Cycle stalled? Or just taking forevz?

[SoveriegnR]

So this is new to me, as the last tank (and first I ever did) I started went flawlessly with the cycling process. I've done the same thing this time but with 2 changes. We'll get to those later.

Before, I was dosing to 4ppm of ammonia and withing 24hrs it was almost gone, so I'd drop in a tiny bit more to bring it up so it wouldn't disappear overnight. My Nitrites were rising, everything seemed fine!

However, my tank was beginning to get super disgusting. I don't have access to a hose, so when i bought my bag of pea gravel from Home Depot, I could only rinse it via buckets of water by hand. Doesn't get nearly as clean. Upon adding it, my tank was super dirty for about 2 days before my filter came in, it then took 2 more days for it to clear up with the filter running.

However, about a week in a half in, the filter started spitting out chunks of dirt it had sucked up back into the water, it was settling over EVERYTHING! I couldn't stand it anymore and did a huge water change.

These were my 2 changes that differed from last time. Last time, I used sand from the pet store and never did a WC during my cycle.

Ever since the WC, my tank has been sitting at about 2ppm of ammonia, and my nitrite readings have gotten super weird. My nitrite vial goes from dark purple to this weird green-blue color (NOT the light blue one usually gets when getting a 0 reading of nitrites) BUT IT DOESN'T ALWAYS HAPPEN! It's baffling me... Some days it stays a medium purple, other days it goes from super dark to that blue-green color. I do the test the SAME WAY each time.

My Nitrates? Well... my LFS tested it and was getting SUPER rich red within 5min of the test, like... almost instantly. But when I test it? It stays a light orange/yellow for over 10 minutes before even remotely going dark. Another funky thing.


Did my WC mess up my cycle? I was told by a couple of long-timers that it should be okay, but ever since then I've been getting strange readings.

Do I have a faulty test kit? I'd hate to go and dump $30 more on another API Master kit if it's not at fault...

If my cycle is indeed stalled... how do I fix it? Just let it sit?

This whole situation is very frustrating.

 

[dalto]

The amount of a damage a water change does to cycle is minimal.

However, cleaning during your cycle can impact the cycle depending on what and how you do it. So could switching filters if you didn't move the media over.

The nitrite kit starts light blue with a hint of green. The presence of nitrite makes it get progressively more red moving from darker blue to purple. If it is getting greener you are doing something wrong or your test kit is really messed up. Alternatively, I suppose it is possible you nitrite is just higher than I have ever witnessed and it does eventually turn green.

The nitrate kit requires following the instructions exactly as far as when to shake, mix and how much to shake and how long. If you don't do that you will not get the right readings.

That being said, nitrate won't stall a cycle. If ammonia or nitrite gets too high it can stall or slow your cycle.

The other thing that can stall your cycle is a ph crash. Have you tested ph at all?

Lastly, it is possible the cleaning/filter switching reset your cycle and it is just at the beginning again. If your ph is above 6.5 and your nitrite reading isn't 5ppm or higher you may just need to wait.

 

[SoveriegnR]

I didn't swap filter media, just cleaned the tank and lightly shook off the dirt from the sponge in the filter in used tank water.

I do my tests to a T. Just like the directions say. I haven't tested my ph yet for awhile, I'll do that today

 

[SoveriegnR]

there-in lies the problem perhaps... my tap is 7.5...... but my tank water is reading 6.4.......

What the...??! o-o

So when I did that huge WC... I just dumped a bunch of 7.5 ph into a tank with BB used to 6.4...

What in my tank could be bringing it down so much o-o. My rocks were from the LFS, I doubt they'd sell rocks that would cause such a huge flux in ph.

Could it perhaps be the pea gravel I got from home depot that I'm using as substrate? That's the only other thing I can think of that would effect my water so much... Like I know driftwood can effect it, but I've had driftwood in my previous tank (and a lot of it) and it didn't effect my ph nearly this much (in fact, barely at all)

Left is tap, right is tank water...

guess my tap is more like 7.8-8 now. When i first tested it when I set my tank up it was 7.5. lol oh boy



How would you guys recommend I go about this? Should I do bucket tests? full one up with water put in some rocks, then put the gravel in another one? see which ph gets effected?

Or should I just let it me and when I do WCs in the future to just make sure they're small?

 

[dalto]

Carbonate Hardness(kh) determines how easy it is for ph to change. If your carbonate hardness is very low, ph can swing all over the place. If it is very high, it will be very difficult to change your ph.

The nitrogen cycle consumes kh. If your kh was somewhat low to begin with then it can cause ph swings. During your fishless cycle this can be easily dealt with by simply adding some baking soda to the tank which will increase kh & ph.

In the long-term, you will want to test your kh so you have a baseline.

That being said, while a ph of 6.4 is not ideal and it will likely continue to drop if you don't do something about it, it isn't low enough to stop the cycle.

 

[SoveriegnR]

So I should prob pick up a test kit then today while I'm out.

How much baking soda? and should I just go ahead and add it now? Or after I test? Is this something I'll have to do all the time? Or once the cycle is done, will it return to normal?

This is all new to me, as I did not experience this during my last cycle...


So would you recommend I remove part of the suspected culprits and test the water to see if they may be lowering the pH? I never saw a pH drop like that before and I fear it is indeed something in my tank @_@

I just don't know what else would be causing my cycle to remain cold-standing. They aren't moving. Nothing is changing...

 

[SoveriegnR]

Just did the test. Tap comes out at 5 drops. did the tank water just cus and in 1 drop instantly turned yellow.. lol not surprising I guess.

So 5 drops comes out to about... what 90ppm? From what I've read, that's a decent KH buffer. So it's clearly one of the rocks in my tank yea? (either my large decor rocks or my gravel)

 

[dalto]

How long has it been since the most recent water change?

 

[SoveriegnR]

the last WC I did was about 1 week ago, since then my tests have been at a standstill.

I just dumped a good amount of apple cider vinegar on my gravel and it fizzed like mentos in cola...

I tested my decor rocks when I first got them and nothing, but spaced on the gravel. I assumed it was OK since I was seeing a lot of people going to home depot to buy their gravel substrate. Big mistake on my part I guess. Last time I just 'assume' something will be ok.

So now idk wut to do... just go ahead and remove the gravel and go get Flourite (which was what I was originally going to use) or to wait a week until my pH readings can be tested and see if the gravel is indeed lowering it?