Newbie Fishless Cycling - Too Soon To Worry?

Hello all

I've been lurking in the background of this forum for a couple of months and thought its about time I took the plunge...

I was lucky enough to yet an aquarium last month for my birthday.  So setup my juwel lido 120 (without carbon sponge in filter) with silica sand substrate, a bit of inert rock and some Sumatra wood, added the water with api conditioner and off we go...

After running filter for 24 hours @ 30c
Ph 6.9; gh 2; kh 2; nh4 0; no2 0; no3 0

Then added 3ml ammonia
Day 1: ph 8.2; gh 2; kh 2; nh4 4; no2 0; no3 0
Day 2: ph 7.3; gh 2; kh 2; nh4 4; no2 0; no3 0
Day 3: ph 7.1; gh 2; kh 2; nh4 3; no2 0; no3 0
Then same readings every few days until today:
Day 17: ph 7.0; gh 2; kh 2; nh4 2; no2 0; no3 0

I'm using a combination of api and jbl liquid tests

Fortunately I don't appear to have experienced ph crash, at least not yet, which was something I was worried about given the low kh.

There is some growth on the wood, a kind of wispy white film which I guess is to be expected at this stage and will eventually disappear once balance is achieved in the tank (or eaten by the inhabitants once arrived)?

Given my manchester water is ridiculously soft (hopefully good for the tetras and corys i intend to get once cycled) i believe this will likely be slowing the cycle down due to limited carbonates for the ammonia and nitrite eating bacteria, but wondered if from the stats above it looks like the tank is actually cycling, albeit very slowly, or whether I need to intervene (I think I read somewhere that ammonia could absorb into the substrate and so look like its falling and give false impression tank is cycling, but in reality nowt is happening?)

Should I add bicarbonate of soda to up kh to chivvy things along and buffer against poss ph crash, or just wait it out a bit longer (happy to be patient if there is something happening)

My plan is to plant up once cycled and get some Corys, neons, pair of rams, maybe pencilfish (and maybe otos eventually once everything has matured).

Any advice welcomed.

Ta

Stu

PS just seen your post on another site - listen to what twotankamin says!

Time to put on my unofficial pointy blue hat and get persnickety! Care to give us a summary please? We can't learn from other people's experience if we don't know the resolution that's been recommended. (Or violently disagree with it and curse everyone involved as being... well that's not going to happen  )

Welcome to the forum, Gingerstu..... can't help you on this one, but you're in good hands.

However; forum rules dictate that a picture is required very soon.

That's one thing I forgot to copy over - the chap on the other site says the plants should be put in before starting to cycle, another difference from the original add and wait method.
From the way he writes, he thinks either the OP measured the ppm incorrectly when he added the ammonia (hence the backwards calculation to find the strength of the ammonia solution in the bottle) or that he is using two different ammonia testers randomly to give the odd results (he says to use the same tester every time).

I should say that the chap on the other site is American and has done a lot of research on cycling which is why he was asked to write up this new method. He strongly advocates the use of Dr Tim's One & Only, a bottled bacteria product we can't get over here.


And in case you were wondering Steve, it is the site you posted on while this one was down last year. Though of course you could have posted on several sites

Oh...Steve's a SMURF! .....and who is this Persnickety??? and why is Steve going to get him?

When the ammonia eating bacteria start to use the ammonia and make nitrite, the nitrite level goes up quite quickly. 1ppm ammonia is converted to 2.6ppm nitrite. So even a small drop in ammonia, too small to accurately measure, results in a nitrite level that shows up quite clearly when you test. And that same 1ppm ammonia is processed further by the nitrite eaters to make 3.6ppm nitrate.


I should add that all the nitrate tests for use in the home are not terribly accurate - you'd need lab equipement for really accurate results. Home testers give a ball park figure, and are best used as a series of tests showing a trend. They are also very easy to mis-use. Whatever the make, with liquid regent testers there is one bottle that has to be shaken really well. A lot of people don't read the instructions properly, don't shake the bottle and test tbe, and get very inaccurate results. Not that I'm accusing you of failing to shake them, but I always remind people that it needs to be done 



Personally, I think adding bicarb will help a lot. Once you have completed the cycle, you could use crushed coral to raise GH, KH and pH slightly. Either a bag in the filter or even mixed with gravel on the bottom of the tank. It will dissolve slowly and won't add any sodium to the water like bicarb does - that's why you can't use bicarb when you have fish. I don't think crushed coral dissolves fast enough to get the KH level high enough for fishless cycling, which is why I suggest bicarb.

If you want exclusively soft water fish, your water would be fine. The only problem you may have is with the pH. Keep a close eye on it (by that I mean test daily) and you'll find out immediately if the pH starts to fall. If it doesn't after a few weeks with a fully stocked tank, just check before a water change. If it does fall, try a bit of crushed coral. Not enough to make the water un-soft (if there is such a word  ) but enough to stop your pH crashing. My tapwater has a KH of 3. If I do weekly water changes of 25% minimum without fail, my pH is OK. It was when I got a bit lazy a few years ago and only did water changes every couple of weeks that I had a pH crash.

Yes, that's what I always thought too regarding planting at the beginning.

I didn't know there were hard and soft water plants like with fish. I suppose it's obvious if you think about it. You learn something new every day