More fishless cycle problems

[nanofish]

I made an error in dosing last night (well actually my error was falling asleep in between dosing a little at a time to recheck if I was using the right amount). Assuming I was using the right amount, which I checked twice before, I only dosed to about 3.0 ppm.

Tonight's readings:
ph 6.6, ammonia .25, NO2 0

 

[swimwithme]

Did you re-test tonight?

 

[nanofish]

Just did it right now and it seems strange to me.

ph-7.0, ammonia 1.0, NO2 0

 

[nanofish]

Tonight's

ph 7.2, ammonia .5, NO2 0

Getting better. My plants have died, with me removing the last today. Does that explain why I still am reading ammonia?

 

[jlk]

Dead plants can definitely be a cause in your ammonia readings. Lets see how your tank does without them. Though, i will be honest, i have no idea why your not getting any nitrite when you have been working on this for so long!

 

[librarygirl]

Tonight's

ph 7.2, ammonia .5, NO2 0

Getting better. My plants have died, with me removing the last today. Does that explain why I still am reading ammonia?

So if I'm reading your log correctly you did have nitrite for a while and now it's 0? How high are you dosing ammonia? I'd remove the dead plants too. Can you try dosing ammonia a little lower, say 1-2 and see if it goes to 0 over 24 hours?

 

[nanofish]

The plants were all pulled out yesterday. I had been removing the brown ones daily and yesterday was just the end of them completely with roots breaking off. I got every little bit out that I could find so hopefully we'll see in a little bit. I could test early too. I'm dosing to 4 ppm so it's great that I'm getting to zero nitrites. With any luck ammonia will be zero tonight. If not I'll certainly dose less.

 

[nanofish]

ph 7.0, 0 ammonia, 0 NO2!!!!!!!!!!!!

fingers crossed for tomorrow

 

[jlk]

Ok, thats a step in the right direction!!!

 

[librarygirl]

Yay!!!!!!!!

 

[nanofish]

Cycled!!!!!!!! Woohoo!!!!!!!

I won't be getting any fish for a few days so I'll just dose to 1 ppm of ammonia. Is it safe to take out the crushed coral or should I leave that in? My tapwater is already alkaline but I have so many blackwater elements that I have no clue what the tank ph will be.

 

[jlk]

YAY!!! If your tank is now zeroing out 4ppm amm, i would keep dosing it to the same level until your ready fish. The day you plan on purchasing them, skip the amm, do a big wc to get your nitrates as close to zero as possible (it may take more than 1 wc), & adjust your temp for your fish. I honestly am not sure if you should leave the coral in or not. A wild guess here? I wouldnt change anything right away (if at all) because you dont want to throw your tank/cycle into a tailspin. Hopefully, someone will be able to give you a more definite answer! Congrats!

 

[librarygirl]

Congrats! Is the coral in a bag in your tank or in your filter? If it's in a bag in your tank what you could do is take out most of it except for a few pinches and try to shove it into your filter if you can. If it's in your filter already I'd leave it as long as the PH stays stable and doesn't rise too high. Pics of fish when you get them.

 

[nanofish]

Thank you everyone. I should be going for fish in just couple of days. Now to answer the questions. The bag of coral is in the tank. Maybe I did it wrong but when I put it in th filter the ph stayed at 6.6. With it in the tank and me squeezing often the ph went up. I'll try it back in the filter, definitely don't want the bag in the tank. I already have a layer of coral from all the squeezings I did. Only one fish I'm planning for absolutely needs acidic water so if it's more neutral I'll pick something else.

 

[swimwithme]

Congrats! Hoping I wont be too far behind but it's still not looking too good.