JstJake

It's been over a week and a half now since I originally added my ammonia and it came back down to zero.

Everytime it (ammonia) goes down to zero, I add a measure (so it goes back up to 4 PPM) and watch it go back down to zero again. I've done this four times now!

I thought I might see the nitrites start to fall by now? It's completley of the scale, I measure my nitrates and the are some present (around 10) however this could be down to the plants ect, before I even added amonia the nitrates were about ten

So what should I be doing? Keep adding ammonia everytime it hits zero? should I decrease the ammount of ammonia I add?

Plus I keep getting this brown algae stuff all over my plants, which is blocking the light getting to the leaves, which can't be doing any good, what should I do about this?

Thanks for your help!

Jake

Lucy

I think once you start seeing nitrites, you're supposed to cut the ammonia you were adding in 1/2.

Give it a try, see if that works. Remember the nitrite stage can last a while....longer than the ammonia stage.

Test your tap water for nitrates, make sure that's not where you're getting your reading from.

Good luck, cycling can be so frustrating.

JstJake

ok I'll cut the amonia in half from now on,

thanks for the advice!

Lucy

You're welcome, I hope it helps.
Keep us posted.

pepetj

That's exactly right! Add 1/2 of what you were dosing ammonia and keep in mind Nitrite spike lasts longer (7-9 days) than Ammonia spike (3-6 days), at least in my fishless cycle with ammonia solution experience (limited to 5 tanks); be patient, it should be over anytime soon. It might take 2 to 3 days once your spike begins to fade out from 1.00ppm to 0.48ppm... 0.24ppm... and then it happens 0.00ppm!

And no, your plants might get a bit dirty, but unlikely suffer in the long run.

Pepe
Santo Domingo

pepetj

Other thing I forgot. Bring your temp close to 29C and aerate as much as possible, that should speed up bacterial growth.

Pepe
Santo Domingo

JakeTeque

Maybe people with the name Jake have bad luck with nitrites. Water changessssss ahhh!

JstJake

^^^lol....I think my problems have stemmed from judgement rather than luck!


I've got my temp at 28 (high as it goes) and as much air discs going ect, so no problems on that side of things.

I have started to clean the plants leaves of algae by just rubbing it off, probabally not doing much, but at least it makes me feel better!

JstJake

wow.

zero ammonia, zero nitrites and ten nitrate!

I added 4 ppm of amonia 48 hours ago.


Well this is an unexpected surprise!

because I can't add fish for another two weeks, (reasons beyond my control)
I think I should keep adding 4 ppm of ammonia every 48 hours untill 4 days before fish day! then i'll put a half dose in and do a 50 % water change, while cleaning thouroughly one half of the gravel. Then I'll add my first three danios


hurray! (is this the correct procedure?)

clinton1621

Since you are only adding pure ammonia, there is no need to even do a gravel vac... there wont be any waste to suck up =)

JstJake

ok, I'll just suck up the algea thats showing on the top of the gravel.

thanks for the info!

Lucy

That's great news. When you add ammonia and your tank processes in 24hrs., you're good to go.

JstJake

so does it have to process a full or half dose in 24 hours to be ready?

Lucy

It should be able to handle both, but try the 1/2 dose. The amount of ammonia you add for cycling isn't as much as your fish would produce in a day.

JstJake

ok thanks for that!