FishN00b83
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Ok I'll just continue with what I'm doing I guess
My 40b fishless cycle log!
- Thread starter FishN00b83
- Start date
The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
eco23
Aquarium Advice Addict
FishN00b83 said:
Cool. I'm waiting to hear back from a buddy of mine who did a fishless cycle with eco-complete. His tank is nice and healthy (no crashes or anything), but I remember we had some very odd things happen during his cycle.
FishN00b83
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Nice, hopefully they have some good info
FishN00b83
Aquarium Advice FINatic
FishN00b83
Aquarium Advice FINatic
I just threw a bunch of seeded ceramic tubes in my filter from a AA memeber that lives in Texas. Hopefully the bacteria survived the trip. How can I tell if it's having any effect on my tank?
eco23
Aquarium Advice Addict
FishN00b83 said:
Time will tell. Assuming it stayed wet, and didn't take forever and a day getting to you...it should be fine.
I'm still waiting to hear back from my buddy, but after some research there seems to be a dry and a wet version of eco-complete...I guess you got the wet one which contains the heterotrophic bacteria. I haven't been able to find reference to crashed bio-filters or long term issues...so personally I'd just keep going like nothing is different and just enjoy the fast (yet crazy) results you're getting. Once cycled, just continue to test every day once the tank is stocked, and test the bio-filter a few times before the fish are added.
FishN00b83
Aquarium Advice FINatic
OK, sounds like a plan to me
FishN00b83
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Well after putting the ceramic tubes in yesterday, I tested the water this morning and got some interesting results yet again.
Day 6
Ph - 7.2
Ammonia - .5
Nitrites - 5
Nitrates - close to 160
When should I be thinking about a water change, my nitrites and nitrates seem to be very high. Is that ok?
Should I bring the ammonia back up to 4 now?
Day 6
Ph - 7.2
Ammonia - .5
Nitrites - 5
Nitrates - close to 160
When should I be thinking about a water change, my nitrites and nitrates seem to be very high. Is that ok?
Should I bring the ammonia back up to 4 now?
Attachments
eco23
Aquarium Advice Addict
Huh...
. You officially have the most confusing cycle I have ever seen.
Umm...if your tank was in my house...I think I'd do a massive pwc (like 90%), and see what it does. Honestly I probably wouldn't add any ammonia, and see if the no2 drops on it's own. I'd like to see if the ammo rises on it's own, nitrIte climbs or drops, etc...
Sorry man, this is one I'm not really gonna be much help on until I can get a grasp on what's actually happening by watching the levels over the next few days.
My friend who used the eco-complete didn't have anything strange happen except for some pH crash issues we dealt with.
Trust me...I'll be following to see what happens, lol.
. You officially have the most confusing cycle I have ever seen.Umm...if your tank was in my house...I think I'd do a massive pwc (like 90%), and see what it does. Honestly I probably wouldn't add any ammonia, and see if the no2 drops on it's own. I'd like to see if the ammo rises on it's own, nitrIte climbs or drops, etc...
Sorry man, this is one I'm not really gonna be much help on until I can get a grasp on what's actually happening by watching the levels over the next few days.
My friend who used the eco-complete didn't have anything strange happen except for some pH crash issues we dealt with.
Trust me...I'll be following to see what happens, lol.
FishN00b83
Aquarium Advice FINatic
**** man that's not what I wanted to hear lol. I'll do the water change and then test the water again? What about the seeded stuff I put in the tank? Should I be worried about it dying?
eco23
Aquarium Advice Addict
Yeah, I'd pretty much test often and record the results so we can get a handle on it. I forgot about your seeded media (good catch), it can go a while without food...but I agree not to take any chances with it. I'd vote to just add 1ppm to keep it fed and monitor what the levels do from there.
What I'm really curious about is what the nitrIte is gonna do. There's obviously conversion happening...but from what I've read heterotrophic bacteria kinda suck at converting nitrIte.
IMO...after the big pwc I'd keep it dosed at 1ppm for a few days just to see what happens with the levels so we can make sense of it....then you can make a decision.
If crazy stuff continues to happen, it might be an option to fishless cycle like normal and just do water changes every couple days to keep the no2 and no3 under control...or if within a week it can drop 1ppm of ammonia and keep the no2 zeroed out...you can consider adding a couple fish. There's a difference between fish-in cycling where some guy goes to the pet store and fills up his tank without knowing about it, as opposed to someone who's prepared and committed and stocks extremely slowly and monitors the levels every day and is ready to do water changes as needed. I'm not personally ready to advise one way or another yet...but both of those things are future options depending on what your levels do.
Especially with the seeded media, and if ammo is constantly being zeroed out and no2 is staying at 0...at least there's conversion.
That said, it's the spikes that worry me. Obviously by simple math...4ppm ammonia doesn't result in 160ppm of no3 within a couple days...so something is causing spikes...and let's just say I'm glad there's not currently fish in the tank.
Sorry my advice is all over the board, lol. I think we're just going to need some time watching it to figure out what the heck is going on in there
FishN00b83
Aquarium Advice FINatic
OK once I do the water change I'll test everything, then add 1ppm of ammonia and then...test it later on today and see what happens?
eco23
Aquarium Advice Addict
Works for me. I think it'll take a few days to get a grasp on it. I'd just dose up to 1ppm when the ammo gets close to zero.
I'm sure there's someone who can explain this. Obviously people have done fishless cycles with your type of eco-complete...I'm just personally clueless and the people I know who've used it didn't experience anything similar. So for now we're kinda playing it by ear.
FishN00b83
Aquarium Advice FINatic
just finished the water change...im just gonna let the filter run for 20 mins then test
FishN00b83
Aquarium Advice FINatic
FishN00b83
Aquarium Advice FINatic
librarygirl
Look It Up
This is very interesting, I can't wait to see how it turns out.
FishN00b83
Aquarium Advice FINatic
now I REALLY cant wait to get the other package of seeded media tomorrow. It will probably make this even more complicated lol
eco23
Aquarium Advice Addict
Here's my new idea, haha! (I might have another in a couple hours ). Only dose that thing up to 1ppm every 24 hours. Once it is capable of dropping both ammo and no2 to zero within 24 hours, we'll bump up the ammo to 1.5ppm, wait till it can drop that and no2, move to 2ppm, etc...
Since heterotrophic bacteria are short lived (except in your bag apparently), hopefully building up the ammonia slowly over time will give the true nitrifiers a chance to gain some ground while the heterotrophs weaken.
). Only dose that thing up to 1ppm every 24 hours. Once it is capable of dropping both ammo and no2 to zero within 24 hours, we'll bump up the ammo to 1.5ppm, wait till it can drop that and no2, move to 2ppm, etc...Since heterotrophic bacteria are short lived (except in your bag apparently), hopefully building up the ammonia slowly over time will give the true nitrifiers a chance to gain some ground while the heterotrophs weaken.
FishN00b83
Aquarium Advice FINatic
I was kind of thinking the same thing earlier actually. I just tested the ammonia before, not the no2, no3. What do I do in the case that the no2 doesnt drop and keeps building? Do I still dose the ammonia to 1ppm to keep the seeded stuff happy, or do I wait for it to drop before I add anymore?
Similar threads
