Fishless Cycle

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Apr 2, 2002
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What matters is that the water is circulated through the coral. If you have a bag or a access to am old piece of an old stocking, a piecie of string to tie it shut can also be used to hang it from the spraybar. The action of the returning water creates water movement near the spraybar.
 
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railer20

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Ph - 7.8
Kh - 5
Ammonia - .25
Nitrite - still 1.0 (first picture is just tapwater and second picture is 50-50 with distilled)
Nitrate - 40+

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Apr 2, 2002
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Ammonia is super, nitrite I cannot tell from the pic as usual. I see no match to any color at all.

Just a quick observation. When you take the picture whatever device you are using and whatever light is illuminating the tube and card will affect the color one might see. Anybody who views the picture has a monitor that determines how colors appear. Professional photographers have software you would not believe for calibrating their screens to produce "true" colors. And then there is the room lighting where the screen is being viewed to consider.

Finally, everybody has their own unique eyes. Color perception is subjective since it is not only the bio-physics of our optuical system at work, perception is how our unique brains translate the information. So you can email/text 10 fish keepers your picture to them all in an email and ask them to reply as to what color they see and you will gent many different answers.

This is why accurate colorimetric tests are not read by humans, they are measured spectroscopically using expensive equipment to determine to the exact nanometer wavelength to determine what the color is. I tried to get Commander Data to beam down and check your test results, but unfortunately he was otherwise occupied in another galaxy. ?‍?

In any case, when you know nitrite is clearly under 1 ppm. Dose a short 1/4 teaspoon again. (By short I mean not quite level, I want a bit less than 3 ppm but not by much.) Please check for either nitrate or KH first. If you are close to the 160 or above for Nitrate or at 2 dg/35 ppm for KH, do a 50% water change before dosing.

I can offer one idea here if you want to reshoot the nitrate picture. It appears to me that you have too much light where you are taking the picture. I think you may be washing out something that changes how things look, especially in the tube. Is there a way you can shoot in a somewhat less bright light? If you are using artificial light, move farther from the light. If you are using sunlight, make sure the sun is behind you, but shoot standing in the shade or inside with the sun coming in a window. That way you can move further from the sunshine/window to make things a bit less bright. I could be wrong here, but it is worth a try if you want.
 

railer20

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This mornings test. Tried some different lighting as well. Problem for me is I leave when it’s dark and I get home when it’s dark so sunlight’s not an option right now LOL.

KH - 4
PH - 7.8 - 8.0
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - diluted 50/50 to me looks like .25 so total .5
Nitrate - not 160 yet

I will wait for you to confirm and if so add the slightly less than 1/4 tsp of ammonium chloride.

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Apr 2, 2002
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I see the color being between .25 and .50. I do not know what you did re lighting, but the result actually appear to me to be matching what is on the card as I stated and you see it as .25. Either way, that puts you clearly under 1 ppm for nitrite. Dose it :)

I am thinking nitrate will be as high as we want to let it get after today's ammonia addition. So you may have to do another water change. Either you will be cycled and should change it or else you still need one more ammonia dose and should change it before adding it to insure the pH isn't suddenly falling.
 
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fishorama

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That's what I'm thinking, a big water change & you should be very close to good to go...but I'm not an expert on this method in any way...go with what TTA says...dang, so close...it can't be long now...
 
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railer20

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Nothing earth shattering this morning. Seems to moving in the right direction after my “small” dose yesdterday. Ammonia and nitrite seemed to be around 1 ppm (ammonia possibly a little less). Nitrates looked about 80 to me or at least not near dark enough for 160. PH hanging 7.8 - 8.
 
Apr 2, 2002
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OK. When you see the numbers line up, dose a similar amount again. I was pleasantly surprised when you had reported ammonia at 0. As long as it gets back to 0 (or at least .25 ppm) within 24 hours, then there are more than enough ammonia oxidizers for your tank to be completely cycled for them. We are now waiting mostly for the nitrite ones to catch up.

I normally expect a cycle to move faster than yours. I still suspect something in the water or not in the water may be slowing things. But they are still progressing. As long as the process is proceeding in the normal order, it has to be completed at some point. The only variable is when.

All it takes is patience.

Just as more of an FYI- The biofilm in which the nitrifiers live is not limited to just them. The are other organisms that live with them. It is a thriving microscopic ecosystem. Moreover, the group is interdependent. They each do and/or make things the other needs. Things do not end there when one has substrate and, especially if one has live plants. The ecosystem expands as a result.

It may only require six weeks, give or take, to establish the nitrifiers. But it takes months for the entire ecosystem to become established. The one weak link is us. We are responsible for making sure the things needed are added in a timely fashion and that we remove those things that should be, also in a timely fashion. Sometimes it takes a while to figure these things out. When we do we usually get tanks that seem to run great without many issues.
 
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