i cant take the wait any longer

Yeah, at this point keep your water changes small. You'll do another tomorrow, so it won't hurt the fish.

Don't apologize for how long the thread is getting, this is a great reference thread for other folks who are trying to seed a new tank or wait out a fishless cycle.
 
Hmmmm...if that is a good quality picture of your test results, i.e the colours on screen are representative of what you are seen in real life, I am going to say you may be showing a wee little hint of nitrites there. Just looks like the merest hint of mauve in that bottle.

Check your tap Ph to see if that changed - shouldn't be getting an unexplained swing like that. I doubt it is anything to worry about in your tank just be nice to perhaps work it out.

Sorry if this question is redundant - I presume you are shaking the heck out of bottle 2 on the nitrate test for 30 secs, and then doing the same to the test tube after adding for at least 1 minute ?

Most importantly - stick at it. This is the bit where you sort of learn your trade, how to test, when its necessary to test, how your fish react to changes, water changes etc. etc. etc. The great thing is you only have to do it once, and then you're good as gold for as long as you want to be in the hobby. Everyone on here would agree I think that its worth it.

Finally, the next stage of the cycle is actually the most dangerous part in some ways (although it should be considerably shorter). Your fish will be facing threat of ammonia and nitrite and the latter can kill like lightning. Don't let up on the testing/changes and you'll get there sooner than you think.
 
Coler said:
This is the bit where you sort of learn your trade, how to test, when its necessary to test, how your fish react to changes, water changes etc. etc. etc. The great thing is you only have to do it once, and then you're good as gold for as long as you want to be in the hobby. Everyone on here would agree I think that its worth it.
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I love this quote, Coler. So true. Looking forward to hearing how readings coome out today...
 
thanks for the info... ya know the only bottle i've been shaking is the nitrate bottle 2. I wasn't aware of shaking nitrite #2. also good news... Dirtydawg has agreed to meet me after work where he'll give me some established cotton he's had in his filter along with a bag of filter squeezed water. i'm so thankful for that. after application of this gift from god, I should be ready in no time.
 
Woo-Hooo on the media!
You really have to test exactly as instructed to get adequate readings.
I actually took a Sharpie and wrote right on my test kit bottles so I didn't have to reread everything as I was learning. This is what I wrote on the bottles:
Amonia 1 - Add 8
Amonia 2 - Add 8, Shake 5(seconds)

Nitrite - Add 5, Shake 5(seconds)

Nitrate 1 - Add 10, invert
Nitrate 2 - Shake bottle 30, Add 10, Shake 1 minute
 
katuuuz said:
thanks for the info... ya know the only bottle i've been shaking is the nitrate bottle 2. I wasn't aware of shaking nitrite #2. also good news... Dirtydawg has agreed to meet me after work where he'll give me some established cotton he's had in his filter along with a bag of filter squeezed water. i'm so thankful for that. after application of this gift from god, I should be ready in no time.
Click to expand...

Actually it is some of the polyester quilt batting that I always keep some extra running in my filters on the 75. You never know when you're going to need to set up another tank...;). For some reason I always want to call it cotton batting but it is not. I'm glad to help out.
 
dirtydawg10 said:
I always keep some extra running in my filters on the 75. You never know when you're going to need to set up another tank...;).
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I am with you dirtydawg. I do the same thing.
Mighty nice of you to help a guy out like that!
 
yes, hats indeed go off to dirtydawg. he was cool enough to meet me at a mcdonald's near his house and give me a bag of filter squeezings and a nice wad of the polyester batting to wedge between my own filter foam and bio rocks. i came home as he instructed, turned off my filter and watched the water run down. then i placed that batting in between my foam and bio rocks and dumped the squeezings over all my media within the filter. i let it stand about 5 minutes then i powered the filter back on. dirty, i want to thank you yet again for this bag of liquid gold you gave me.

on another note, i filled my 4 test tubes prior to the addition to dawg's media juice for testing. now this is BEFORE i added the juices of the aqua gods.

ammonia 0-.25 (more on the 0 side)
nitrites 0
nitrates 0
and oddly, my pH has dropped some more to the 6.0 - 6.4 range. kinda yellowy clear.

also just tested right of the tap and the pH is between 7.2 and 7.6. maybe the lfs' rocks in a sock could have done this? should i do a water change so soon after adding dawg's sponge water and cotton batting to my mix or should i hold off?
 
It was nice to meet you, Mike. Hopefully it will do the trick for you. As I said you may not even see the nitrite spike you may just go straight to a full cycle since your stock is pretty low. I'd test it again tomorrow and see what you get. Doing a water change shouldn't be an issue. Just remember to add your dechlor for the entire tank volume before you add the tank temperature tap water.
 
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