i cant take the wait any longer

I think katuuz only recently realised you need to shake the bejasus out of bottle 2 before adding and the solution after adding when testing nitrate, so its not possible to say that the nitrates showed up only now. I agree testing tap water is a pretty good idea just to find your base level though.
 
katuuuz said:
pappy's right. i hadnt had any nitrates before, (and have tested the water finding 0). the nitrates are between 0 and 5.0. if i had to guess maybe 3 or 4.0. i put the established media into my filter and the nitrates showed up in a few hours. i also think they arent large enough to break down the ammonia that was showing prior to putting the nitrates in. i did a 50% and will test tonight.
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Good deal. It sounds like you're well on the way. Just remember that Nitrates are GOOD to see when cycling, but bad to allow to accumulate a large amount of going forward on a normal maintenance basis.

The bacteria that eat ammonia & excrete NitrIte are working in your tank and catching up to the load you have. Once Ammonia is Zero and stable, you'll be good here.

The bacteria that eat NitrIte & excrete NitrAte are working in your tank for the load you have so far... both were probably introduced with the used media. Once NitrIte is Zero and stable, you'll be good here.

Good luck and keep up the patience!
 
katuuuz said:
pappy's right. i hadnt had any nitrates before, (and have tested the water finding 0). the nitrates are between 0 and 5.0. if i had to guess maybe 3 or 4.0. i put the established media into my filter and the nitrates showed up in a few hours. i also think they arent large enough to break down the ammonia that was showing prior to putting the nitrates in. i did a 50% and will test tonight.
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Nitrates don't break down ammonia.

Here is the cycle, in simpler terms..

  1. fish food
  2. fish
  3. fish poop
  4. ammonia
  5. ammonia eating bacteria
  6. ammonia eating bacteria poop (nitrite)
  7. nitrite eating bacteria
  8. nitrite eating bacteria poop (nitrate)
  9. water change/plant food
Ammonia is fish waste, nitrate is bacteria waste, totally unrelated except that one (ammonia) eventually leads to the other (nitrate) and both are bad for fish..
 
i dont know. im kind of exausted trying to do this really. i have been testing nitrates correctly, i thought coler was referring to nitrite bottle 2 and then realized there wasnt one
 
I am still waiting to toast with you!
 
b.greene said:
I am still waiting to toast with you!
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could be a long time pal. i was looking forward to possibly this weekend. i was sure filter water from an established tank cycled it over night, or dam close to it. not lookin so good.
 
katuuuz said:
could be a long time pal. i was looking forward to possibly this weekend. i was sure filter water from an established tank cycled it over night, or dam close to it. not lookin so good.
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Filter media squeezings do nothing but bring a very small number of bacteria from one tank to the other.. It needs to establish a colony in your tank before it can do any good. That doesn't happen overnight. In fact, about the only "overnight" thing I think of in a fish tank is a crash.

Nothing GOOD ever happens quickly in an aquarium.. ​

Get used to that saying, you'll see it a lot if you continue this hobby.
 
Corax said:
Filter media squeezings do nothing but bring a very small number of bacteria from one tank to the other.. It needs to establish a colony in your tank before it can do any good. That doesn't happen overnight. In fact, about the only "overnight" thing I think of in a fish tank is a crash.

Nothing GOOD ever happens quickly in an aquarium.. ​

Get used to that saying, you'll see it a lot if you continue this hobby.
Click to expand...

then whats with all the people saying "you only need to do this once" a.k.a. once you have one cycled tank, you can just seed it into other tanks. (like dirtydawg did to mine)
 
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