Author Topic: Andy M fishless cycle (Read 49599 times) 241 replies

Andy M · « **on:** May 16, 2013, 06:21:57 PM »

Well my test kit finally here so tested tap water which was .

PH 7.6

Ammonia 0

Nitrates over 40

I have added 0.5 ml ammonia to my tank as per Sue's suggestion and will post my findings once I've tested

Update

Test half hour after adding 0.5ml gave result of 1ppm, possibly even above.
The waiting game begins

ColinB · « **Reply #1 on:** May 16, 2013, 08:46:30 PM »

.... and we're off.

Andy M · « **Reply #2 on:** May 16, 2013, 08:48:12 PM »

So excited

ColinB · « **Reply #3 on:** May 17, 2013, 04:45:32 PM »

C'mon Andy, tell us what sort of fish you're hoping to get. It's quiet round here at the mo' so we're looking to you to liven things up.

Are you going with live plants and bogwood, or plastic plants and burping Nemos???

How about some piccies of your tank?

D'you know how hard your water is? It's always worth knowing as that can affect which fish are suitable for your water. You can find it on your water supplier's web-site.

The more you can get sorted during a fishless the cycle the better when you get your fish - for you and for them.

Andy M · « **Reply #4 on:** May 17, 2013, 05:41:50 PM »

Looked up the water. It is very hard water in this area. I have plastic plants but they do look ok. I am not tech savvy enough to put pics on, wouldn't know how to.

Day 1 and first ammonia test was 0.5, lower than after initial addition yesterday which came back over 1 ppm from a 0.5 ml dose.. Did I test too quick yesterday?
Should I add another 0.5 ml to bring it up?

ColinB · « **Reply #5 on:** May 17, 2013, 06:00:42 PM »

To put pics in you can either upload them directly..... but they have to be reasonably small. A few kb's at the most.

A better way is if you have a 'picasa' or 'flickr' photo hosting account. You open the piccie you want to post, right click on it and choose 'copy URL'. You then click into your post and click the picture icon from the menu above the post (It's the first one, the one that looks like a stamp of the Mona Lisa) and then you 'Ctrl V' paste your URL that you've just copied. Hit 'post' and Robert's your Dad's brother!

mmmmm - how hard is 'very hard' in ppm? There's quite a bit of controversy about where the limits of very soft, soft, slightly hard, hard and very hard are. This could be quite important as 'very hard' can limit your choice of fish. I'm in South Bucks and the water here is 296ppm, which works out as 16^o on the German Hardness scale (296 divided by 17.9) and often taken to be the boundary between hard and very hard . I believe that London tap water is 20^o, which is very hard.

Andy M · « **Reply #6 on:** May 17, 2013, 06:26:21 PM »

just says 127 mg/l as calcium?

317 mg/l as calcium carbonate which is the highest on the chart

17.794 german degrees

SteveS · « **Reply #7 on:** May 17, 2013, 06:58:29 PM »

Quote from: ColinB on May 17, 2013, 06:00:42 PM

I'm in South Bucks and the water here is 296ppm, which works out as 16^o on the German Hardness scale (296 divided by 17.9) and often taken to be the boundary between hard and very hard . I believe that London tap water is 20^o, which is very hard.

I live in North London and my water is 278ppm (15.5^o german). This is an average but even so...

Quote from: Andy M on May 17, 2013, 06:26:21 PM

just says 127 mg/l as calcium?

317 mg/l as calcium carbonate which is the highest on the chart

It's the total hardness figure you want, ie the latter one. 317 is 17.8^o german! (And I thought my water was hard!!)

Sue · « **Reply #8 on:** May 17, 2013, 07:27:55 PM »

Re the ammonia level - wait till tomorrow and test again. If it's still 0.5, add another dose the same size as the first one. If the first one really has dosed to 0.5ppm, adding the same again should give 1ppm. At this early stage it doesn't matter if the ammonia level is a bit low, there's still too much for the odd few bacteria in the water suppply.

