Cycling with SafeStart - Why are Nitrates dropping?
I intended to see if SafeStart actually shortens the cycling time. My plans were thwarted by Aquariumplants.com as they forgot to include SafeStart with my plant shipment. So the cycle began on it's own, several days prior to adding SafeStart. No doubt there were some nitrifying bacteria in the plants, and there was also enough ammonia from decaying plants and snail poop to get the cycle started.
On day 6, the SafeStart arrived and I added 30 cc to the tank. SafeStart contains Nitrosomonas, Nitrosospira and Nitrospira bacteria.. live, in a stabile state. It does not require freezing (and should not be frozen).
Ammonia had already fallen to zero before SafeStart was added, but Nitrites were high. After adding SafeStart, Nitrites fell... and so did the Nitrates. Usually, Nitrates increase as Nitrites fall. But look what happened here. Four days after adding SafeStart, Nitrites
and Nitrates were zero. I doubt that the 25% PWC was responsible for dropping the Nitrates to zero.
It is my understanding that Ammonia is converted to Nitrites which are converted to Nitrates...
and that Nitrates are removed by partial water changes. What do you think is going on here? There should be enough Ammonia from the shrimp and snails to keep the cycle going... especially with the amount of plant decay that I've had due to die off (which has stabilized and is now starting to reverse itself). Can rapid plant growth lower Nitrates to this degree?
Two things not mentioned before:
1) I decided to add a few Endler's so I traded the Aqua Clear 20 for an Aqua Clear 30. The latter can be used on a 30 gallon aquarium... so I have 10 times the filter I need for my 3 gallon Pico. 2) On 11/20, I set up my CO2, running it only when the lights are on, and keeping the CO2 levels at 25 ppm
Here is the graph of the above chart. Please note that the plots are logarithmic - not linear.
I'm going to add fish either today or tomorrow. It's going to be interesting to see what happens to the nitrogen byproducts with fish added.