Fishless Cycle

[Lonewolfblue]

Day 2 of my fishless cycle on my new 55G and already have signs of Nitrate. Yesterday I added ammonia, and was just over 5ppm ammonia. Today, it's down to between .5 and 1ppm, nitrite not showing on my dip stick tester, and nitrate is showing up, which it wasn't yesterday. I did put used filter cartriges in the filter and placed another cartrige in the tank itself, all seeded. So it sounds like I might be cycled. I just now added more ammonia, brought it up to 3ppm. Will see how it all reads tomorrow. If my nitrate is much higher, then I think I'm fine and will wait til my ammonia is down to 0 before adding the fish. Also, just as a safeguard, tomorrow is payday and I'll run down to the lfs and get a better nitrite/nitrate tester just to verify all's good. The dipstick did pretty well with my smaller tank to monitor the levels, but with my big tank for my prized fire eels, I only want the best.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Also, any recommendations on ph? Small tank is 7.2 and the big tank pegged 7.6, so I'm guessing around 8.0, which is my tap. I did move most of my driftwood over, but has already leached alot in the old tank, and my new tank is still crystal clear. I might go to Petco and get 1 small piece just to get it buffered down a little, as new pieces leach more faster. Any recommendations welcome. As once the tank is verified as cycled, I want to move my eels and sharks over.

 

[greenmaji]

dont worry about the PH number.. just try your best to keep it STABILE... the more solid that number stays the less stress and problems your fish will have..
good luck with the new tank..
if you have any NO2 it will throw off your NO3 testkit.. dont bother testing for NO3 untill you have no NH3 or NO2 present.. HTH

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Thanks for the info. Just was hoping to naturally bring the ph down a little as the driftwood was doing in my small tank, keeping it pretty constant around 7.1-7.2. If the big tank stays higher, when I move the fish over, should I acclimate the fish a little longer than normal (slower acclimation), as the ph difference is about .8 or more?

 

[greenmaji]

take a serch for drip acclimation.. it should do the trick.. drfosterandsmiths site has some info on it.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Will be interesting, as the 2 eels are in their cave during the day. Will need to acclimate them in the cave. Will probably put the cave in a bucket of tank water, and acclimate in the bucket til I place their cave in the new tank. Their cave is a hollow fake rock.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Question...

I bought the AP Freshwater Master Test Kit. And the high ph bottle was missing the tip, so it's useless. Anyone have that problem? I'm going to return it tomorrow, as I want a more accurate reading as to where the ph is.

Day 3 Results....

ph - unknown
Ammonia - 2ppm
nitrite - .25ppm
nitrate - 5ppm

Looks to be cycling good and fast. Going to let the ammonia come down a little more, and will bump it back to 2ppm again and watch my nitrates. Once I hit 10, will start PWC's, let the ammonia go down below .25, and start transferring the fish. Seeding the tank from a cycled mature tank really helps.

 

[Zagz]

Glad to hear the cycle is coming along. I have not had that problem with the AP kit. Definately return it and get another one.

 

[greenmaji]

dont bother testing for nitrate... any nitrite will give you a false postive in your test results.. wait untill you have a reading of zero nitrite before testing nitrate (it's a waste of your NO3 kit's test solutions IMO)

yea.. Ive never seen the missing tip on AP kits either.. go ahead and return it.

good luck with the acclimation process..

 

[Zagz]

dont bother testing for nitrate... any nitrite will give you a false postive in your test results.. wait untill you have a reading of zero nitrite before testing nitrate (it's a waste of your NO3 kit's test solutions IMO)

yea.. Ive never seen the missing tip on AP kits either.. go ahead and return it.

good luck with the acclimation process..

I didn't know that nitrites would give you false nitrate readings. GM I've missed you posting on FW lately, you never cease to teach me something new, oldtimer LOL.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

I exchanged the kit today. This one is ok. Gonna see where my ph really is tonight.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

hi again...

I decided to make a change. I took the ship wreck out, as it's just way too big. I completed my pool filter sand cave and placed it into the tank. Looks awsome. Here's pics of the tank. Just picture this setup with some plants, artificial of course. I have some ordered them and they are going to give it a somewhat desert look.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

hi again....

Here's a closer look at the pool filter sand cave. Has a small opening in the lower left of the first level, and the upper right of the 2nd level. There's also a hidden opening inside from the lower level to the upper level, as well as through where the upper level overhangs the first level.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Interesting thing here. After 4 days with the driftwood in the tank, I tried my new high range ph test, and found it pegged the low range. So I did the low range ph, and found it to be 7.2 like my small tank. Took a while. Now if it turns out to be like my smaller tank, will stay at 7.1-7.2 constant.

Day 4 Results....

ph - 7.2
Ammonia - 2ppm
nitrite - .5ppm
nitrate - not checked tonight, as I'm getting nitrites.

 

[greenmaji]

dont bother testing for nitrate... any nitrite will give you a false postive in your test results.. wait untill you have a reading of zero nitrite before testing nitrate (it's a waste of your NO3 kit's test solutions IMO)

yea.. Ive never seen the missing tip on AP kits either.. go ahead and return it.

good luck with the acclimation process..

I didn't know that nitrites would give you false nitrate readings. GM I've missed you posting on FW lately, you never cease to teach me something new, oldtimer LOL.

ROFL!!! OMG.. LOL

ok.. Im not that old, honest..
yea.. been scoping out the SW lately.. my bad..
too many threads too little time..

lonewolfblue.. the tank is looking great.. and the water is SO CLEAR! exellent 8) 8)
good to hear your PH has settled down as well..
good luck..

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Day 5 Results....

ph - 7.2
Ammonia - 1ppm
nitrite - Color is between 1&2ppm, my guess, 1.5ppm.
nitrate - not checked tonight, as I'm getting nitrites.

Looks like nitrites are going up. Can't wait for the spike to pass.

Another question. I just noticed a fuzzy substance growing on my driftwood, as well as the pool filter sand. Should I do something about it or leave it be til the tank cycles? I thought I read somewhere fish like to munch on it. It's kind of an off-white color. It's growing all over the tank on the driftwood and pfs.

 

[greenmaji]

Im not quite sure what the fuzzy stuff is.. it could be an algae(that isnt very healty looking)/bacteria(not nessisarly bad) driftwood can bring in things that are a little on the "live" side.. Id keep an eye on it.. if it seems to take off you can scrape/sypon it out and make it try to start over.. HTH
once you get the tank cycled you will less likely have algae or other minor inconvences..
you could post a pic but Im not sure it would help much..
good luck

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Day 6 Results....

ph - 7.2
Ammonia - .25ppm
nitrite - Color is between 2&5ppm, my guess around 4ppm, as it's closer to 5ppm than 2ppm.
nitrate - I had to check, lol. Looks to be over 20ppm, but not quite 40ppm. Going to do a pwc tomorrow.

Looks like it's going good, just need to get those nitrite bacteria moving. hehehe Looks like my nitrite spike is occurring.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

greenmaji

Here's a link for you to check out. Scroll toward the bottom where it talks about the fuzzy stuff....

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/driftwood.php

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Tank is looking pretty good today. Not as crystal clear though. But I think it's due to the cycle. Higher nitrites, which could mean a small bacterial bloom, which is a good thing. It's still pretty darn clear though, but not crystal clear like yesterday, so nothing to be alarmed about. The cycle is progressing at a fairly quick rate, due to seeding. Will keep you all posted daily with results and tests so we have a good record for people to actually see. Tomorrow will be Day 7.