Low nitrates - UPDATE

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cowgrlw

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Aug 7, 2014
Messages
18
Location
Ontario, Canada
I updated this on my original post (Low nitrates), but I think it's being missed so I'm reposting.

I dosed up to 4.0 ppm of ammonia one last time yesterday, after I'd done a 50% PWC. In my defense, I did it because that's what I read to do in "The (almost) Complete Guide and FAQ to Fishless Cycling" from here: The (almost) Complete Guide and FAQ to Fishless Cycling That's what I've been following up until I made the original post here, so I thought I should follow what he said to do "one last time" (and you're probably all shaking your heads right about now). :ermm:

Now comes the bad news. I did the 50% water change, which is all hard water and I used the water conditioner, but this time I didn't add salt (which I forgot to mention before that I had added when I started the tank). I checked the ammonia this morning and it was just above 0 ppm, nitrites were at 1.0 ppm, and the nitrates had fallen to below 5 (very dark yellow)! I had removed the bubbler when I did the PWC and I put the water temp back down to 76F, so that's what I thought might have made the difference in the cycle. (By the way, the water was really cold when I did the PWC so I couldn't turn on the heater until this morning. When there are fish in the tank, I usually warm some of the water on the stove and mix it with the colder water to the right temp before I add it, but I haven't been doing that since there are no fish right now.) I then put the bubbler back in and hiked the water temp back up to 77F in hopes that something will help. I waited until 24 hours after I'd done the PWC, and tested again -- the nitrites are now at 2.0 and the nitrates are even closer to 0! I again raised the heater to what will make the tank 82F, and I will also cover it again to block the light as that seemed to work pretty well before.

If I hadn't added the ammonia, it probably would have all been fine. :facepalm: But now it's not and it looks like there won't be any new fish this weekend after all. :ermm: :(

Wendy
 
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