Cycling

[Ceej]

I thought my cycle was done, but maybe not. After 6 weeks or so, I woke up and everything was at 0 and nitrates were around 40. So just to make sure, I dosed the ammo back to 4ppm and within 24 hrs they were gone and nitrites were at 0, too. So I did my 90% pwc, but knew I wouldn't be able to get my dwarf puffer til this weekend, so I added ammo back to 4ppm. It's been 24 hrs and ammo dropped to only 2ppm... Nitrites and nitrates are up!

While I did the 90% pwc, I rinsed out all the media in my tank water in the bucket.(it was nasty!) So since I did that, did I lose some of my BB? Is this why it seems as if I'm still cycling?

Your thoughts and ideas are greatly appreciated

 

[jlk]

Its possible you may have been a it over zealous in your cleaning efforts & lost some bacteria. In the future, i would stagger cleaning the media (ie clean one piece of media one wk, another piece the next wk & so on). As long as you didnt forget the water conditioner, things hopefully will stablize soon!

 

[Ceej]

I was so anxious to get it all cleaned and ready. Been waiting to get a DP for soooo long! I did add prime, so I hope it levels out this weekend! Thanks for your help as always, jlk.

 

[richardh]

How big is your tank? I am finding from experience that my 17 gallon is very sensitive to changes such as gravel cleaning and filter clean at the same time. I tend to get an ammonia and/or nitrite spike in the few days afterwards. I would assume that I am removing too much bacteria at once. My larger 33gallon has no such issues...

Incidentally if you don't currently have fish, why do a water changes, especially 90%? I could understand it if you planning to add fish the next day to ensure nice fresh water, but seems pointless if not.

 

[Ceej]

How big is your tank? I am finding from experience that my 17 gallon is very sensitive to changes such as gravel cleaning and filter clean at the same time. I tend to get an ammonia and/or nitrite spike in the few days afterwards. I would assume that I am removing too much bacteria at once. My larger 33gallon has no such issues...

Incidentally if you don't currently have fish, why do a water changes, especially 90%? I could understand it if you planning to add fish the next day to ensure nice fresh water, but seems pointless if not.

This is my small 10g tank. My 29 doesn't have issues. At the end of a cycle, you do a huge pwc to rid any nitrates, etc. Then the next day you add fish...

 

[richardh]

Sounds like you overdid the cleaning IMO, since it's a 10g. Shouldn't take too long for everything to settle again. Give it a few days...

 

[Ceej]

Sounds like you overdid the cleaning IMO, since it's a 10g. Shouldn't take too long for everything to settle again. Give it a few days...

Yeah, I did. There's calcium (at least I think) buildup on the sides, so I scrubbed that off before my pwc. Then rinsed all three layers of media in the bucket. I know, I got impatient lol. You live and you learn lol.

Should I add ammo back to 4ppm, or let it fade to 0? If ammo is at 0 and I still have nitrItes, what's the next step?

 

[jlk]

Your amm is at 2ppm right now, correct? Leave it be for today & lets see how your numbers look in 24hrs.

 

[Ceej]

Your amm is at 2ppm right now, correct? Leave it be for today & lets see how your numbers look in 24hrs.

At 8:30am it was 2ppm. Maybe 0 when I get home from work in 3 hours. I'll check it and report back to see what you think.

 

[jlk]

Sounds good!

 

[Ceej]

Alright, here's what we got.

Ammo: 1ppm
NitrItes: 2ppm
NitrAtes: 5ppm
pH: 7.6ish

 

[jlk]

Ok! I say leave it for tonight & check it again in the am to see if its zeroed out. If it has, then dose back up to 3-4 & see what happens by tommorrow evening. Let us know what happens!

 

[Ceej]

Over a 24 hr period, it hasn't changed a huge amount.

Ammo: .25
NitrItes: it's not 2 nor 5 (api fw master kit) its more of a purple/pink. Very weird.
NitrAtes: 5ppm still
pH: slightly darker than 7.6, but nothing matches for High Range, either.

Sigh, idk lol.

 

[jlk]

Im sorry, Ceej! Dose it back up to 4ppm & we will have to wait this out unfortunately. Hopefully, it wont last long

 

[Ceej]

I kind of figured that's what you'd suggest. Lesson learned.

Just for sh*ts and giggles, there's nothing I can use from my established 29g is there? I also have Tetra Safe Start that I've never used.

 

[jlk]

You could add some filter media from your 29g if your not at risk of throwing it into a cycle. Maybe snip off the corners & add it to your filter. The using the safestart probably wont hurt anything but whether it will help is questionable. I always have to question these products because the science behind maintaining live bacteria necessitates they have to be fed/oxygenated to survive. I dont know how this is possible in a bottle but give it a try if you want!

 

[Ceej]

Gonna try TSS. Probably not going to work, but worth a shot!

 

[Ceej]

Ehh, nevermind. Dosing with ammo back to 4ppm.

 

[jlk]

Ok! Let us know how things look in 24hrs!

 

[Ceej]

Will do. Crossing my fingers for good results tomorrow. I'm going to cut a piece of sponge in my AC50 and put it into the 10 gallon tank like you suggested.