Recent content by stlbluz

Good advice all around. I appreciate the input & will try the different approach.

With or without a WC thrown in? I was going to do a 70% WC tonight as suggested but may do this instead just to see if it helps.

Thanks for responding but now I'm a little confused. From what I'm reading here is that the goal now is to convert 4ppm ammonia to 0ppm ammonia & 0ppm nitrite within 24 hours. I'd sure hate to set myself back even further by stalling the cycle by not adding ammonia. Thoughts?

I seem to be stuck at these readings. The first is what I get every day prior to dosing & the second is my ammonia reading after adding another 3ml. I'm being really patient but it seems that the nitrite isn't budging at all.

Have you ordered it yet? I was going to go with acrylic due to its looks but after doing a couple of weeks worth of research I went with the 36g glass BF mainly due to the scratching concern. As for the foam, I do not recall ever seeing that brought up. Good luck either way

Thanks Guys. I'm so glad I stumbled across this site!

I've been dosing my 36gl tank with 2ml of ammonia which initially gave me a reading of 4ppm. I had my off the charts spike so I did a 50% WC and resumed my routine. I recently started getting trite(5.0) & trate(20-40range) readings but now my ammonia is only reading 1.0, sometimes less...

Good luck with your cycle as well. Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

No offense taken. Didn't mean to hijack. Carry on. Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

Part of the extended cycling time is my fault as I added coral & plants(both fake) during the process which put me back. I was also using another guide which wasn't nearly as good as the one found on this site so I was missing a few steps. My PH has been steady & I'm noticing my ammonia...

A couple of questions then: 1) Should I keep dosing to keep the ammonia at 4ppm until the nitrites go down? 2) Where should my nitrates be at for a safe level for fish? 3) With those readings, should I continue to do WCs or just let the cycle take care of itself for now? Thanks in advance.

That was one of my mistakes as I kept waiting for a zero reading to start testing for trites & trates. Finally tested on Tuesday & they were off the charts so I did a 50% water change & jacked the ammonia back up to 4ppm. Got this reading last night which I hope reflects that it's trending in...

I did the 50% WC Tuesday night as my trite & trate readings were off the charts & this is my reading from last night. I'm hoping the readings are in line with where I should be at this point if I'm following the cycling guide correctly. Thoughts?

Thanks for asking. My trite & trate readings were off the charts so I did the 50% water change last night & dosed it again. Excited about doing another test tonight. Looking back I can see a couple of mistakes I made during the cycle which delayed the process but I'm feeling pretty good about...

5 weeks in, Ammonia is at 1ppm, PH 7.8, temp is 83.2 & it appears that I've got bacteria bloom too. Looks like I've got a slight Nitrite reading of around .25-.50ppm. Is there anything else I should be doing at this point? Partial water change maybe? Hoping to add fish sometime in 2014 but...