mikedj - 20 Gallon Journey

[jlk]

Nitrates are good thing!! If you want to keep your new critters alive, keep the ammonia dose low when you redose. Another thing to consider here would be to wait for the ammonia to drop completely then switch to a fish-in cycle. Just a thought!

 

[mikedj]

Interesting thought, the fish-in cycle. I thought about it for a while this afternoon, but I think we've waited this long, we might as well wait for things to stabilize before adding fish. Plus, I've convinced my daughter that fish-in cycling is hard on the fish, so it would be hard to convince her otherwise now!!

Thanks,
Mike

 

[jlk]

That's fine, Mike! Keep us posted on how things are going.

 

[mikedj]

Progress has been good, but very slow. Nitrates are holding at about 20 ppm, and ammonia has dropped to about 0.2 ppm, but doesn't seem to want to go any lower. It's been there for about 7 days. Is there anything I should do?

Thanks,
Mike

 

[jlk]

Mike, I have to give you credit here for holding the course in this cycling adventure!!! Ok, is your ph holding steady? Having you been adding ammonia daily and your tank is dropping it to .2 in 24hrs? I would honestly consider at this point Librarygirl's suggestion of using some spring water. I would try switching out a portion of your tank with spring water now and some more in a couple of days and see what (if any) kind of affect this has.

 

[mikedj]

I will check pH, etc, today. I haven't checked it in a while, but it has previously held steady.

I have not been adding ammonia daily. I was thinking I was supposed to wait until it hits zero, then dose it daily and see if it returns to zero.

I've hesitated using the spring water idea just because of the quantity - that's a lot of water to haul home from the supermarket. But if that's the only way, I guess we'll have to consider it. Meantime, I'll take some more readings today and dose the ammonia up and see what happens.

Thanks,
Mike

 

[jlk]

Tough situation here. As much of a pain as it will be, I would consider the bottled spring water option just until your tank cycled then gradually switch back to tap. I am out of ideas beyond Librarygirls suggestion as this wound up being the only thing that worked for her after her lengthy attempt at cycling.

 

[mikedj]

I appreciate your comments. Will will look into the new water source shortly.

Meantime, here are our current levels:

pH - 8.0
ammonia - 0.2
nitrite - 0
nitrate - 20.0

After taking these readings, I dosed the ammonia, targeting about 3 ppm. I'll check it in an hour or so to see if it made it, then again in 24 hours.

Thanks,
Mike

 

[mikedj]

Well, depression is starting to set in.

Ammonia came up to 4ppm about an hour after dosing yesterday. Unfortunately, today (about 28 hours later) it's still at 4 ppm. Nitrates are still at 20 ppm or a little more.

I guess we're going to have to try a new water source.

Mike

 

[mikedj]

Ammonia stayed at 4 ppm Monday. Frustrated, and not looking forward to trying a new water source, I ended up ignoring the tank for the last couple days. I checked ammonia tonight (Thursday) and it was down to .25 ppm. Encouraged, I checked nitrites and nitrates and got 5 ppm and 40 ppm, respectively. This is the first time we have seen nitrites, and I'm cautiously optimistic this means the cycle has finally started.

So, at this point, should I dose the ammonia back up to 4 ppm?

Thanks,
Mike

 

[jlk]

Yes! That is progress!! Dose and ignore it again for a couple of days.

 

[mikedj]

Done. Thanks.

Mike

 

[mikedj]

Ammonia has been coming down to 0.25 each day and I've dosed it back up to 4 ppm. Nitrites and nitrates have been very high (top of the scale) and tonight, ammonia only came down to about 1 ppm. So I did a nearly full water change to get the nitrite and nitrate readable again. I measured right after the water change and got the following readings:

Nitrites 0
Nitrates 5
Ammonia .5

So I dosed ammonia back up, targeting 4 ppm, although I haven't verified that yet.

I will check all the levels again in the morning. Am I on the right track?

Thanks,
Mike

 

[jlk]

That's great news, Mike!! Your right on track! Keep us posted on how things are progressing!

 

[mikedj]

Things seem to be going very well, except that ammonia will only drop to about 0.1 ppm each day. I've been dosing to about 4 ppm. Tonight I only put a half a dose in to see what happens tomorrow.

I have not measured pH for a while, but I did tonight. Previous readings have been very steady at 8.0. Tonight it was 7.4. I did a nearly 100% water change about 3 days ago (to get nitrates down), but I didn't check pH before and after. I really haven't checked it since before the cycle started moving, so I don't know if it's trending downward or steady. From what I've read, it doesn't seem to be near the danger zone yet, so I'll measure it again tomorrow to see where we are. Here are tonight's readings:

pH - 7.4
ammonia - 0.1 ppm
nitrites - 0
nitrates - 40 ppm

What do you think? Should I be worried that ammonia won't go to zero?

Thanks,
Mike

 

[jlk]

Its .1, not 1ppm correct? I think its likely zero but its just a matter of perception. Try comparing it against some distilled water and look at the results outside in natural sunlight (not that it has been sunny on the east coast very often, lol...). You may actually be reading zero. Let us know if your ph drops further in the next 24hrs and we can go from there!

 

[mikedj]

Yes, 0.1 ppm, not 1.0 ppm. So close but not yellow. We've checked most of our readings in various types of light, trying to be as accurate as possible. Distilled water is a great idea. I'll try that tomorrow.

Thanks,
Mike

 

[mikedj]

I only have spring water at the house right now, which gives me the same ammonia reading as our tank water - looks to be about 0.1 ppm, maybe 0.15 ppm. I'll also pick up some distilled water and see if it's the same. The attached image is a spring water sample.

Mike

 

[jlk]

I would say its zero! Wont hurt to double check against distilled but 'most' spring water does not have ammonia but as ammonia levels in water are not regulated, its still possible there could be minute amounts. Distilled has zero of everything because its just pure H2O.

 

[mikedj]

I will still check distilled, but I agree it looks like we are there!! The fact that ammonia goes from 4 ppm to 0.1 ppm in 24 hrs. suggests that something right is happening.

Of course, I'd like to know why I can't get a zero reading, though. Do you think it's something with my test liquids, my tools or something else?

Mike