29 gallon suprise

[Brad.Sedore]

my SG went up to 1.026... should i be worried at all by this? can it wait till the cycle is complete to be corrected so i can tackle it at the first pwc?


thanks

-Brad

 

[neilanh]

You should add topoff water as it evaporates to keep the tank fully filled and the sg right. If you let the sg swing too much, it'll kill the critters you have

 

[Brad.Sedore]

how much do you think i should add? there is 20 gallons total in the tank.... the tank is still full

-Brad

 

[neilanh]

check the equipment bays, the one with the return pump should be getting low. fill er up with fresh water.

 

[Brad.Sedore]

all the bays are up? should i just syphen a little out and put a little in?

-Brad

 

[Jimbo7]

honestly 1.026 isnt that bad, i would wait till some water evaporates out then just top off with freshwater. should eventually bring it down.

 

[Brad.Sedore]

todays readings
ph 8.4
SG 1.026
no2 0
n03 0
Amonia .5 ppm

that means the cycle has started right?

-Brad

 

[Brad.Sedore]

todays reading

Amonia is .25 ppm?
no2 is 0
no3 is between 0 and 5
ph 8.2
SG 1.026


what does all this mean?

-Brad

 

[neilanh]

IIRC you put in an ammonia source, right? Shrimp or food or something (sorry, I guess I could just re read the thread)

It appears your cycle is starting. You should continue to see ammonia rise, and eventually you'll start to see the nitrIte (no2) start to rise. When both of those rise and then fall back to 0, you're all done. Make sure to maintain an ammonia source.

 

[Brad.Sedore]

so i should keep putting food in?

why did my amonia fall?

 

[neilanh]

yeah, keep putting it in. You want to keep ammonia present until the nitrItes fall back to zero. Your ammonia is falling because your bacteria are building up and consuming it - exactly what they're supposed to do.

 

[Brad.Sedore]

how much should i add a day?

-Brad

 

[neilanh]

What are you using now for a source? Food? Shrimp? Ammonia?

If you haven't yet, read the article in my sig called fishless cycling. It recommends 3-5ppm. I'm doing slightly lower on my tank, 2ppm - but that was my personal decision.

 

[Brad.Sedore]

im using food... so i should just pound the food in it untill i get to 3-5 ppm?

 

[neilanh]

well, with food it's difficult because it takes time to decompose before it will start to turn into ammonia. I'd put in a pretty good sized pinch right away to get your ammonia level back up, then seriously consider some raw shrimp, or find an Ace hardware and get some pure ammonia (that's what I use).

 

[Brad.Sedore]

would cnd tire or home hardware have it? theres also lowes and princess auto and home hardware around

-Brad

 

[neilanh]

Not sure, forgot you were in Canada.

The important thing, and I can't stress this enough, is to make sure it's clear pure ammonia. It cannot have any scents, perfumes, surfactants, or anything. The stuff I use is a janitorial strength 10% ammonium hydroxide. Nothing else.

If you get that other stuff in there, it will destroy your livestock, and you'll spend weeks cleaning things to get it clean enough to start over.

 

[Brad.Sedore]

is this it?

Home Hardware » Product Details »

or any of these it?

Home Hardware » Browsing Products

 

[neilanh]

That looks good from here, just double and triple check the label on the actual bottle.

 

[Brad.Sedore]

That looks good from here, just double and triple check the label on the actual bottle.

what if i buy it... and let you do that stuff ... you sound like youd know better than me lol

-Brad