First time Testing GH and KH

I decided I should put my GH and KH test kits to use today:

GH: 140ppm or 8.4 dgh
KH: 60 ppm or 3.4 dkh

My test kit says my KH is too low and needs a buffer, but I have little knowledge on GH and KH.

Also just some info:
-Whenever I test my pH i do get a reading of 8 ppm
-my fishless cycle is stalled (10 gallon tank)

Anyways, could this be the reason my cycle has been stalled for a month? How do I fix this?

 

How do you know its stalled? Have you been checking your ammonia nitrite &Nitraits

 

How do you know its stalled? Have you been checking your ammonia nitrite &Nitraits

I tried fiables cycling back in May, with no progress, after 6 weeks I purchased some TSS+ and dumped it in my tank and put some right onto my black filter sponge (in my HOB filter). My ammonia has been processing now. I first dosed 2 ppm ammonia and have subsequently dosing 1 ppm. Every time I dose it to 1 ppm it takes 1 week to process the ammonia and it has not sped up. It’s been doing that for about 5 weeks now with no speeding up. I have 0 nitrites (i read thats common with TSS though) and my nitrates are at about 30 ppm.

 

Are those readings of your tap water or tank water? A KH of 60ppm should be sufficient without having to add buffers and a pH of 8.0 shouldn’t be affecting how fast your filter processes ammonia. I’d be looking at other possible causes such as your filter flow rate/tank turnover and how much media and other surfaces are available for the bacteria. Plants can help too.

 

Your KH won't stall your cycle, at least not at current levels. You may want it higher, based upon which fish you want to keep.

GH is fine for the majority of fish, unless they're looking for very soft water.

I have never done a fishless cycle, I always have seeded off a tank that is currently cycled. Can't offer you much more insight there, unfortunately.

 

Are those readings of your tap water or tank water? A KH of 60ppm should be sufficient without having to add buffers and a pH of 8.0 shouldn’t be affecting how fast your filter processes ammonia. I’d be looking at other possible causes such as your filter flow rate/tank turnover and how much media and other surfaces are available for the bacteria. Plants can help too.

I have some suspicions about my filter actually! I’ll be buying a sponge filter to put my air stone in tomorrow so maybe that could help. I’ve wanted to add plants recently, but I was hesitant as I didn’t want to grow algae with the higher ammonia rates too

 

I tried fiables cycling back in May, with no progress, after 6 weeks I purchased some TSS+ and dumped it in my tank and put some right onto my black filter sponge (in my HOB filter). My ammonia has been processing now. I first dosed 2 ppm ammonia and have subsequently dosing 1 ppm. Every time I dose it to 1 ppm it takes 1 week to process the ammonia and it has not sped up. It’s been doing that for about 5 weeks now with no speeding up. I have 0 nitrites (i read thats common with TSS though) and my nitrates are at about 30 ppm.

I dont think youre dosing enough ammonia. You want to keep ammonia dosed daily between 2-3ppm. I would increase your ammonia dosage and see if that jumpstarts to convert to nitrites.

 

I dont think youre dosing enough ammonia. You want to keep ammonia dosed daily between 2-3ppm. I would increase your ammonia dosage and see if that jumpstarts to convert to nitrites.

That was my feeling as well, but I didn't want to recommend it, seeing I don't know a ton about fishless cycle. Thought you were supposed to add ammonia every day?

 

That was my feeling as well, but I didn't want to recommend it, seeing I don't know a ton about fishless cycle. Thought you were supposed to add ammonia every day?

yes you are supposed to keep ammonia dosed daily. you never want it to get below 1ppm. I did a fishless cycle on my 10gal. I dosed Dr tim, 5 drops , daily to keep my ammonia between 2-3ppm. I then saw nitrites the next week. I kept dosing ammonia daily and my cycle finished a month later. I do feel like its your ammonia being too low. It should never be low at 1ppm when fishless cycling. Just keep it dosed higher and just keep waiting!

 

Fyi. My KH is 3ish (somewhere between 3 and 4) and it isn't a problem. My gh is 7. Just confirming your kh is not an issue-you've already received advice with the ammonia.

 

I have some suspicions about my filter actually! I’ll be buying a sponge filter to put my air stone in tomorrow so maybe that could help. I’ve wanted to add plants recently, but I was hesitant as I didn’t want to grow algae with the higher ammonia rates too

Yes sponge filters are excellent bio filters and I've always added plants from the beginning.

yes you are supposed to keep ammonia dosed daily. you never want it to get below 1ppm. I did a fishless cycle on my 10gal. I dosed Dr tim, 5 drops , daily to keep my ammonia between 2-3ppm. I then saw nitrites the next week. I kept dosing ammonia daily and my cycle finished a month later. I do feel like its your ammonia being too low. It should never be low at 1ppm when fishless cycling. Just keep it dosed higher and just keep waiting!

I'm curious, why would fishless & fish-in cycling be different with regard to ammonia levels and the time taken to cycle? I realise you can have much higher levels with fishless so you can start with a higher bioload (and you don't have fish to worry about) but with fish in I never allowed ammonia to reach 1ppm but still cycled in 4-6 weeks or so, albeit with a smaller bacteria colony than I could have achieved with fishless.

