Fishless cycle, waiting for nitrites to drop. Water changes?

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Hi Everyone, just an update. I tested after 25 hours last night (couldn't get home in time) and am so close! I had 0 ammonia 0.25 nitrite and off the chart nitrate (see photo). My pH is again trending down, so I have a feeling a pwc is in my near future to stop a stall.

I gave a 2ppm dose of ammonia so that I will have 0 ammo and 0 nitrite tonight when I try again. Good luck Joe, I'm hoping for good news for you!



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So jealous! As I suspected, my ammo is 0,and nitrites are around 1-2 ppm. The wait continues I guess. Back to low dose of ammo until these nitrites clear. :(

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Zoy Dent said:
Wow my PH doesn't have that much range on my test kit :( mine only goes to 7.4
Or is the one on the far left something else?
Click to expand...


My kit has two pH tests. A regular on that reads from 6 to 7.6 and a high range pH that reads 7.4 to 8.ish. It is just the API master kit


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pyro9097 said:
My kit has two pH tests. A regular on that reads from 6 to 7.6 and a high range pH that reads 7.4 to 8.ish. It is just the API master kit


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Click to expand...

That's what mine is but I don't have the regular PH test, weird

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Hooray! Last night my nitrates were at least 2ppm. Look now!ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1408079613.289837.jpg

Awesome! Dosing ammonia back to 4ppm now. I'll let you know if I'm back to zero tomorrow. My nitrates jumped 40ppm in two days! Lovely surprise!


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That's awesome news!
On another note my Heater suddenly decided it didn't want to work last night, I woke up and my water is at 74F that's not too bad is it? Or will this stall my cycle until I can get a new Heater?

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Nitrites finally dropped today! Three days ago I did two 75% water changes to get both ammonia and nitrites to 0. Then I added 1 ppm of ammonia, which by the next day turned into 5 ppm of nitrites. I didn't add anymore ammonia and today nitrites are 0.5 ppm!

My pH reading is weird now though. It has always been 7.8 but now is showing 8.3. What could cause this spike?
 
So...I'm cycled! Back to 0ppm ammonia and 0ppm nitrites. My Nitrates are about 80ppm so in the morning I'll do a couple large water changes to bring my nitrates down between 10-20 ppm.

Question: how long should I wait after the last pwc before I move my fish in? ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1408167243.772515.jpg


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Molly, no need to wait. If temperature and water parameters are correct, you can go ahead. Congratulations! I'm a little jealous, starting a new tank's so exciting ☺

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Great to hear!

I have another concern with my tank. My pH had been trending down but my work has been super busy and I haven't had time to do a pwc. I just checked 24 hours after adding ammonia and think I made a pretty big mistake. I dosed to 4ppm yesterday morning (pH was 6.4-6.6) and now my readings are ammo 1 nitrite 0 nitrate 80-160 pH 6.

This is the first time in a while that I have gotten an ammonia reading so I'm afraid the low pH killed off a significant part of that colony. I have to go to work but will just stay up extra late tonight to do a pwc. Do you think that my mistake will put the cycle back significantly? Also will waiting 15+ hours make it much worse? ( there is nothing I can do about this part but if like to know)


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pyro, from what I've read, a ph of around 6 will slow slow or stall the duplication of the bacteria, but I don't believe it will kill the bacteria. I'm no expert though.

I think with your water change, things will be back on track. Good luck!
 
I agree with Masha. Just make sure you get a water change done when possible and I think you'll be good to go.

Molly, mine is FINALLY progressing. I got my first 0 nitrite reading last night and was very excited! I just dosed to 4 ppm of ammonia a few minutes ago so now the 24 hour wait is on. Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.

Thanks for asking :)

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So is 2ppm of ammonia going to be ok for a 10gl or should I be doing 4?

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Zoy Dent said:
So is 2ppm of ammonia going to be ok for a 10gl or should I be doing 4?

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Click to expand...

2ppm is fine. It's unlikely that your fish will produce more than that, unless you really over stock

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