Deckape
Aquarium Advice Addict
- Joined
- Mar 8, 2011
- Messages
- 1,567
xwesx1978 said:
You are probably right, looking good.
My 55 cycle log
- Thread starter xwesx1978
- Start date
The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
You are probably right, looking good.
librarygirl
Look It Up
Wow that's awesome!!
What kind of lighting do you have? You mentioned it's rather bright. I need to get new lighting but I don't want anything overly bright (eye sensitivity) but I need it good enough to grow live plants.
OP
OP
xwesx1978
Aquarium Advice Freak
I bought a odyssea 48'' 4 tube t5 , I wouldnt buy it if your sensitive to light but they have less powerful lights , im happy the the quality for what i spent only a 100 bucks for the fixture with free shipping , the thing i wasnt happy with was the service of the web site that sells them
OP
OP
xwesx1978
Aquarium Advice Freak
Day 16
Ammonia. 0ppm down from 4ppm re douse yesterday
Nitrite. 0 !!!!!!!!!!!! ppm
Nitrate. 40ppm
PH 6.8
holy crap i cant believe that im cycled in 16 days , to bad im broke for a few weeks so no fish , how much ammo should i keep feed the bacteria to keep it going , i put in 4ppm today
Ammonia. 0ppm down from 4ppm re douse yesterday
Nitrite. 0 !!!!!!!!!!!! ppm
Nitrate. 40ppm
PH 6.8
holy crap i cant believe that im cycled in 16 days , to bad im broke for a few weeks so no fish , how much ammo should i keep feed the bacteria to keep it going , i put in 4ppm today
eco23
Aquarium Advice Addict
Awesome!!!! Great job 
Here's what I would do...since the pH dropped a bit, do a large water change to restore the buffers in your water and bring it up to the natural level of the tap water.
For a while, I'd keep dosing up to 4ppm every 24 hours just to test the strength and integrity of the bio-filter. Remember to keep testing pH during this time. When the bacteria can chew through ammo and no2 this quickly...pH drops are definitely possible and we don't want them to happen...do another water change if you see it dropping.
Normally you can just add 1ppm every day to keep the bacteria fed, but if it's going to be a few weeks before you add fish, I would keep it at the higher level. Over time the bacteria will adjust to the level of ammonia in the tank, so if you kept it at 1ppm for too long it will weaken the bio-filter from what it is now.
The best thing about this is the time you have to test your bio-filter. Eco-complete contains heterotrophic bacteria (which is not true nitrifying bacteria), so there's the potential of the tank "appearing" cycled, but it may be the wrong type or bacteria which has established. When heterotrophic bacteria is doing the conversion, there's the possibility of bio-filter crashes. Since you can continue to test and monitor for a while, you can ensure the tank truly is cycled and stable. The more times you test the integrity, the better.
Great job
Here's what I would do...since the pH dropped a bit, do a large water change to restore the buffers in your water and bring it up to the natural level of the tap water.
For a while, I'd keep dosing up to 4ppm every 24 hours just to test the strength and integrity of the bio-filter. Remember to keep testing pH during this time. When the bacteria can chew through ammo and no2 this quickly...pH drops are definitely possible and we don't want them to happen...do another water change if you see it dropping.
Normally you can just add 1ppm every day to keep the bacteria fed, but if it's going to be a few weeks before you add fish, I would keep it at the higher level. Over time the bacteria will adjust to the level of ammonia in the tank, so if you kept it at 1ppm for too long it will weaken the bio-filter from what it is now.
The best thing about this is the time you have to test your bio-filter. Eco-complete contains heterotrophic bacteria (which is not true nitrifying bacteria), so there's the potential of the tank "appearing" cycled, but it may be the wrong type or bacteria which has established. When heterotrophic bacteria is doing the conversion, there's the possibility of bio-filter crashes. Since you can continue to test and monitor for a while, you can ensure the tank truly is cycled and stable. The more times you test the integrity, the better.
Great job
OP
OP
xwesx1978
Aquarium Advice Freak
thanks for the advice eco I had that about the same thing because of the live water with eco complete but if everything holds true i should have a really strong bio filter by the time its all said and done
and i talked my fiance into letting me get a ten gallon for a betta since i have everything i need for it but the tank and stand
and i talked my fiance into letting me get a ten gallon for a betta since i have everything i need for it but the tank and stand
OP
OP
xwesx1978
Aquarium Advice Freak
well I had a bio crash , the tank was cycling over 4ppm of ammo to nitrates in 24 hours , I watched it for a week doing this so i stopped testing and just tested PH every day to make sure it didnt drop and kept adding enough ammo to bring it 4ppm every day , i decided to do a full test this morning and i had 8ppm ammo and 0 nitrites , nitrates were off the scale ofcorse , im thinking the live water in the eco complete gave me a false cycle , ughh I was gonna get fish this weekend too
Similar threads
