Where is my cycle?

Ok I let the tap run for about 2 minutes.. all I have are 5 gallon buckets so I put about 2 gallons in that and tested immediately for:

ammonia -- 0 ppm
nitrite -- 0 ppm
nitrate -- 0 ppm
pH -- 8.4 ish

I also tested GH and KH with strips (API master doesnt test for those)

GH -- 300 (high)
KH -- 0 (Very soft)

I added the dechlor and retested for ammonia and got:

ammonia -- 0 ppm
 
Whisker Wrangle said:
Ok I let the tap run for about 2 minutes.. all I have are 5 gallon buckets so I put about 2 gallons in that and tested immediately for:

ammonia -- 0 ppm
nitrite -- 0 ppm
nitrate -- 0 ppm
pH -- 8.4 ish

I also tested GH and KH with strips (API master doesnt test for those)

GH -- 300 (high)
KH -- 0 (Very soft)

I added the dechlor and retested for ammonia and got:

ammonia -- 0 ppm
Click to expand...

Hmmmmm... interesting numbers.

If your KH stays that low, and it probably will, you might have to start dosing your tank with baking soda for short-term maintenance and/or cuddle bone or crushed coral for long-term maintenance. We won't cover this yet since we want to see what your 24 hour and 48 hour baseline numbers are... and also double check your KH numbers.

Since you put "(high) and (very soft)" in your results, I'm guessing you had to use one of the dip sticks?

API does sell an add-on combo kit that tests for KH and GH so you might want to shop around for one as you run out of dip stick. The combo kit usually sells for around $7.00 and will last a long time compared to the dip sticks... and the test tube kits are usually much more reliable than dip sticks.

KH (Carbonate Hardness) is important as if the KH gets too low, or in your case is zero, it can allow the pH to crash, which can be dangerous to fish.

Have you tested your tank's parameters for pH, KH and GH? I know we've been testing like crazy for the nitrogenous waste numbers but haven't really checked on the other numbers.. since they usually aren't needed for fishless cycling... although a low KH level will cause cycling issues since the bacteria are life forms and all life forms need carbon to sustain life.
 
Whisker Wrangle said:
Dosing on the Aqueon is 5 mL per 10 gallons
Click to expand...

Dosing for chlorine with API is 1ml per 20G and 1ml per 5G for chloramine so you can see how it will last much longer and I'm sure the price of a 16 oz. bottle of API will probably be less than a 16 oz. bottle of Aqueon which makes it even a better bargain.

Also, check with your water utility to see if they use chlorine, chloramine or something else to disinfect your tap water. I have a blog article about Chlorine - Chloramine which helps explain how they work and are affected by our dechlor products.

Of course, with your higher pH, if that pH sustains itself in the 48 hour baseline, you may want to stick with an ammonia detoxifying dechlor product as a safety net since ammonia is much more toxic at a higher pH level but you have to be careful about not overdosing... even if the product says it's OK... as they don't tell you that overdosing will cause a much lower O2 level in the water... if you've read that other thread where the guy lost half his fish after a water change... of course he did it late at night and also added Seachem Excel which compounded the lower O2 levels.
 
Ok just got back from class and nitrites are 0 ppm and nitrates are only at 5 ppm..

Would it be ok to go ahead and add fish tonight since removing 5 ppm nitrates wouldnt take that large of a water change?

I really want to add fish lol.
 
There's no need to do any kind of water change with only 5ppm of nitrates. I would just leave the water alone now and not do another 25% PWC until next week.. unless something happens that would require one.

I figured the ammonia/nitrite issue you had was a short term issue probably caused by the low O2 levels when you did the big water change and didn't wait long enough to allow things to stabilize again.

Go ahead and get your fish. DON'T just float the bag for 15 minutes and let them loose into your tank though. Here's a couple of articles on better acclimation procedures.

http://www.csupomona.edu/~jskoga/Aquariums/Acclimation.html

http://faq.thekrib.com/begin-addfish.html#acclimation

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/1/aafeature2

The last link is to a salt water acclimation article and if you have sensitive fish or BIG differences between the tank and fish store water, then following this longer process is recommended.

How is your baseline testing coming along?
 
Well I got my fish, but the people at Petsmart wouldnt let me get all of them... so I got half... I am drip acclimating them right now, they have been going for about 15 minutes...

Baseline test is good... 24 hours will be at 10 pm tonight when I will do another test..
 
Well.. it's kind of good that they wouldn't let you get them all.. but you should have explained to them that you had fishless cycled your tank and it's fully cycled and ready for a full bioload.. and then watch them with the deer in the headlights glaze since they probably won't know what you're talking about. LOL The stupid thing about their "Policy" with you is that if they sold half of a tank's bioload to some other newbie who hadn't fishless cycled their tank, that newbie would be having all kinds of problems in a few days... whereas your tank is ready for the full bioload.
 
Baseline after 24 hours:

ammonia -- 0.5 ppm
nitrite -- 0 ppm
nitrate -- 0 ppm
pH -- it is like a reddish purple... does not match any of the colors on the chart (high end pH)?????? Very much the same as the nitrites when I couldnt read them... could it be higher than 8.4??
 
GoldLenny said:
Well.. it's kind of good that they wouldn't let you get them all.. but you should have explained to them that you had fishless cycled your tank and it's fully cycled and ready for a full bioload.. and then watch them with the deer in the headlights glaze since they probably won't know what you're talking about. LOL The stupid thing about their "Policy" with you is that if they sold half of a tank's bioload to some other newbie who hadn't fishless cycled their tank, that newbie would be having all kinds of problems in a few days... whereas your tank is ready for the full bioload.
Click to expand...

Lol, I did... I actually explained the whole thing... but the lady there is actually very knowledgeable about it so she understood, I think she was just amazed, she probably doesnt get many customers like us...
 
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