 

Yes sponge filters are excellent bio filters and I've always added plants from the beginning.



I'm curious, why would fishless & fish-in cycling be different with regard to ammonia levels and the time taken to cycle? I realise you can have much higher levels with fishless so you can start with a higher bioload (and you don't have fish to worry about) but with fish in I never allowed ammonia to reach 1ppm but still cycled in 4-6 weeks or so, albeit with a smaller bacteria colony than I could have achieved with fishless.

every forum I read here on fishless cycling says to keep ammonia dosed high so its able to convert faster. Also all the "vip" or "legend" members taught me how to fishless cycle my tank with ammonia last year, same advice , same product. I just help others the way they helped me considering they would know more. Plus it makes sense to dose more ammonia when you have the chance to help the cycle convert faster rather than having fish swim in 4ppm of ammonia. I never have or never will do fishin cycles, I find them very cruel.

 

every forum I read here on fishless cycling says to keep ammonia dosed high so its able to convert faster. Also all the "vip" or "legend" members taught me how to fishless cycle my tank with ammonia last year, same advice , same product. I just help others the way they helped me considering they would know more. Plus it makes sense to dose more ammonia when you have the chance to help the cycle convert faster rather than having fish swim in 4ppm of ammonia. I never have or never will do fishin cycles, I find them very cruel.

Ok. I just just don't see how the level is related to the conversion rate. Of course you never want fish swimming in 4ppm ammonia. I always suggest that people do fishless. We have lots of beginners on this site.

 

yes you are supposed to keep ammonia dosed daily. you never want it to get below 1ppm. I did a fishless cycle on my 10gal. I dosed Dr tim, 5 drops , daily to keep my ammonia between 2-3ppm. I then saw nitrites the next week. I kept dosing ammonia daily and my cycle finished a month later. I do feel like its your ammonia being too low. It should never be low at 1ppm when fishless cycling. Just keep it dosed higher and just keep waiting!

Okay great! I actually dosed my tank to 2ppm yesterday, but I read something on here that said dose it to 2 and then dose it to 1 ppm until it can handle that, but its nice to learn that 1ppm is too low

I hope 2ppm plus the sponge filter will get it going then!!

Also, my ammonia processes reeeeally slow, it's been processing at a constant rate of about 0.25 ppm (of ammonia gone) every two days, hence why it's hard for me to add more ammonia every day :'(

 

yes you are supposed to keep ammonia dosed daily. you never want it to get below 1ppm. I did a fishless cycle on my 10gal. I dosed Dr tim, 5 drops , daily to keep my ammonia between 2-3ppm. I then saw nitrites the next week. I kept dosing ammonia daily and my cycle finished a month later. I do feel like its your ammonia being too low. It should never be low at 1ppm when fishless cycling. Just keep it dosed higher and just keep waiting!

Hey there,
I was just wondering, am I supposed to maintain the ammonia level between 2-3 by dosing it every day, or wait for it to come down to 0 every time before dosing it again. I think I was previously misled by the post on fishless cycling with a bacteria add in and am so ready to learn!

 

Hey there,
I was just wondering, am I supposed to maintain the ammonia level between 2-3 by dosing it every day, or wait for it to come down to 0 every time before dosing it again. I think I was previously misled by the post on fishless cycling with a bacteria add in and am so ready to learn!

You want to make sure ammonia is a constant 2-3ppm everyday, only dose more ammonia when you test and its below 1ppm . Dont let ammonia reach 0ppm either unless it does by itself in under 24hrs. Dr. Tims is very strong and mislabeled so it is possible to kill BB if the ammonia is too high . Dont let it past 4ppm, between 2-3ppm is a good range.

You know your cycle is complete when both Ammonia and Nitrites convert from 2ppm to 0ppm in under 24hrs. If it takes longer than a day to process all ammonia/nitrite, then you dont have enough BB built up and you still have some time. Remember, cycling takes a good month , sometimes 2. Just keep ammonia above 1ppm , between 2-3ppm, but never above 4ppm. Test daily and have patience! Also make sure your heater and filter are on 24/7 while cycling.

 

You want to make sure ammonia is a constant 2-3ppm everyday, only dose more ammonia when you test and its below 1ppm . Dont let ammonia reach 0ppm either unless it does by itself in under 24hrs. Dr. Tims is very strong and mislabeled so it is possible to kill BB if the ammonia is too high . Dont let it past 4ppm, between 2-3ppm is a good range.

You know your cycle is complete when both Ammonia and Nitrites convert from 2ppm to 0ppm in under 24hrs. If it takes longer than a day to process all ammonia/nitrite, then you dont have enough BB built up and you still have some time. Remember, cycling takes a good month , sometimes 2. Just keep ammonia above 1ppm , between 2-3ppm, but never above 4ppm. Test daily and have patience! Also make sure your heater and filter are on 24/7 while cycling.

This was extremely helpful and very clear, thank you so much!!