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January 3rd, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Pinky- thanks but there are no fish in this tank lol. but thanks anyway bella | 
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January 3rd, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Lucy; ok, thanks and i will not add ammonia and test again tomorrow thanks again bella | |
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January 3rd, 2009
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| | Fish Helper
| Quote:
Originally Posted by shih-tzu mom  Pinky- thanks but there are no fish in this tank lol. but thanks anyway bella | Oh right, sorry!  So, not with it today  | |
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January 4th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Ok, Lucy: here are the test for today-to add or not to add- ammonia-2.0 nitrate-10 and nitrite-1.0 | |
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January 4th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| Hi Bella, I was wondering how you were doing. 
Your nitrAtes has risen but your ammonia and nitrItes stayed the same?
I wouldn't add any today either and test again tomorrow. | |
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January 4th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Ok, Lucy will do lol. bella- Lucy these results are for tank #-2-ammonia 2.0 nitrate2.0 nitrite1.0 and that tank is cold water-no heater and i started to cycle the same day to add or not to add ammonia?bella | |
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January 4th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| As long as there's ammonia to feed the bacteria, I wouldn't add any to tank #2 today either.
Let's see what the numbers look like tomorrow for both tanks. | |
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January 4th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Ok, Lucy but will be a little late posting as i have a dr; appointment tomorrow thanks again bella | |
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January 4th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Oh, Lucy-one more question? when i remove the heater from the first tank [for goldies] will it set back the cycle any as you have to do a complete water change when finished? thanks in advance. bella | |
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January 4th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| I've read (and it makes sense) that bacteria grows quicker in warmer water but it shouldn't set the cycle back if you move the heater. | |
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January 4th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Lucy; i will completely take out the heater lol not move it. It is just there to help with the cycle.bella | |
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January 4th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| Why not just leave it in until you're done cycling? | |
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January 4th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| I will Lucy but has to be removed after the cycle is done lol bella | |
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January 4th, 2009
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| | Moderator
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January 5th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Hi: Lucy-back and tank #-1=ammonia 2.0 nitrate-10 and nitrite-1.0 and tank #-2=ammonia-2.0 nitrate-40 and nitrite-5.0 so it looks like tank 2 is rising and tank 1 is doing nothing lol what's happening lol bella | |
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January 5th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Lucy- when i did the old 20-gallon and the 2-10-gallons and some 5-gallons i never had this problem, but i did use the new super-bac lol and maybe that is why it seemed to cycle almost instantly -but i don't trust it that is why i am doing the ammonia. bella | |
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January 5th, 2009
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| | Moderator
|  Tank # on Jan. 2nd your readings were:
ammonia-4.0
nitrites5.0
nitrate-1.0
now they are
ammonia 2.0
nitrite-1.0
nitrate-10
The nitrAtes have jumped from 1.0 to 10 since yesterday?
Tank # 2
On Jan 4th readings were:
ammonia 2.0
nitrite1.0
nitrate2.0
Today:
ammonia-2.0
nitrite-5.0
nitrate-40
I'd still not add anymore ammonia to either tank yet.
If I remember your first post in this thread you were adding way too much ammonia to get started. | |
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January 5th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Yes, Kucy i was adding 20-drops to start and then i dropped back to 15-and i haven't added any since i posted lol and what is happening lol are they good or bad? bella | |
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January 5th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| I'm not sure why the ammonia hasn't gone down but the nitrAtes are rising. That shows the nitrites are being processed. | |
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January 5th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Is this ok or do i have to do something else? bella | |
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January 5th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| If it were me, I'd sit tight and not do anything except maybe add aeration. | |
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January 5th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Lucy; i have lot's of aeration in both tanks, so how far would i be from cycled? i guess i am getting impateint lol bella | |
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January 5th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| PS Lucy; i have filter and rocks and live plants in my panyhouse lol to help out and it is from a cycled 5-gallon tank not much but enough for the 2-40-gallons lol bella | |
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January 5th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| lol, I don't blame you for being impatient. Cycling takes a while, for sure. | |
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January 5th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Ok, will post # tomorrow and thanks very much again Lucy bella | |
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January 5th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| See you tomorrow. | |
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January 5th, 2009
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| | Fish Addict
| Okay I hate to interrupt the thread but and I did not read the whole thread lol but let me share my most recent cycling experience. I got a new 55g and moved lots of media over to it and fed it and had no readings so i moved danios into it and still had no readings. Everyone here screamed at me so after a few weeks like that NO READINGS I moved the Danios out and put in a raw shrimp and moved an old filter into it. Then I got low readings .25, .25, and 5-10 nitrate. I bid on these new fish and they were shipped two weeks early when i still had these readings! I pulled the shrimp out and changed the water until I got 0,0,0 put in the new fish and it has been a week and my readings are 0 amm and 0 nitrite. I did some research and now think that until you build bacteria up to your current bioload you will get readings on ammonia and nitrite. Once you have nitates you are cycled to a lesser bioload even if you have other readings. So if you reduce the ammount of ammonia added to your tank(bioload) you may see a drop in the readings as your bacteria can handle the lower amounts. This must happen alot in new seeded tanks or if you up your bioload by adding alot of new fish at once or overfeed you will have a minicycle. So I think my rotting shrimp was a huge bioload and my new fish produce less waste than that dead shrimp.
Helpful? Ask me if this was totally unclear. | |
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January 5th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| You're not interrupting at all. Thanks for your input Kacie...it's really appreciated
I hope I didn't scream at you in your thread, I rarely use caps. 
The presence of nitrates in her tank does indicate bacterial growth.
Tank # 1...her ammonia and nitrites are dropping and her nitrates are rising.
Tank # 2...her ammonia stayed the same but her nitrite and nitrates are rising.
They're in different stages of the cycle. I believe one has a heater and the other doesn't which can explain the difference in the amount of time they'll cycle.
When shih-tzu mom started her cycle, she was adding a lot of ammonia everyday for 2 weeks.
This has happened to a few other members and if I recall correctly, at some point they got stuck at the nitrIte level.
Last edited by Lucy; January 5th, 2009 at 06:26 PM.
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January 5th, 2009
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| | Fish Helper
| I've been doing some research on this topic as well. One thing that I found is that in the presence of high ammonia and low pH, the Nitrospira (nitrite-nitrate bacteria) don't do well. If I were doing this experiment, I would stop the ammonia addition as soon as some nitrates showed up in the test to perpetuate the replication of the nitrospira bacteria. Otherwise, you might get stuck in the first half of the cycle. Those with more experience-please correct me!  | |
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January 5th, 2009
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| | Moderator
|  That was sort of my thinking. As long as her nitrates continue to rise it shows bacteria is working.
If she gets stuck, I think at that point a huge water change would be in order. | |
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