just a lil' stumped

[pdw1731]

Hi all

I'm doing, ok trying to do, a fishless cycle using the guide. Been going at it pretty good for about 3 weeks now. I dose in ammonia (Blue Ribbon) to 2ppm and check on it every morning. My ammonia reading every morning, without fail is less than .25ppm. Yet, my nitrItes remain 5ppm or above. Should i start to begin seeing the horrid purple liquid in my vial begin it's trek towards sky blue soon? NitrAtes, in case you are wondering, are in the 160ppm+ range

My water from the tap numbers are
Ammo: O ppm
pH: above 7.6
HR pH: 7.4
lets just split hairs and say it's 7.5

I'm doing a test right now and my numbers are
ammo: 2ppm
NitrIte: either 2 or 5 ppm (really, aren't the same color?)
nitrAte: 160ppm
ph 7.6

I know i've read that pwc's can help, but what is the formula/rationale behind what percentage to change out? I have 5-5gal buckets all ready to go (I had 6 but my son swiped on to clean his paintball gun

Trust me whan I say i'm trying to have the patience of a Jedi here...but it aint easy. Plus, I sucked a chemistry in school. I'm am really stumped here b/c I don't have a firm grasp on where i am inside of the process. Sorry, i'm just a dude that needs waypoints just to let me know if i am still on the path.

I'll redo the test in the morning and post what happens. but i won't reup on the ammo till Monday morn. unless my ammo reading is sunshine yellow

 

[librarygirl]

The nitrite phase of the cycle can take a while. How long have the nitrites been 5?

 

[pdw1731]

about 3 weeks, started about a week after i started dosing ammo.

 

[Polar]

My nitrites droped in the beginning of week 5 and went away fast they went to 0 and I never saw them again. Give it a little more time. Pwc can help at this point, plus lol your nitrites will drop with a big pwc

P

 

[pdw1731]

What dictates the % of water to switch out? Once I'm stocked, my plan is to do 50% weekly. But should I do the same now? Determining that magic number is proving to be a tad elusive.

 

[tlkng1]

I had the same problem . The good news is that you have Nitrites of some sort since Nitrites convert to Nitrates. Your ammonia is obviously being converted so what may be happening is that your nitrifying bacteria little buggers are hard working and are converting your Nitrites to Nitrates in between your testing. It is not unheard of for Ammonia to barely make it to Nitrite before it is converted to Ntrate.

Try a couple of water changes. You need to get your Nitrates down anyway. As the Nitrates climb again, you can be confident everything in the process is working. The fishless cycling does work but it doesn't always follow "our" rules for perfect conditions.

 

[librarygirl]

What dictates the % of water to switch out? Once I'm stocked, my plan is to do 50% weekly. But should I do the same now? Determining that magic number is proving to be a tad elusive.

If Nitrites have been high for 3 weeks then I think it's safe to do a water change. Depending upon how high nitrites are (the test can only record to a certain point) you may need to do a couple of large ones. The goal is to get nitrites to something where you can read on the chart, ideally <1. So, do maybe an 80% change, dechlorinate and refill, wait about a half hour then test. If nitrites are <1 then you're good. If not, try another pwc. Then don't forget to redose ammonia after.

When you have fish in the tank, the weekly water changes are to replenish nutrients in the water that the fish use up and to keep nitrAtes low (<20).

 

[Meave]

I'm in the same boat, but I'm on week 7. This morning I put the drops in the test kit for nitrites, and it was blue for the first time. I got really excited, then it quickly turned dark purple.......

 

[pdw1731]

I got really excited, then it quickly turned dark purple.......

YO!!! You are living my life!!! I see the blue for a split second and get so amped....then it's all downhill from there. Cardinal tetras arent' as colorful as my language was

Anyway, woke up this morning to 0 ammo and off the chart nitrItes. Posted here, did a darn near 80% PWC. did another test with no changes at all in paramters. I redosed ammo to 3-4 ppm, turned out the lights, closed the door and went to change the oil on the cars. I'm not bothering with it anymore till Tuesday, wednesday at the earliest.

Harumph!!

 

[pdw1731]

wait forgot to mention i did another pwc after the 1st test came back blah this morning. still no change in params.

 

[librarygirl]

If nitrites are still high after doing an 80% water change you could do another one and see if that gets it down to a readable level on the chart. Then only dose ammonia to 1 for a few days; this will give the bacteria time to catch up. Nitrites might rise again on you, but that's normal. Only dose ammonia to 1 for 2-3 days at most, then go back up to your usual dose.

 

[pdw1731]

If Nitrites have been high for 3 weeks then I think it's safe to do a water change. Depending upon how high nitrites are (the test can only record to a certain point) you may need to do a couple of large ones. The goal is to get nitrites to something where you can read on the chart, ideally <1. So, do maybe an 80% change, dechlorinate and refill, wait about a half hour then test. If nitrites are <1 then you're good. If not, try another pwc. Then don't forget to redose ammonia after.(<20).

After doing a couple of large pwc's, everything dropped to readable levels. YES!! I redosed ammo and tested again this morning. Everything was back to where it was, except ammo. of course. nI and nA were off the charts. I did another pwc and redosed ammo to 2.0ppm

is this what is considered to be in the realm of "normal"?

 

[pdw1731]

i meant ammo to 1ppm....my bad

 

[librarygirl]

Yep, you're in the nitrite phase which can take longer than the ammonia phase. Just keep dosing every 24 hours if ammonia is at 0 (or close to); hopefully you're near the end.