfs. They're going to tell you fishless cycling is stupid, but don't listen to a word they say. The things they recommend are borderline criminal IMO.

I hate to say it again...but last night I helped a guy who had the almost exact same issue as you're having...and he wasn't shaking the #2 solution bottle long enough, and wasn't shaking the test tube for a full minute. Once he did it correctly he saw he had incorrect readings. I'm sure you're a smart guy (or girl?), but I beg you to read very closely the instruction book, not the directions on the bottle.

 

[rubyjess]

ok mate will try once more in the morning ,you have been very helpful and are an asset to these forums IMO,if you dont mind i will post result to you in the morning after another nitrate test
once again cheers