Cycling Diary

M

Maxta

AC Members
Mar 13, 2007
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Hey all. Last saturday i got a 10 Gallon tank, and had water and the rest in since then. I started cycling on Monday. Im using the add and wait method.

Day 1 (12/03/07):
pH: 6.6
ammonia: 0 ppm
added ammonia to raise levels to 6 ppm


pH: 6.6
ammonia: ~6 ppm
nitrite: 0

Day 2 (13/03/07):

pH: 6.8
ammonia: ~4 ppm
nitrite: 0

Day 3 (14/03/07):

pH: 6.8
ammonia: ~4 ppm
nitrite: ~0 (slightly darker though)


Day 4 (15/03/07):

pH: 6.8
ammonia: ~3
nitrite: ~0 (same as yesterday)

Day 5 (16/03/07):


pH: 6.8
ammonia: ~3
nitrite: between 0 and 0.25 (darker than yesterday)
nitrate: ~1 or 2


Why isnt my ammonia going down any quicker lol? Or does it usually take this long.

Also in the past day or two on the suction cups, and also on the rubber ring at the top of the glass part of my heater theres been some kind of growth. Its white/grey and looks a bit like cotton wool or something lol. Any ideas what this is? This is the only place it is established in my tank, however its starting to grow on the suction cups of my filter also.



Thanks,
Maxta
 
The Add and Wait method, by this I assume "added Ammonia" (or u would have posted ur fish were dead w/ those readings) Either way, Ammonia will take some time to drop as your bacteria begins to grow and multiply.
As for the "white/grey growth" only developing around only your plastic surfaces - I don't know. The first thing that came ot mind was calcification or some other buildup from hard water, but then you said it looked like "cotton wool"??? I don't know, sorry...
What are your hardness readings?
 
I dont know how to check the hardness of the water, can you tell me?

Im doing a fishless-cycle, the add and wait method by adding ammonia to a level of 6 ppm, letting it drop to 1ppm, then adding more ammonia in back upto 3/4 ppm, and keep doing so until ammonia gos to 0 within 12 hours or something, then keep feedin a bit ammonia until my nitrite levels disappear.

That method ^^, named the add and wait method on another forum.
 
That's actually a little quicker than I would have expected. Try wringing out a dirty filter sponge from an established tank and dumping that water and gunk in your new tank. That should really get things going. Just make sure there are no diseases in the tank the dirty filter is from. Adding some used carbon or other filter media to your filter also gets things finished in just a couple days.
 
Well we have a 190L tank downstairs too, but its only been up 5/6 weeks, and we didnt do a fishless cycle - didnt even know what one was, we just went on what the pet shop said :(

Iv tested the pH, ammonia and nitrate and all seems fine, but we have had casualties over the 5/6 weeks weve had the tank. Weve lost 4 tetras, 2 mollys and a pleco, so i dont know if id want to take water from that tank tbh, plus the fact it hasnt been up long.

So this is the reason im doing a fishless cycle with ammonia in my 10 gallon tank. Be testing my water in a moment because i forgot to last night (drunk)
 
Day 6 (17/03/07):


pH: N/A
ammonia: ~3
nitrite: ~0.50 (slightly darker)
nitrate: ~2


Ammonia levels look exactly the same as yesterday, nitrite has definately jumped up and matches 0.50 at least. Nitrate levels look slightly darker than yesterday, around 2.

Heres my graph which will be ammended each day obviously:

Cycle.jpg
 
Nitrates test may be meaningless

I don't know which test method you are using, but I believe that the common kits all convert nitrates to nitrites and then measure nitrites to give you your nitrates reading. Thus, if you still have nitrites, you may not be getting meaningful nitrate readings. Wait till your nitrites go to 0, then check the nitrates.
 
Day 7 (18/03/07):


pH: N/A
ammonia: ~2
nitrite: ~2 (slightly darker though)
nitrate: didnt test


How come my nitrites seem to be peaking quite early and rapidly but my ammonia levels are staying quite constant, not much difference between yesterday and today....although it has dropped.

What happens if my nitrite "gos off the chart" and comes back down before my ammonia has even dropped to the point where i re-add ammonia?
 
Day 8 (19/03/07):


pH: N/A
ammonia: ~0
nitrite: ~3
nitrate: 10

cycle1.png


Woohoo my ammonia has finally gone back down, time to top it back upto 3 :)

Is everything looking okay/on track?
 
Looks about normal. The nitrAtes are a little weird but that was explained earlier. That's why there's two steps for the nitrate kits. The pace is really going to pick up now. Bacteria multiply exponentially so say you start with 32 bacterias at noon, and they divide every 30 minutes.

12:00: 32
12:30: 64
1:00 128
1:30 256
2:00 512
2:30 1024
3:00 2048
3:30 4096

and so on and so forth.
 
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