jeishii
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Hello amazing people.
I've been eating up the articles and some of the forum posts on here, working through my first attempt at a fishless cycle for a 10 gallon freshwater tank. I could not find pure ammonia with no surfactants so decided to try the raw shrimp method.
At this point I'm in about the 4th week of cycling. The ammonia cycle took a bit to start because the shrimp had to break down, but that portion seems to be done. I seem to be on the nitrIte-nitrAte portion at this point.
For about a week my tank seems to have stalled. I'm going to tell you the parameters and my plan to address this; I ask that you please tell me if I'm on the right path here!
For the last several days the numbers have been sitting here (API liquid test kit numbers):
Ammonia - 0.5 ppm
nitrItes - Well above 8ppm (note: I've read a few threads here and on other sites indicating that some people see the nitrIte test solution turn a dark translucent blue-green after the initial deep purple; that hasn't happened, it stays at a dark purple indicating 5ppm or higher.)
nitrAtes - 5ppm
PH - Currently around 7.4 after a partial water change (more on this below)
Temperature - Generally keeping it just under 80. My house is sadly a bit chilly since it's still early spring and the temp is dropping at night even with the heater on full blast, but it never gets below 74 degrees.
At this point I'm suspecting the ammonia being produced by the shrimp in the tank (contained in a mesh bag for easy removal) is fairly level since the ammonia itself is not moving, and the bacteria to convert nitrIte>nitrAte hasn't quite built up to the needed levels yet. I'm guessing the sky-high nitrItes are causing some issues.
I did a pwc last night (about 40% of the water), dechlorinated the replacement water, and re-filled the tank. NitrIte levels were not impacted. It was past my bedtime so I forgot to check nitrAtes again after the change.
Plans going forward:
Does this sound like a good plan at this point? I have been told by a coworker it would probably be okay to start adding fish if the ammonia is so low, but I refuse to add the fish with nitrItes being so high.
Any thoughts would be much appreciated. Thank you all so much for your time!
Now, back to researching what fish to get...!
I've been eating up the articles and some of the forum posts on here, working through my first attempt at a fishless cycle for a 10 gallon freshwater tank. I could not find pure ammonia with no surfactants so decided to try the raw shrimp method.
At this point I'm in about the 4th week of cycling. The ammonia cycle took a bit to start because the shrimp had to break down, but that portion seems to be done. I seem to be on the nitrIte-nitrAte portion at this point.
For about a week my tank seems to have stalled. I'm going to tell you the parameters and my plan to address this; I ask that you please tell me if I'm on the right path here!
For the last several days the numbers have been sitting here (API liquid test kit numbers):
Ammonia - 0.5 ppm
nitrItes - Well above 8ppm (note: I've read a few threads here and on other sites indicating that some people see the nitrIte test solution turn a dark translucent blue-green after the initial deep purple; that hasn't happened, it stays at a dark purple indicating 5ppm or higher.)
nitrAtes - 5ppm
PH - Currently around 7.4 after a partial water change (more on this below)
Temperature - Generally keeping it just under 80. My house is sadly a bit chilly since it's still early spring and the temp is dropping at night even with the heater on full blast, but it never gets below 74 degrees.
At this point I'm suspecting the ammonia being produced by the shrimp in the tank (contained in a mesh bag for easy removal) is fairly level since the ammonia itself is not moving, and the bacteria to convert nitrIte>nitrAte hasn't quite built up to the needed levels yet. I'm guessing the sky-high nitrItes are causing some issues.
I did a pwc last night (about 40% of the water), dechlorinated the replacement water, and re-filled the tank. NitrIte levels were not impacted. It was past my bedtime so I forgot to check nitrAtes again after the change.
Plans going forward:
- To start, tonight, I want to do another PWC, let the tank sit a while, and check the levels again to see if that brought the nitrites down.
- If I can successfully get the nitrItes down, keep watching the tank for movement in the ammonia and nitrAte levels.
- Tomorrow, hit up the local stores again and see if I can find some pure ammonia, and grab a small packet of fish flakes.
- If I can't find ammonia, I'm stumped on if I want to take this piece of shrimp out and get another one, or switch to fish flakes; I really don't wantto do the "large clumps of flakes" method though as I don'tw ant to clog up the tank with the decaying flakes. THis is one area where I could use some advice.
- If I CAN find the ammonia, begin following the dosing instructions I've seen on here; maybe dose to 2-3ppm and check again in 12 hours to see if the ammonia dropped back to the .5 or, preferably, 0 ppm (still haven't hit 0 since the first test).
Does this sound like a good plan at this point? I have been told by a coworker it would probably be okay to start adding fish if the ammonia is so low, but I refuse to add the fish with nitrItes being so high.
Any thoughts would be much appreciated. Thank you all so much for your time!
Now, back to researching what fish to get...!