I don't know if you have read that long rambling 12 pages of my cycle, but I did an experiment with the ammonia test and light source. At the time I started my cycle it was getting dark quite early so I had to do the evening test under electric lights. Despite everything I've read about fluorescent lights making the test tube look greener than it really is, my fluorescent strip light (kitchen) and energy saving bulbs (almost everywhere else) made it look yellower than it actually was, ie it looked like less ammonia. Under an old fashioned light bulb (we still have one in the downstairs loo) and a halogen bulb (dining room) the colour of the tube was the same as in daylight. So if you test with the lights on, make sure what kind of bulb you are comparing colours under.

Andy M · « **Reply #9 on:** May 17, 2013, 07:33:31 PM »

Thanks Sue, I have been going out in the back garden to look at it and todays is definitely different to yesterday

Sue · « **Reply #10 on:** May 17, 2013, 07:39:56 PM »

It is light late enough at this time of year

Since there is a possibility that yesterday's reading might be inaccurate due to not having mixed properly yet, tomorrow's reading should help you decide. If it's still 0.5 tomorrow, then yesterday was inaccurate. But if it is lower than today's reading it shows your ammonia eaters are growing. In that case, wait until it drops to zero then add some more ammonia.

Andy M · « **Reply #11 on:** May 17, 2013, 07:55:30 PM »

Well hope it is lower but from what I've read on here I expect it was my initial reading being inaccurate but will see tomorrow teatime

Andy M · « **Reply #12 on:** May 17, 2013, 08:05:02 PM »

Quote from: ColinB on May 17, 2013, 06:00:42 PM

To put pics in you can either upload them directly..... but they have to be reasonably small. A few kb's at the most.

A better way is if you have a 'picasa' or 'flickr' photo hosting account. You open the piccie you want to post, right click on it and choose 'copy URL'. You then click into your post and click the picture icon from the menu above the post (It's the first one, the one that looks like a stamp of the Mona Lisa) and then you 'Ctrl V' paste your URL that you've just copied. Hit 'post' and Robert's your Dad's brother

Downloaded picasa and tried to get pic on but no joy, options not coming up to copy URL

Sue · « **Reply #13 on:** May 18, 2013, 12:05:31 PM »

Andy, I must be getting old

I really do know how to check, I just forgot

The obvious way to tell if your ammonia is dropping because you have some ammonia eaters growing is to check your nitrite level (nitrIte, not nitrAte). If you do have some ammonia eaters, that 0.5ppm ammonia will have been converted to just over 1ppm nitrite.
If the nitrite level is zero, the drop in ammonia is not the bacteria eating it, it's something else.
If you do have nitrite, you do have some ammonia eaters.

Andy M · « **Reply #14 on:** May 18, 2013, 12:10:27 PM »

Thanks Sue, all will be revealed after tea tonight although i expect it to have been a false reading

Andy M · « **Reply #15 on:** May 18, 2013, 07:21:42 PM »

Day 2

Ammonia think is 0.5 again. maybe slightly lower. colours so similar

Nitrite is 5ppm

Help !!!

Andy M · « **Reply #16 on:** May 19, 2013, 12:04:15 PM »

Hellooooo $:-\$

SteveS · « **Reply #17 on:** May 19, 2013, 12:08:26 PM »

You have some nitrite. This means the first stage is under way. You need to measure the ammonia daily and when it reaches zero, top it up again to 1ppm. It will be a couple of weeks or so until the second stage starts.

Andy M · « **Reply #18 on:** May 19, 2013, 12:27:43 PM »

Thanks Steve, are the nitrites liable to stay at 5ppm or above for now?

Sue · « **Reply #19 on:** May 19, 2013, 12:57:03 PM »

Your nitrite will stay high till the nitrite eaters start to grow. The test kits can only show the highest colour on the charts. Anything higher will just show as the highest colour. If your nitrite test says 5.0 it might be exactly 5.0 or it could be a bit higher, or a lot higher.

As Steve said, measure both every 24 hours now, and add more ammonia when the ammonia reading reaches zero. Add ammonia every time it reaches zero at the 24 hour reading. Add the same amount that you added the first time. When your nitrite finally reaches zero, ask what to do next

It took 16 days for my nitrite to fall. The nitrite eaters are the more delicate of the two bacteria so the stage where they are growing is the one that varies most in different people's cycles.

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Andy M Fishless Cycle

Andy M Fishless Cycle

Author Topic: Andy M fishless cycle (Read 49599 times) 241 replies

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