Scottyhorse's 25 Gallon Community Build

[mwampoki]

+1 on drilling a smaller hole and pulling your airline through it. That is what I have done with all of mine and don't have any leaks either.

[Scottyhorse]

Originally Posted by mwampoki

+1 on drilling a smaller hole and pulling your airline through it. That is what I have done with all of mine and don't have any leaks either.

I did drill a smaller hole than the tubing was.

[Scottyhorse]

Originally Posted by severum mama

Every tank is different. Any predictions you find are going to be estimates only.

Yeah.... Tested the water again today. Still .25 ammonia. UG! This us never going to cycle!! Should I put more shrimp in?

[maxwellag]

Originally Posted by Scottyhorse

Yeah.... Tested the water again today. Still .25 ammonia. UG! This us never going to cycle!! Should I put more shrimp in?

Did you test your nitrites and nitrates? It is hard to say how far along in the cycle you are with just the ammonia reading. You may want to add another shrimp to raise the ammonia level, because people usually keep it at about 2 ppm when fish-less cycling.

[Scottyhorse]

Originally Posted by maxwellag

Did you test your nitrites and nitrates? It is hard to say how far along in the cycle you are with just the ammonia reading. You may want to add another shrimp to raise the ammonia level, because people usually keep it at about 2 ppm when fish-less cycling.

I just tested for ammonia and nitrites; nitrites are still showing a bizarre color.
In the morning I will add another shrimp or two, and test the water all the way, take a picture of the tank so you can see it. There is tons of that fungus, it's even on the plants and gravel!

[Fresh2o]

Originally Posted by Scottyhorse

I just tested for ammonia and nitrites; nitrites are still showing a bizarre color.
In the morning I will add another shrimp or two, and test the water all the way, take a picture of the tank so you can see it. There is tons of that fungus, it's even on the plants and gravel!

That nitrite result is an odd color. Can you run a control test against tap water to make sure it's working okay?

[Scottyhorse]

Originally Posted by Fresh2o

That nitrite result is an odd color. Can you run a control test against tap water to make sure it's working okay?

Wow..... Why did I not think of that? LOL. I will do that in a little bit and let you guys know what's up!

[severum mama]

Originally Posted by Scottyhorse

Yeah.... Tested the water again today. Still .25 ammonia. UG! This us never going to cycle!! Should I put more shrimp in?

I wouldn't, it has only been a couple of days. Be patient.

[Scottyhorse]

Originally Posted by severum mama

I wouldn't, it has only been a couple of days. Be patient.

But, but, but..... I'm not a patient person....

[Fresh2o]

Originally Posted by Scottyhorse

Wow..... Why did I not think of that? LOL. I will do that in a little bit and let you guys know what's up!

If you have DI water that might be a better choice. I would think that nitrites would not be present in your tap water. It reads zero for my tap water, however, I get 1.0 for ammonia and 5 for nitrates. Yikes! I did a big (75%) WC the other day and the next day I tested the tank and got (Amm/trites/trates) 0.25/1.0/10. I tested it about 15 hours later and got 0/1.0/10 and then a day later 0/0.25/5. I wonder if I am causing a mini-cycle with each WC.

[Scottyhorse]

Originally Posted by Fresh2o

If you have DI water that might be a better choice. I would think that nitrites would not be present in your tap water. It reads zero for my tap water, however, I get 1.0 for ammonia and 5 for nitrates. Yikes! I did a big (75%) WC the other day and the next day I tested the tank and got (Amm/trites/trates) 0.25/1.0/10. I tested it about 15 hours later and got 0/1.0/10 and then a day later 0/0.25/5. I wonder if I am causing a mini-cycle with each WC.

Wow, that is super weird! We are on well water, so it has to be better than most city water... We do have a water dispensing fridge, and it has a filter in it, that would be the closest we have to ro/di water..

[severum mama]

RO/DI water is not suited to freshwater use unless you are adding trace elements back in to it. You can mix it with tap water though.

[Scottyhorse]

Tap nitrites test at less than .25 but greater than zero. Water out if fridge is 0 nitrites.

Tank ammonia is about 1 ppm.

[Scottyhorse]

Originally Posted by severum mama

RO/DI water is not suited to freshwater use unless you are adding trace elements back in to it. You can mix it with tap water though.

That's what I was wondering.

[Fresh2o]

Originally Posted by severum mama

RO/DI water is not suited to freshwater use unless you are adding trace elements back in to it. You can mix it with tap water though.

Oh, the DI suggestion was for use as a control for the nitrite test since she was getting a strange color result with her tank water.

[CorallineAlgae]

Originally Posted by severum mama

RO/DI water is not suited to freshwater use unless you are adding trace elements back in to it. You can mix it with tap water though.

I actually use RO water for top off because I have very hard water. Do you advise against that?

I also mix a few gallons of it with tap water during water changes like you said. I still have a KH of 11 using about 4 gallons of RO at each 12 gallon water change in my 20H. Any advice would be great.

[Scottyhorse]

I only have two test tubes left, so here are the ammonia and nitrite readings.

Ammonia <.25 but not quite zero. I think that's good, considering there is 3 dead shrimp in there..
Nitrites: Still an odd color. I think they were just SUPER high, because when I tested today, it is almost the color of 5 but not quite.
Nitrates: If you hold it up to the light, 80, if you don't 160. Either way, it's super high. I'll test again after a WC and then post some pics. I'll have to trim some of the plants and plant the clippings. The vals ended up pretty damaged, so I'm going to trim them down pretty short and just let them grown back in. Is that a good idea?
That fungus has really taken over, so I'll post some pics of that to make sure it really is harmless.

I hope this cycle finishes soon, my room smells like pumpkin guts and rotting shrimp. Sound good huh?

It also kinda smells like...... Haha

[bud29]

Originally Posted by CorallineAlgae

I actually use RO water for top off because I have very hard water. Do you advise against that?

I also mix a few gallons of it with tap water during water changes like you said. I still have a KH of 11 using about 4 gallons of RO at each 12 gallon water change in my 20H. Any advice would be great.

I'm no expert with stuff like this but I've been told that mixing a bit of RO water with your tap is fine. Also, I have heard of people using full RO water in their Taiwan Bee shrimp tank or OEBT shrimp tank, but if you do use full RO you need to reconstitute it with something.

[CorallineAlgae]

Originally Posted by bud29

I'm no expert with stuff like this but I've been told that mixing a bit of RO water with your tap is fine. Also, I have heard of people using full RO water in their Taiwan Bee shrimp tank or OEBT shrimp tank, but if you do use full RO you need to reconstitute it with something.

I used to do full RO and use Equilibrium to add back minerals. I just wasn't sure about all the current thoughts on it. I can't do that anymore with my bad back so I just use a little. My water is just so hard.

[Scottyhorse]

Man I wish my tank would cycle already!