Fluval Edge Cycle - Low PH, No Nitrie or Nitrates

Hi,

I bought a Fluval Edge 23L/6 Gallon Tank and have been trying to do a fishless cycle using fish food flakes.

In the tank I've got white sand, a piece of malaysian driftwood and some java moss. There is currently no heating. The PH is really low and I'm not sure if this is to do with the driftwood. It does seem to have leached tannins into the water as it has a brownish tinge. During the cycle I added more food which raised the ammonia to 2.0 but I'm not getting a reading for nitrites or nitrates.

Below are the readings I've got from using the API Master Test Kit:

Date	23/07/2016	30/07/2016	07/08/2016	13/08/2016
PH	6.4	6	6	6
Nitrite	0	0	0	0
Ammonia	.5	.5	2.0	2.0
Nitrate	0	0	0	0

Will the low PH prevent the cycle from happening and should I do a water change? Any ideas?

Thanks

 

I think the ph at 6 is ok , if it gets lower it could be an issue. I think you just need to wait for the bacteria to develop or add bacteria [safe start or stability]. Take driftwood out if you think it's a problem.

 

Hi,

I bought a Fluval Edge 23L/6 Gallon Tank and have been trying to do a fishless cycle using fish food flakes.

In the tank I've got white sand, a piece of malaysian driftwood and some java moss. There is currently no heating. The PH is really low and I'm not sure if this is to do with the driftwood. It does seem to have leached tannins into the water as it has a brownish tinge. During the cycle I added more food which raised the ammonia to 2.0 but I'm not getting a reading for nitrites or nitrates.

Below are the readings I've got from using the API Master Test Kit:

Date	23/07/2016	30/07/2016	07/08/2016	13/08/2016
PH	6.4	6	6	6
Nitrite	0	0	0	0
Ammonia	.5	.5	2.0	2.0
Nitrate	0	0	0	0

Will the low PH prevent the cycle from happening and should I do a water change? Any ideas?

Thanks

The driftwood will actually act as a ph buffer. The tannins will lower ph but only so much. It should keep your ph from crashing completely. I actually envy your water. I have plenty of drift wood in my tanks but can never get my ph under 7.6.
I have a edge as well and I'm not a fan of the bio media that comes with the tank. It's too smooth. I've replaced it with lava rock. Your BB just needs time to start but as jmp995 said you can always use some kind of cycle starter to help speed it up. Just give it time. I rushed my first tank and killed 6 tiger barbs..... I will post a picture of my bio media in the morning.

also, did you boil your driftwood and for how long? I have a decent sized piece in my edge and boiled it for over an hour. It still leeched tannins. since your BB doesn't seems to have taken off you can do a water change to get some tannins out, then add more flakes to raise the ammonia again.

 

Welcome to FishLore!

At a pH of 6.0, you are not going to be able to cycle the tank. With a pH that low, the ammonia converting bacteria will not develop.

I think you are going to need to raise your pH to get it closer to 7.0. I would recommend putting some crushed coral in the filter (if there is room), or put some in a media bag and put that directly into the tank, or even sprinkle it in with your substrate. It's a bit of a trial and error process to figure out how much you need, but with that size tank, I would start with maybe a quarter cup of crushed gravel.

I also want to mention that using fish food as an ammonia source is not the preferred method for fishless cycling. The reason being, it's hard to regulate your ammonia level, since you don't know how much ammonia a given amount of fish food will produce. Plus you have the delay from when you add the fish food, to when it starts breaking down and producing ammonia.

It would be better to use pure ammonia solution (i.e. ammonia and water only, no surfactants, perfumes, dyes etc). But of course if you can't find and pure ammonia solution, you'll have to stick with the fish food.

Best of luck!

 

Hi, welcome to fishlore

I agree that at a ph of 6.0 your cycle will take a very very long time to complete. At a ph of 6.5 nitrification slows down by at least half and at a ph of 6.0 all nitrification basically stops. Unless you want to have low ph or blackwater tank I would raise your ph with coral or with baking soda or Seachems alkaline buffer to get your ph up closer to the high 6's or 7.0. If you use baking soda, I would use 1/4 tsp mixed with some tank water and then test your ph after an hour and re-dose if need be.

Here are some quick facts for parameters for nitrifying bacteria:

 

HI all,

Thanks for the welcomes, advice and links.

In regards to the driftwood I bought it from an aquarium shop and left it to soak in a bucket of hot water for a couple of hours. In hindsight I probably should have boiled it

I'll try some baking soda initially then look into getting crushed coral to raise the ph.

I'll also have a look at obtaining a pure ammonia solution.

Thanks again.

 

HI all,

Just a follow up, I ended up adding about a teaspoon of baking soda a week ago to get the PH up and my current readings are:
PH: 7.4
Ammonia: 1
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5

The water has gone extremely cloudy but it looks like things are on their way.

Thanks

 

I did happen to catch that you have no heater in the tank, I think keeping water temp in the upper 70's would help the beneficial bacteria start up