imasillymomma
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Hi there!
It may be helpful to see my post in the introduction forum. I am currently attempting to do my first ever cycling of a new tank without fish. I am not adding ammonia and trying to do the whole thing naturally using some of the substrate and decorations from the other established tank that I have. I will also be using one of the filter cartridges from that tank to try to speed up the process.
Here is where I am coming from:
Well water parameters that I started with:
ph: 7.4
Ammonia: 0 ppm
NitrIte: 0 ppm
NitrAte: 40 ppm
As per advice from another site, I added a small amount of Prime to the water (which I'm beginning to think was a mistake)
4 days into cycle--adding a pinch of food each day
ph: 8.4
Ammonia: 0 ppm
NitrIte: .25 ppm
NitrAte: 10 ppm
It is still very early on and I have not seen any type of ammonia spike (I'm testing twice a day). The pH has gone up which I understand is good because that will lead to the ammonia spike. The NitrAte has dropped and I'm assuming that is because of the Prime that was used. However, the NitrIte has gone up and that is what has me confused! How can there be a nitrIte rise when there is no ammonia? Can it be from the media I've added from the other tank? Should I start over?
Thank you for any advice!
~Tammy
It may be helpful to see my post in the introduction forum. I am currently attempting to do my first ever cycling of a new tank without fish. I am not adding ammonia and trying to do the whole thing naturally using some of the substrate and decorations from the other established tank that I have. I will also be using one of the filter cartridges from that tank to try to speed up the process.
Here is where I am coming from:
Well water parameters that I started with:
ph: 7.4
Ammonia: 0 ppm
NitrIte: 0 ppm
NitrAte: 40 ppm
As per advice from another site, I added a small amount of Prime to the water (which I'm beginning to think was a mistake)
4 days into cycle--adding a pinch of food each day
ph: 8.4
Ammonia: 0 ppm
NitrIte: .25 ppm
NitrAte: 10 ppm
It is still very early on and I have not seen any type of ammonia spike (I'm testing twice a day). The pH has gone up which I understand is good because that will lead to the ammonia spike. The NitrAte has dropped and I'm assuming that is because of the Prime that was used. However, the NitrIte has gone up and that is what has me confused! How can there be a nitrIte rise when there is no ammonia? Can it be from the media I've added from the other tank? Should I start over?
Thank you for any advice!
~Tammy