Water quality during fishless cycle

[Anaxus]

I am on day two of my fishless cycle. First day I added ammonia till I got a reading of 5ppm. I didn't test for anything else. On the second day I decided to try out all my test kits to get familiar with them. I still had my 5ppm of ammonia ( I didn't add anymore today), 0 Nitrite, 0 Nitrate, P.H. about 8.1, KH about 9 dKH, GH about 7 dGH.
The ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate seem fine since its only the second day. But the PH is high and KH and GH seem slightly high. I tested the PH in my tap water and it was about 8.1-8.3 which is the reason my tanks PH is high. Should I be worried about these during the cycle? I know the KH and GH can be lowered during water change by using dionized water. Should I get some PH down or PH 7.0 and use it during the cycle or wait till after its complete?

 

[JSchmidt]

I would suggest that you not try to adjust pH downward at all, now or after the cycle.

There is no sense in messing with pH while the tank is cycling. You'll end up changing 99% of the water after the cycle completes anyway, so you'll just be wasting time and money adjusting pH.

Your water's buffering capacity - represented by KH - is pretty considerable at 9 degrees (or about 160 ppm). That water will resist most additive-based attempts at lowering pH. What generally happens is the additive will have no effect until all the buffering is used up, the pH will plummet. Trying to lower pH thru the use of additives (esp. with your KH) almost alway leads to yo-yo-ing pH, which is much more stressful to fish than higher-than-native-waters-pH.

If you REALLY need to get pH lower (e.g., you want to breed softwater fish) you will probably have to invest in reverse osmosis equipment and strip the water of all KH and GH, then reconstitute it at the desired parameters. This is not a good procedure for a beginner, and is probaby unnecessary.

I keep soft water, low pH-preferring fish (tetras, angelfish) in moderately hard, pH = 7.8 water with no problems.

Bottom line: try to avoid modifying your water, and you certainly don't need to do so during a fishless cycling.

HTH,
Jim

 

[amy]

I agree with Jim in everything he says here.

After the tank is finished cycling, having STABLE water is more important than having the "RIGHT" water.

 

[RTR]

Agree w/Jim and Amy.