Sue's Fishless Cycle

Generally speaking, the thing that stalls cycles, as opposed to just slowing them down like high nitrite/nitrate, is a pH crash. Nitrite and nitrate are both acidic and if there is low KH the pH can drop suddenly. Didn't you say your water company's stats show you have low hardness? In that case, you'll most likely also have low KH, so keep a close eye on your pH if your nitrite and/or nitrate build up. Ammonia is basic, it'll push your pH up a bit but since there will be a lot more nitrite/nitrate than ammonia the overall effect will be a lot of acid.

If you do find your pH dropping (and 6.5 is the lowest you should let it get before you take action) you can use sodium bicarbonate aka bicarbonate of soda from the home baking section in the supermarket. It is perfectly acceptable to use it during fishless cycling to increase KH and pH, but not when you have fish because of all that sodium. If you do need to use it, you'll remove it all with the pre-fish-shopping water change. If you need it, just ask and I'll tell you the dosage 

Ok, will keep an eye on that

YOU CAN'T GO OUT!!!
Colin isn't online either.  Can you both please work on a rota system???  It's scary being left on our own.....especially when something goes horribly wrong!

Hope you're back soon....

Resa

mmmm... as you can only tell you're logged in when you're actually logged in, and we've no-way of knowing if your computer is on or off, etc. etc., this one might be a bit difficult.

It occurs to me that I'm always logged in - do I show as being on-line even when my computer is off?

If you don't push the 'logout' link on the forum, and simply close your browser, it will still show you as being logged in to the forum.  After a period of time (depending on the settings of the forum software) the 'session' will timeout and your name removed.  This is the nature of things in forum software land.

'Logout' link???  I've only just mastered turning the computer on! 

I got in the habit of not logging out with the old forum. That had a bad habit of logging you out halfway through typing something. I managed to find a way of keeping me logged in all the time I was on the forum, so I was too scared to log out again  It's the only site I don't log out of when I leave.

Since it seems I've been on-line on for 4 days 18 hours and 6 mins, and I haven't logged out since the new forum became active, presumably I do show as offline when I'm not actually here. You'll all have to check next Tues 

e.

It's nothing as spectacular as your suggestions, I'm afraid. My mother has lived with us for two years. She has such bad arthritis she can't manage alone. She has a wash and set on Tuesday mornings. I don't drive so we get a taxi down into town, Mum goes to the hairdresser and I do a load of shopping, then we get a taxi home. It saves me having to stagger all the way home with a load of shopping  She has the same appointment time every week.

I had to do a water change when I got back  Just remembered to update today's readings post.

Actually, I'm sitting round feeling sorry for myself today, you've been helping cheer me up. Coming back from the local shop yesterday I stubbed my toe on something crossing the open space in our estate and fell flat on my face. The visible damage is a bruised chin and a split lip where I bit it. You can't see my bruised knees through trousers, or the torn muscle/ligament/whatever right at the top of the back of my leg where it hurts to sit down. Then this morning I was zipping my mother's boots to go out (she can't reach her feet) and something went ping in a muscle in my ribcage. It can't be a broken rib or I would have felt it yesterday, probably a muscle I half damaged and finished the job this morning 


Yes, I am that clumsy 

With painkillers it isn't too bad. I still managed the water change.

At least the bruise is under my chin, you can't see it unless I look up. Now if we'd had any snow at all in this part of the country I would have landed in a snowdrift. It's just my luck that at a time where the vast majority of the UK is knee deep or worse in snow, we've not had anything worth speaking of - certainly nothing that's stuck. I hit pure hard tarmac