levels of calcium in the water and fishless cycling

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Lukara

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Jan 13, 2003
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Just a question out of curiosity, does the levels of calcium in the water play any part in the development of the bacteria during a fishless cycle?
 

mogurnda

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Apr 29, 2003
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I don't know of any evidence either way, but I would imagine that the bacteria would be fine as long as there was some present.
 

Lukara

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Thanks for the reply. I was wondering if calcium could be a limiting factor in the reproduction of bacteria during a fishless cycle. If your Gh is very low, say 2 or less.

I cycled my tank a couple of months ago but it seems I have a problem when I fishless cycle my aquariums. We recently decided that we're moving in the next few months so I haven't transferred my fish out of the quarantine tank so that I could move the aquariums easier when the day comes. I have this problem with all my q-tanks and my main one. They are all completely cycled, but the bioload can't handle more than 1.2 ammonia. I originally started to cycle the main tank (50 gallon) in December 03. I was putting enough ammonia to reach 5.0. Weeks passed and I saw my nitrite spike, then it went down to zero, but the bacteria was never able to oxidize the ammonia more than 1.2. I have enough media for sure, one fluval 304 and an aquaclear 500, a gravel bed etc... When I fishless cycled my q-tank the same thing happened. I could only make an educational guess and say that the fish that are in the q-tank (for over 3 months now) are generating less than 1.2 ammonia because the at the end of the day all readings except nitrate are zero. I'm using Aqua Plus as a dechlorinator, my PH is 7.5, KH 1.7, GH 2.

Anybody have any ideas?
 

happychem

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Dec 9, 2003
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Bicarbonate and cycling

The nitrification process takes up bicarbonate, so perhaps your tank is HCO3- limited. Although, your KH isn't really all that low.

I don't think I've ever heard of a Ca requirement, but I think mogurnda's got it on that one, as long as there's some around.

This has me thinking though, since bicarbonate is taken up, would perhaps a tsp. or so of baking soda every now and then aid a fishless cycle?

I think I'll post this as a new thread as well...
 

daveedka

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Jan 30, 2004
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Some info for Morgunda and happy Chem to play with, don't know if it will help or not. My fishless cycle ran very slowly, my KH is at 2-3 out of the tap, and the original filling of the tank was 50% distilled water so nothing in the water hardly. When I saw a drastic drop in PH at the end Of week 1 I started adding Baking soda at 1 tsp to 30 gallons. This raised my tap PH from 7.6 to 7.8, but raised my KH to somewhere between 4-5. My cycle seemed to speed up overnight, but this cold have just been the timing of things and finished very quickly and thouroughly. Don't know if any of this will help without an actual study, but I will be starting several more tanks in the next few months so I culd run some numbers if someone wants me too. I have a q-tank going through week 2 of a fishless with absolutely nothing but tap water ammonia and a filter in the tank (heater will be here Friday) could play with it as I have no need for it right now.
 
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