Fishless Cycle Questions

[trennamw]

Did you start with a tsp of ammonia like you were considering? That'd be like 5ppm.

If the dark greens start getting annoying, dilute them .5ml tank water and 4.5 ml distilled, then multiply the results by 10. The lower end of the test is easier to read.

The only bottled bacteria I see consistently good things about is DR Tims.


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[fish wrangler]

Did you start with a tsp of ammonia like you were considering? That'd be like 5ppm.

If the dark greens start getting annoying, dilute them .5ml tank water and 4.5 ml distilled, then multiply the results by 10. The lower end of the test is easier to read.

The only bottled bacteria I see consistently good things about is DR Tims.


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I added 1 tsp of ammonia last night. I'll test again tomorrow in the afternoon, and if i don't see any change by the weekend i will go and get some bottled BB

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[fish wrangler]

The pH looks 8.2
The ammonia in pic #2 looks +4 ppm and 4 ppm in pic #3
I would give it at least another day to start seeing nitrites (assuming enough BB survived in the media). Note: you might not even catch the nitrite reading because sometimes it spikes and falls within several hours (outside of the time you might test for it).


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If I see the ammonia drop should test for nitrites or always test for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates?

If my reccomended pH is 6.4-7.0 how should I lower the pH?
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[Fresh2o]

I guess the safest is to test for all three, however, monitoring the ammonia and then testing the other two as needed should be fine.
The responses that you will most likely see regarding adjusting pH is "don't".


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[dalto]

You need to stop adding ammonia until it drops. Too much ammonia will stall the cycle.

 

[fish wrangler]

You need to stop adding ammonia until it drops. Too much ammonia will stall the cycle.

I added .5 tsp 2 days ago and 1 tsp yesterday. When I tested yesterday before adding the ammonia I got .25 ppm, and just over 4ppm after adding. I won't add any kore until i see it drop to under 1 ppm

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[fish wrangler]

I guess the safest is to test for all three, however, monitoring the ammonia and then testing the other two as needed should be fine.
The responses that you will most likely see regarding adjusting pH is "don't".


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Ok on testing.

What can I have besides rift lake cichlids with 8.2 ph? I have had neons in the past, but I don't know what my ph was then. I am assuming it was the same as it is now.

I filled a 5 gallon bucket with tap water that I am going to test in 2 days for pH and ammonia. 2 days should be long enough for chlorine to evaporate right?

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[trennamw]

If your ammonia doesn't drop it may be because you used too much

Don't adjust pH... That just leads to constant swings that's hard on fish. Most fish will likely adjust to 8.2 as long as you keep it stable.

Did you say the pH in the tank is currently below that? It's good to have it high for cycling. You can bump it up during a cycle with baking soda.

You might be at more like 7-8ppm, having used 7.5 ml of ammonia by now. I'd do the dilute test I mentioned before to be sure. Just in case it's true that can stall a cycle.

If you don't have a pipette with a .5ml mark you can dump one test tube of tank water and 9 test tubes distilled in a cup, mix, and test 5ml. Then multiply the result by 10.


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[fish wrangler]

If i where to be at say 8ppm fpr ammonia wouldn't it show up as that color on the test?

My current tank ph is 8.2, but when I first got it I never tested so it could have been anywhere

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[fish wrangler]

http://m.petsmart.com/h5/hub?id=fis...d36-17721/cat-36-catid-300035?var_id=36-17721 any opinions on this product? I thought I remember reading somewhere that this is the same as Dr Tims

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[fish wrangler]

Did you start with a tsp of ammonia like you were considering? That'd be like 5ppm.

If the dark greens start getting annoying, dilute them .5ml tank water and 4.5 ml distilled, then multiply the results by 10. The lower end of the test is easier to read.

The only bottled bacteria I see consistently good things about is DR Tims.


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If I don't have any distilled water can I use tap water that has sat out for ~44hours now?

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[trennamw]

If I don't have any distilled water can I use tap water that has sat out for ~44hours now?

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You can use fresh tap if you know your tap water has a zero level of ammonia and nitrites and nitrates.

The darker levels of the API test are so hard to read, it's easy to mistake 4 for 8 or vice versa.

I've used tetra and API bacteria additives and they didn't do anything. The bottles were dated pretty recently too. Begging a handful of dirty gravel from the store might go better.

But honestly I think it's probably going well. You unquestionably added far more ammonia than was necessary, so it is going to be slow for that all to get eaten up.

Rather than buying bacteria in a bottle I'd suggest a partial water change because you started with too much ammonia. 2 ml would likely have been sufficient, with a max of 4ml.

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[fish wrangler]

Yay!! It dropped!!!

I'm going to test nitrites amd nitrates now

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[fish wrangler]

Nitrates are 5ppm?? Can't tell between 2ppm and 5 ppm.

Edit: nitrates are still 0. I didn't test for nitrites yesterday because the ammonia never dropped.

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[Fresh2o]

Nitrates are 5ppm?? Can't tell between 2ppm and 5 ppm.

Edit: nitrates are still 0. I didn't test for nitrites yesterday because the ammonia never dropped.

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Hard to tell but leaning toward 5 ppm


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[fish wrangler]

That is what I was thinking fresh, it didn't take the full 5 minutes to get to that color so it may be more.

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[Fresh2o]

That is what I was thinking fresh, it didn't take the full 5 minutes to get to that color so it may be more.

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It probably is. You may want to think about doing a PWC to bring the nitrite down because elevated nitrite can supposedly stall a cycle (though I cannot confirm that). That's why folks sometimes recommend dosing ammonia at 2 ppm so that that nitrite does not get too high.


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[fish wrangler]

Ok, I will do a 30% pwc tomorrow morning or later tonight. Would that be enough of should I do more or less?

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[dalto]

Unless you have a reason not to I would probably do 50% to drop those nitrites. They are going to keep building.

When your ammonia gets to 0 I would only re-dose to 2ppm.

 

[fish wrangler]

Ok, 1 50% water change coming up

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