Walkthrough needed please (fishless cycle)

[jlk]

Thanks great!! Your amm dropped, you have nitrites and alot of nitrates!! As long as the ph stays stable, you should see your cycle continue to progress! Just watch that the nitrites do not get too high.

 

[Fishy monkey]

Thanks great!! Your amm dropped, you have nitrites and alot of nitrates!! As long as the ph stays stable, you should see your cycle continue to progress! Just watch that the nitrites do not get too high.

Thanks, I was hoping it was good! I'll carry on dosing 4ppm and test again tomorrow

 

[Fishy monkey]

Amm- 2
Trites- 5+
PH- 6.4

I'm guessing another w/c and redose to 4? I'll go back to the LFS either tomorrow or Friday and beg them for more crushed coral. Curious though, you said just a teaspoon should be enough, the stocking I filled is about the size of my fist and pH is still dropping, could it be they got mixed up and gave me something different?

 

[Hholly]

Amm- 2
Trites- 5+
PH- 6.4

I'm guessing another w/c and redose to 4? I'll go back to the LFS either tomorrow or Friday and beg them for more crushed coral. Curious though, you said just a teaspoon should be enough, the stocking I filled is about the size of my fist and pH is still dropping, could it be they got mixed up and gave me something different?

That should have been enough. Weird.???can you get any limestone rocks to decorate your tank?

 

[Fishy monkey]

That should have been enough. Weird.???can you get any limestone rocks to decorate your tank?

I'm not sure, I know the LFS sell rocks but don't know if they're limestone, I'll check them out. Will they raise the pH then?

 

[Hholly]

I'm not sure, I know the LFS sell rocks but don't know if they're limestone, I'll check them out. Will they raise the pH then?

You would probably have to collect them somewhere else. They might stabilize buffers for you.

 

[Hholly]

Is your water super soft?

 

[Fishy monkey]

I don't know, I don't have a test for that :-/

 

[jlk]

I would do a wc then dose to 2ppm. Check to see if your lfs has a small bag of aragonite sand/gravel (sw section).

 

[Fishy monkey]

I would do a wc then dose to 2ppm. Check to see if your lfs has a small bag of aragonite sand/gravel (sw section).

I did look for aragonite when I was looking for the crushed coral, they don't sell either, just gave me some "crushed coral" from their own supply. They do have a massive saltwater section though so I'll ask them to get me some in if they have none when I go. Thanks

 

[jlk]

One other place to check is a regular pet store if your lfs doesnt have anymore. Alot of sands sold for hermit crabs/reptiles are carbonate based sands and will say something like 'good source of calcium' on the bag. Just dont get the dyed ones.

 

[Fishy monkey]

Ok, just been to the LFS, explained everything to them and they've basically said I could spend a fortune putting things in the tank to try and keep the pH up, but if that amount of crushed coral isn't doing it then nothing will and it could take a year to get the tank cycled.

They've got me convinced I need to scrap the going fishless idea and just go fish in, and said to just bring the fish back to the LFS once it's cycled. Feel a bit "meh" about it, cos I've never managed to do a fishless cycle but tbh from everything I've read when researching it, it shouldn't be this tough to do. I tried for 4 months and I'm nowhere near done so I think it's the only way I can do it now.

Thanks for all your help and advice though, it was appreciated!

 

[Hholly]

No matter what your source of ammonia, you're probably going to run into the same issues. Good luck.

 

[Fishy monkey]

No matter what your source of ammonia, you're probably going to run into the same issues. Good luck.

Really? This will be my 4th fish in cycle, all my others have been fine. I have a 165litre that's been set up with fish since September and the pH never crashed in it. In fact it was a steady 7.6 til recently when it rose to 8.0 as a result of an algae bloom. This is the first time I've ever had issues with pH crashing :-/

 

[Hholly]

Were you in a different water source? I don't know. Maybe with less ammonia, like one or two fish produce, it might help not crash the pH. But a smaller dose of ammonia would be the same thing. I hope it works for you.

 

[Fishy monkey]

Were you in a different water source? I don't know. Maybe with less ammonia, like one or two fish produce, it might help not crash the pH. But a smaller dose of ammonia would be the same thing. I hope it works for you.

Nope, same place. It is confusing, and I am concerned that a fish in cycle will lead to problems later when I use the tank for dwarf puffers, but I just can't see an end to this cycle the way it's going. Especially since it was definitely crushed coral they gave me and I have such a large amount of it and its still crashing.

 

[Hholly]

I'm not sure how it works, but I've also heard of adding baking soda to raise pH. If you are interested in finding out how to use it , you might post a new question about it.