Cycling My Fluval Edge

Thanks Sue! The Ph in the tank is now up to 8.2 so I've ruled out the Ph crash. I've dosed a bit more ammonia, but before it was looking to still be stuck somewhere between 1 and 0.5ppm

So before dosing:

Day 13
Temp 30*c
Ammonia 1ppm
Ph 8.2

I'm just waiting for the ammonia to mix to see if it's taken it up to 2, or if I need more ammonia. Fingers crossed something happens soon!

If your ammonia is dropping, even if it gets stuck at 1.0, don't worry for now. If it stays at 1 for a couple of days, treat it as though it was zero - add more ammonia every time it gets down to 1 and wait until nitrite drops to zero. Hopefully, by the time that happens, the ammonia reading will be dropping to zero too.

Don't forget about fluorescent lights/energy saving bulbs making the liquid in the tube look greener than it really is. Does tapwater show the zero colour?

Day 16:
Ammonia was still at 1ppm so I dosed back up to 2ppm again!

16 17:
30*c
Ammonia 1ppm
Nitrite 5ppm

If it's still at 1ppm again tomorrow I guess I'll dose some more ammonia!

Day 18:
am
Ammonia 1ppm
Nitrite 5ppm
pm
Ammonia 0.5ppm
Nitrite 5ppm

Just dosed back to 5ppm

I would have a look at the NitrAte to see if there is any additional movement.

Last time you reported the reading was Jan 21st as somewhere between 5 and 20 ppm.  If the NitrIte is off the scale then looking at the NitrAte can help your sanity.

In my own fishless cycle last year, the NitrAte went too far and caused a pH crash halting the whole process (until Sue kindly helped me out getting it going again).

Worth a shot, if you see movement in the NitrAte, at least you know stuff is working.

Ooh ok so I should start testing my nitrate too and do a water change to try and bring my nitrite down? how much should I change roughly?

Day 19
PM Test pre water change:
Ammonia 0.5ppm
Nitrate somewhere between 5ppm - 20ppm... (a very pale browny orange) so exactly the same as my tap water 

I've just done a water change... I know what you mean now Sue! My siphon has a kink in the tube but I've figured out that squeezing where the kink is makes it run faster now and managed to get it to start without having to suck the tube this time... I had a bucket full of water in no time! I did a bit of rearranging too, not sure if I like it better now or not, though I'm happy at least that my heater is a little more disguised.

Stupid question... but how do you all double check your temperature? Do you just have two different thermometers? I have the fluval one and I just want to make sure it's actually reading correctly and I hear you're supposed to double check it when you have fish occasionally too!

Day 19 PM post-water change:
I just tested my water post water change and now I'm even more confused...! Nitrite is still off the scale  At least I'm assuming so since the colour is nothing like any of those on the chart. It's almost a magenta rather than any of the lilacy purples  Does this mean I need to do a whole new water change? Maybe I didn't change enough 

It's a bit odd that your NitrAte isn't moving, but if you have done a large water change and your NitIte is still off the scale (which it seems to be), I would be inclined to do another 50% to try and get it down.  See what Sue says about that before doing anything, but I'm wondering if the NitrIte colony isn't growing because there's too much in the water?  Sue?

Since your nitrite is so high, empty as much water as you can and refil with nice nitrite-free tapwater (dechlorinated and warmed!). Then wait till your usual time and add enough ammonia to give a reading of 2.

Nitrite gets very high because of the moleclular weights of ammonia and nitrite. Nitrite is 2.7 times heavier than ammonia; 1 ppm ammonia is turned into 2.7 ppm nitrite, so once the ammonia eaters start to grow, the nitrite level goes up very quickly.
The nitrite eaters can't start to grow until the ammonia eaters have made some nitrite, and as a rough guide, the nitrite eaters take twice as long to grow as the ammonia eaters did. Adding smaller amounts of ammonia until the nitrite eaters grow helps keep the nitrite level under control. Once the nitrite level is dropping to zero, you can start adding more ammonia till you are up to 5ppm doses.


The dusty look of the bogwood could be diatoms. They are common in cycling tanks and becasue they are brown like the wood they won't stand out like they would on a white stone. Diatoms grow because of the amonia in the water. Once the tank is cycled they should go away. They can also be wiped off.

Very odd things going on!

Pre water change
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite and nitrate were the same as yesterday and I dosed ammonia again before seeing this

Post water change
Ammonia 1ppm
Nitrite about 5ppm.. is that still too high? I'm a shift worker so off to work now but if it is i can do another water change tonight. Since I dosed ammonia earlier shall i leave it until tomorrow to dose to 2ppm?