Hello all,
I am currently in the process of cycling my first tank. It is a 37 gallon tank. The first week and a half of cycling went well -- I initially added the ammonia to 4ppm and took a test every day to track it. The ammonia started to drop and nitrites began to show up around a week in. While this was happening, my ph was consistently hovering from 6.6 to 6.8 (which is what my tap water reads) A few days ago, the ammonia started to drop rapidly. I was initially excited to see this, but now my pH is acting wacky.
Yesterday, my pH showed the lowest level possible on my test kit -- 6.0 ( and my ammonia at 0.25-0.5). The first day this happened I figured it was just a pH crash and did a 60% water change and added prime as well as ammonia to continue the cycling process. I bumped ammonia up to 3ppm and the new water ph was around 7.4.
Today, I woke up and the same thing had happened. My ammonia dropped to about 0.25 and my pH crashed to 6.0. This time it raised more red flags for me. I again performed a 50-60% water change, and immediately after the change my pH was around 6.4 (tap water is 6.6).
I dosed ammonia "halfway" up to 2ppm and recorded a pH of 7.2 after 30 minutes of the tank cycling. I then added ammonia to get the tank up closer to my "target" 4ppm. After letting it cycle another 30 minutes, my ammonia is at 3.5ppm and my pH has soared to 8.2!
What could be causing these massive fluctuations in ph? How harmful is it to my cycle? Should I stop adding ammonia until the water stabilizes?
I am currently in the process of cycling my first tank. It is a 37 gallon tank. The first week and a half of cycling went well -- I initially added the ammonia to 4ppm and took a test every day to track it. The ammonia started to drop and nitrites began to show up around a week in. While this was happening, my ph was consistently hovering from 6.6 to 6.8 (which is what my tap water reads) A few days ago, the ammonia started to drop rapidly. I was initially excited to see this, but now my pH is acting wacky.
Yesterday, my pH showed the lowest level possible on my test kit -- 6.0 ( and my ammonia at 0.25-0.5). The first day this happened I figured it was just a pH crash and did a 60% water change and added prime as well as ammonia to continue the cycling process. I bumped ammonia up to 3ppm and the new water ph was around 7.4.
Today, I woke up and the same thing had happened. My ammonia dropped to about 0.25 and my pH crashed to 6.0. This time it raised more red flags for me. I again performed a 50-60% water change, and immediately after the change my pH was around 6.4 (tap water is 6.6).
I dosed ammonia "halfway" up to 2ppm and recorded a pH of 7.2 after 30 minutes of the tank cycling. I then added ammonia to get the tank up closer to my "target" 4ppm. After letting it cycle another 30 minutes, my ammonia is at 3.5ppm and my pH has soared to 8.2!
What could be causing these massive fluctuations in ph? How harmful is it to my cycle? Should I stop adding ammonia until the water stabilizes?