Yet another cycling question
- Thread starter Luca Brazzi
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pH is 8.4 (I think this high ph comes from the ammonia as I learned a while back). Im not sure what the kh is... I dont have a test for that. I did another waterchange (about 25%) and I still have a high Nitrate reading. I readjusted the ammo back to 5ppm after the change, and the Nitrites are reading about 1-2 ppm.
Can the ph and kh cause me to get a false Nitrate reading? When I found that I had Nitrates I was surprised because it was so soon after I first started getting high Nitrites.
Can the ph and kh cause me to get a false Nitrate reading? When I found that I had Nitrates I was surprised because it was so soon after I first started getting high Nitrites.
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It is not your pH, I thought you were crashing (low pH) but you obviously are not doing that.
You did about a 50% change with your original serial partials.
I doubt the ammonia pushed your pH up so high unless you have RODI water. If you do I can't say what is happening. Are you on a municipal water system - they should have hardness and alkalinity values.
What is a "high" nitrate reading?
You did about a 50% change with your original serial partials.
I doubt the ammonia pushed your pH up so high unless you have RODI water. If you do I can't say what is happening. Are you on a municipal water system - they should have hardness and alkalinity values.
What is a "high" nitrate reading?
It looks like 100+ ppm.
Throughout the water changes, it (the Nitrate reading) never budged. I retested Nitrates after every change. Expecting it to decrease just like the ammo and Nitrite did... but it didnt.
As far as the ammo raising the ph... it does... for some reason the ammo Im using (Clear Ammonia from Walmart) raises the ph. I did a test awhile back where I tested water from the faucet and it was neutral. Then I added 5ppm clear ammo to it and retested... the pH was now at 8.4. There was nothing else in the water except the ammo... not even the dechlorinator.
I did notice one other difference since I did the water change. Before the change my Nitrite tests would start out dark pink (around 2 ppm) then after a few minutes would turn orange, then yellow. Now that I have done the changes... it stays pink, so maybe there were extremely excessive Nitrites as well.
Anyway... I now have max Nitrites and Max Nitrates with 5ppm Ammo. Im considering abandoning the fishless cycle... doing a 100% water change, dechlorinating, and adding fish. Ive been cycling over a month. I must have bacteria (at least the 1st set and more than likely at least some of the others) otherwise, how else could I be detecting so much Nitrate?
Throughout the water changes, it (the Nitrate reading) never budged. I retested Nitrates after every change. Expecting it to decrease just like the ammo and Nitrite did... but it didnt.
As far as the ammo raising the ph... it does... for some reason the ammo Im using (Clear Ammonia from Walmart) raises the ph. I did a test awhile back where I tested water from the faucet and it was neutral. Then I added 5ppm clear ammo to it and retested... the pH was now at 8.4. There was nothing else in the water except the ammo... not even the dechlorinator.
I did notice one other difference since I did the water change. Before the change my Nitrite tests would start out dark pink (around 2 ppm) then after a few minutes would turn orange, then yellow. Now that I have done the changes... it stays pink, so maybe there were extremely excessive Nitrites as well.
Anyway... I now have max Nitrites and Max Nitrates with 5ppm Ammo. Im considering abandoning the fishless cycle... doing a 100% water change, dechlorinating, and adding fish. Ive been cycling over a month. I must have bacteria (at least the 1st set and more than likely at least some of the others) otherwise, how else could I be detecting so much Nitrate?
I believe you have serious KH problems and likely no pH stability. Get the LFS to KH test your water, the tap, not the tank.
Do you have any existing tanks and are they pH stable?
What is the tank substrate?
Do you have any existing tanks and are they pH stable?
What is the tank substrate?
No other tanks. This is my 1st... I built the tank, the bio tower and the sump from scratch.
I'll go get a KH test kit today. If I have KH problems, what do I need to do to adjust?
My substrate it Black Beauty sandblasting sand. I do have some Crushed Coral that I was planning to put into bags, and place in the sump to raise the ph for the Africans but it isnt in there yet, should I put it in?
Ooops... I made a mistake! I just assumed that the pH was still 8.4... its not! Its at 7.4.
I also did an Alkalinity test, this is on the very low side.
I'll go get a KH test kit today. If I have KH problems, what do I need to do to adjust?
My substrate it Black Beauty sandblasting sand. I do have some Crushed Coral that I was planning to put into bags, and place in the sump to raise the ph for the Africans but it isnt in there yet, should I put it in?
