Fishless cycling: iteration #3

[grace]

Quite a while ago I updated info. and had questions on a REALLY long fishless cycle on a 6gal. Eclipse. I'm back for another update...

I started 2/24 and just today say a NO2 spike :rolleyes: . For the last two weeks I have done nothing but 50% WC almost every day and test the NH3 - which stayed at 8ppm :eek: the whole time - even after the WC. The last time I tested and did a WC was 5/31. Today I checked and the readings were:
NH3-2ppm
NO2-5ppm - YEAH!!! FINALLY!!
NO3-~5ppm

Last time I posted, someone (Faramir?) suggested I add a couple plants so I did. I imagine that was part of the solution.

So, my theory is that way back in March when I had the first drop in NH3, but the NO2 was zero, I kept adding more NH3. I assumed that I would see a spike in NO2 at the SAME TIME as the drop in NH3. I added way too much NH3 and the bacteria is just now consuming it. Sound plausible??

[valerie]

How much ammonia did you add? I had a problem where i added 5ppm NH3 to start and kept adding the same ammount that got me there each day. Of course this isn't how its uspposed to be doen and ended up with a huge amount of ammonia. You are jsut supposed to add enough each time to maintain 5ppm. So i learn my lesson. But even with my ammonia that high(we did calculations on another forum and it was ridiculus(sp?) it only took 3 weeks to do it.



Also if you want to get better reading to when you have a higher amount then teh test kit reads jsut dilute it with some distilled water

[grace]

Yup. I did what you did. It took 2 tblsp to get it to 4ppm and I kept adding 2 tblsp...every day! About a month into it, the NH3 dropped to 1.5 and 2ppm; which was when I should have left it alone and begun checking for the NO2, but noooo, I added 3 tblsp for, like, three days straight! Duh!

I'm wondering if I had a more extreme effect (ie very long cycle) because the tank is so small. Hmmm.

edited to add that today the NH3 is 0 and the NO2 is down to 2

[valerie]

You added 2TBSP and 3TBSP to your 6gal? I added 3 TBSP to my 90gal to get it up to 6ppm+. Usually it only takes about 1 tsp/10gals to get 5ppm when you are using jsut the plain ammonia from the store.

Did you wait and test 1-2 hours after you added the ammonia? Sometimes if you test too early it gives you low readings since it sn't mixed in with the water yet.

I will try and find the post that really helped me.

edit: I found the post http://www.fishindex.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=23015 It helped me understand how much of each(NH3,No2,No3) is produced.

If you have 1 ppm NH3 -> 2.70 ppm NO2 -> 3.64 ppm NO3 then by the looks of it you are way over loaded.

I had this happen to me(nitrites were sky high) and the guys from that thread said to do a 100% water change and add the amount of NH3 to bring it to 5ppm.Then wait untill the next day and test to see your levels. I had huge levels when i did that and the next day it was 0.

[grace]

Definately a major NH3 overload :rolleyes: :o

Oh well. Lesson learned and maybe I learned it for others as well! :cool: I really didn't think I had the patience to wait three freakin' months for a tank to cycle. Oy!

[OrionGirl]

Some commercial preparations will have a more dilute ammonia than others. So 1 tsp of brand X does not equal 1 tsp of brand Y. This is why testing is so important.

[valerie]

yes i know, but usually the store ammonia is around 5%(atleast all the ones i checked are about that). I was just giving an example, 1tsp is 9x less then the 3Tbsp she was using. I was thinking more along the lines of her test kits weren't testing right.


I had a problem with my test kits during my fishless cycle. My nitrite was so high that it registered as grey which looks alot like one of the blues.To me it looked like it was coming down when it actually was still really high.