Recent content by MattK

Thank you. I now have zero nitrites and zero ammonia, and have dosed to 4ppm of ammonia and its now at zero for ammonia and nitrites again so it looks cycled. I have done several water changes to bring the nitrates down but I cannot seem to bring it down beyond 20-30ppm. I have done 3-4...

After an initial single reading of nitrates previously that disappeared, it has now been consistently appearing on readings for the last few days and the ammonia has finally dropped a bit after sticking at 4. Today tests show my ammonia has dropped from 4 to 2, with nitrite up to 0.25 and...

That conversion information is helpful to know - thank you. Good to know I am on the right track. You are right with the inaccuracies - especially around reading of the colours as I find it hard to distinguish sometimes so have probably slightly misread it. It feels good to have now got a...

Hi, I tested my water this evening and my ammonia is still reading 4ppm and hasn't gone down, but I now read 0.25 for nitrite and had my first reading for Nitrates at 10ppm! I will keep monitoring but this seems to be positive. I just wondered how nitrites and nitrates are now present but the...

Hi, My tap PH sits at 7.2, and my current PH is sitting at 7.4 but sometimes goes up to 7.6/7.8. From what I have read, I think any time you add any chemical to your tank it will impact your PH to some degree (up or down) so it may take a little while for levels to settle once added. The key...

Thanks Harriet! :) I am sure I can learn a good few things from you, so you may well have some questions fired your way! It does seem to be an addictive hobby. I am reading up whilst my tank cycles so I make sure I do it right and look after them well. I think most of lockdown will be spent...

That is interesting about the initial bacterial bloom and the dechlorinator. I will just keep testing every couple of days and monitor. Hopefully it won't take too long - but as you say it will run to its own individual timetable and not a set time frame. I was thinking about a fish-in cycle...

Hi Aiken, Thank you for responding and for your advice. Very much appreciated. I started on 16.11.2020 adding nothing but the de-chlorinator and soon had a bacterial bloom after a few days, but then I couldn't be sure if that mean't it had cycled or not as I took test readings and all was at...

Hi everyone I'm Matt and from the UK. I am totally new to keeping fish and am looking to learn as much as possible from the experienced and knowledgeable bods on here! I have always wanted a tropical fish tank and have just bought my first house so can now have one and have bought everything I...

Hi everyone, I am completely new to this hobby and am really excited about getting up and running. I am a little lost with fishless cycling though. I am not sure if I have messed up or I am being too impatient. I have an 85 litre tank (18 gallons I believe) and I have set it up ready to cycle...