Ooops... I made a mistake! I just assumed that the pH was still 8.4... its not! Its at 7.4.
I also did an Alkalinity test, this is on the very low side.
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Alkalinity is KH.
But please tell us numbers - "on the low side" does not carry much info. Without tap water parameters, it is impossible to make suggestions that will help.
If your water is boosted in pH by the ammonia, and now is being acidified by nitrification, this is confirming you have insufficient buffering.
But please tell us numbers - "on the low side" does not carry much info. Without tap water parameters, it is impossible to make suggestions that will help.
If your water is boosted in pH by the ammonia, and now is being acidified by nitrification, this is confirming you have insufficient buffering.
When I say that my Alk is on the lowside what I mean is that the test I have (Seachem test kit) has 3 sections on it... Low (yellow), Normal (Greenish), and High (Dark Blue). The original reading I had was Yellow. Since then I have washed, and added about 10 lbs of crushed coral to the system (I used pantyhose to hold the crushed coral). So I will re-measure everything tomorrow.
I also did another 50% waterchange. This time I changed the water straight from the tank. After the change, I still have max readings on the Nirites and Nitrates after the waterchange. No difference since my 1st waterchange in the last series of changes... It seems like no matter how much water I change, my Nitrites and Nitrates remain the same. When I started the fishless cycle, my Nitrites were at 0, I didnt test Nitrates then.
Ill let it run till tomorrow night... then test again. I dont think its a problem with the test kit...
Since my Alk test was low... do you think that may be an issue? Do you think that the crushed coral will help the buffering?
I also did another 50% waterchange. This time I changed the water straight from the tank. After the change, I still have max readings on the Nirites and Nitrates after the waterchange. No difference since my 1st waterchange in the last series of changes... It seems like no matter how much water I change, my Nitrites and Nitrates remain the same. When I started the fishless cycle, my Nitrites were at 0, I didnt test Nitrates then.
Ill let it run till tomorrow night... then test again. I dont think its a problem with the test kit...
Since my Alk test was low... do you think that may be an issue? Do you think that the crushed coral will help the buffering?
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Okay, let me back up.
Is this tank freshwater?
What is the name on the SeaChem test kit you are using? I am only familiar with their SW test kits in this area (I did not know they had FW alkalinity tests), and they give numeric results. Reefkeepers may not use the same scales as FW tank folk - the reefers may use meq/l, and this the scale SeaChem reports.
Did you have any substrate in the tank prior to the crush coral addition? If so, what is it?
Is this tank freshwater?
What is the name on the SeaChem test kit you are using? I am only familiar with their SW test kits in this area (I did not know they had FW alkalinity tests), and they give numeric results. Reefkeepers may not use the same scales as FW tank folk - the reefers may use meq/l, and this the scale SeaChem reports.
Did you have any substrate in the tank prior to the crush coral addition? If so, what is it?
Oops... made another mistake...
The testkit is a Marinelab Red Sea testkit.
My substrate is 100 lbs of Black Beauty sand.
I just added the crushed coral to the sump yesterday(about 15 lbs worth in a couple of bags)
From todays measurements it seems that the ammo readings are going down again. After massive water changes, I reloaded the ammo back to 5ppm yesterday, and now its down to 2ppm. I reloaded after todays readings back to 5ppm, Ill see where it is tomorrow. The Nitrites are still maxed, and so are the Nitrates. It seems like no matter how much water I change the Nitrates remain high (although some of the colors on the test kit for Nitrates are hard to tell apart... 20ppm vs 50ppm vs 100ppm are difficult). Ive considered diluting a sample with tapwater to see how much I have to dilute to get a 0 ppm reading on Nitrates. This might give me a better idea as to where I am.
The testkit is a Marinelab Red Sea testkit.
My substrate is 100 lbs of Black Beauty sand.
I just added the crushed coral to the sump yesterday(about 15 lbs worth in a couple of bags)
From todays measurements it seems that the ammo readings are going down again. After massive water changes, I reloaded the ammo back to 5ppm yesterday, and now its down to 2ppm. I reloaded after todays readings back to 5ppm, Ill see where it is tomorrow. The Nitrites are still maxed, and so are the Nitrates. It seems like no matter how much water I change the Nitrates remain high (although some of the colors on the test kit for Nitrates are hard to tell apart... 20ppm vs 50ppm vs 100ppm are difficult). Ive considered diluting a sample with tapwater to see how much I have to dilute to get a 0 ppm reading on Nitrates. This might give me a better idea as to where I am.
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