2 55's cycle log

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Jacca

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Sep 1, 2011
Messages
201
Location
Hodgenville Ky
Day 1

Tank #1.
ph 7.6
High ph 8.2
Ammo 4 ppm
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0

Tank #2
ph 7.6
High ph 8.2
Ammo 4ppm
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0

Well today is day one hope everything goes smooth. Hope it goes quick everyone in the house wants fish now. I don't know how long I will be able to tell them we are doing it the right way now.lol. Not like before where we would fill up the tank and get fish the next day.
 
If you aren't adding seeded media I wouldn't bother testing for a few days. If you end up taking the seeded media shortcut then I'd test it daily because it can make a cycle go much faster.
 
I wish I could do the seeded media but don't know anyone with a tank I can get media from. So I will wait till Saturday and test. If I buy some live plants will that help some or will it not be noticeable?
 
It will be pretty heavily planted but not all at once. Good thing is I plan on setting up 2 more tanks after these so then I will have seeded media for them. Gotta love MTS.
 
I will probably test tomorrow or Saturday. Just because everybody keeps asking can we get fish now. My wife has wanted to get fish since we first set the tanks back up but I told her we were gonna do it right this time instead of the way we always done it before where we set up the tank and went and got fish the next day.
 
I just read the fishless cycling FAQ again (for like the 5th time) if I don't want to fully stock the tank when it is cycled. Should I dose the ammo less than 4ppm? We don't like to buy all our fish at once we like to spread it out and buy some every few weeks.
 
Tested both tanks.

Tank #1

Temp 81
PH 7.6
High PH 8.0
Ammo 2.0
NitrItes 2.0
NitrAtes 0



Tank #2

Temp 78
PH 7.6
High PH 8.0 - 8.2
Ammo 4.0
NitrItes did not test
NitrAtes did not test


In tank one why would I have nitrites showing up after only 4 days and ammonia dropping when it is not in the other tank started both of them the same day and no seeded media in either one.
 
Went to one of the lfs today and getting ready to go to another after lunch fish have gotten expensive since the last time we kept fish.
 
Went to another lfs and picked up these
 

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Temp 81
PH DNT
High PH DNT
Ammo 4.0
Nitrite 5.0+
Nitrate 10.0

This is only day 5 off my cycle and I did not use seeded media. So my question is should I have trites and trates showing up already?
 
No on the starter because I read so many horror stories on here about using it. The substrate is sand from lowes and oil dry.
 
Jacca said:
No on the starter because I read so many horror stories on here about using it. The substrate is sand from lowes and oil dry.

What's oil dry? Are both tanks set up exactly the same way? No differences at all?
 
It it 100% natural clay kinda like cat litter. No the other one has pfs and plastic plants. The one showing nitrites has 2 live plants that I put in there yesterday and rocks from a creeks on my farm but I ran the rocks through the dishwasher with no soap. The other one is still showing just 4 ppm of ammo and nothing else. I know it doesn't matter but I put 2 old filter pads from an old filter they have been in the garage and have been dried out for over a year.
 
Jacca said:
It it 100% natural clay kinda like cat litter. No the other one has pfs and plastic plants. The one showing nitrites has 2 live plants that I put in there yesterday and rocks from a creeks on my farm but I ran the rocks through the dishwasher with no soap. The other one is still showing just 4 ppm of ammo and nothing else. I know it doesn't matter but I put 2 old filter pads from an old filter they have been in the garage and have been dried out for over a year.

I don't have an explanation on that one. Logically speaking...one of those additional items should have to be the cause...but I'm clueless. It's not like ones a bit ahead of the other...they're on different planets. I'll be following along, I'm interested to see what happens myself. Maybe you just found a magic rock, haha.
 
Well I guess I will start testing this tank everyday just to see how much it changes. I know the rocks that I got have some green like algae growing on them it is not alot. The filter is old to it has one new pad in it and one old one.
 
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