Fishless cyling, ammonia, and pH questions!

[mrfishybetta]

Hello! This is my inaugural post! Not quite sure how to start, so I'll just dive in with my many questions!

I am about 10 days into a fishless cycle using pure ammonia on a 5g, heated, nonplanted, filtered tank for my rescue betta. I did a lot of research beforehand and settled on the "add and wait method," initially dosing to 5ppm (which I've since been told is too high...), and waiting til it drops to 1ppm, then redosing as needed, all the while monitoring the levels. Tank is heated to 84F, has aeration from a lower water level/splashing, water has some salt in it, and is dechlorinated.

Well, as I said, I'm 10 days in, and I'm not sure anything is actually happening and here is why: water evaporates out of my tank quickly (lid is on), so I have to replace some every 4ish days, or else my heater gets exposed. I'm wondering if that replacement water is giving me a false reading of falling ammonia levels? It started out at about 5-6ppm (the colors on the API kit look so similar to me!), and is now at about a 3? But how am I to know if that is legit falling? Ammonia is tested frequently, but I have a sneaky suspicion that I am just getting fake diluted readings. The other levels are at 0 so far.

Second concern is the pH. I use bottled spring water (dechlorinated) on my betta in his temporary 1g, and it has a pH of 6 (he's used to it). Used the same type of water to fill the 5g, but the pH is 7.6 in the cycling tank! I know that ammonia will raise the pH, but by this much? And will the pH go back down once my tank is cycled? I don't want to shock Mr. Fishy with such a drastic pH difference. Additionally, if the pH stays at about 7.5-6, and I acclimate Fishy to that, how do water changes work? If I keep using the 6 pH spring water on him, wouldn't that bounce the tank's pH all around every time I do a partial water change on the cycled tank?

I am wondering if the rocks I put in there are raising the pH (I'm in the process of testing my theory by leaving the water out for a few days). Did some reading on buffering and water hardness, but I don't have the supplies to test for that. Just hoping to get some insight on my issues! I want my little guy to be as happy as possible!

 

[trennamw]

Very well done, in your efforts to give him a good home.

It'd work better to cycle the tank to about 2ppm. Going for 5 is more likely to stall the cycle.

Why the bottled water?

A complete API test kit is a good idea. The test strips, which you can get in a 5 pack, are ok in my experience to check GH/KH.

PH of 6, it's commonly held, puts some of the nitrifying bacteria into dormancy. It's well established that it also lowers toxicity of ammonia.

Might be a lot easier to just use tap water.

The debate on salt is a big one, with little hard evidence. I believe it is good for bettas (mine is more active with it). The current fashion is more often to say it's useless or harmful.

While you're researching go look into osmotic stress and dissolved solids and similar concepts. There's a good study that indicates changes in tds are more difficult for fish than pH changes. In this case the GH and KH can give some clues that are useful (though they don't fully measure dissolved solids).


Sent from my iPhone with three hands tied behind my back.

 

[mrfishybetta]

Thanks!

Would you recommend doing a PWC to bring down the ammonia levels in the tank, and then just redose up to 3ppm when it starts to fall, to see if that helps the cycle? Or should I chuck it all and start again?

The reason Fishy gets bottled spring water is that he used to belong to an office coworker (the person I saved him from), and that is the only water we really had access to all the time, as the bathroom is very far from our office. So I just continued to use it on him at home.

If I decide to make the switch to tap water, how would you suggest I go about acclimating him? I change the water in his 1g quite often: 50%, wait a day, 75%, wait a day, then repeat... As I said, the spring water is a 6 pH, and I've tested our tap, it's fairly high, about 7.7. I know he can get used to it (and I will look into gh and kh), but how to actually acclimate him, as in how much % tap water to use in a PWC, how long to take to pour/drip it into the tank, etc?