Cycle
- Thread starter Megan33
- Start date
Today NH3 2.0, NO2 4.0, NO3 40.0
This hasn't budged. I've left the test tubes with distilled water in them,and hope I get a more clear reading later on.
I've also added the UV sterilizer. I hope this helps with algae, but also only takes the floating bacteria and not my filter bb.
This hasn't budged. I've left the test tubes with distilled water in them,and hope I get a more clear reading later on.
I've also added the UV sterilizer. I hope this helps with algae, but also only takes the floating bacteria and not my filter bb.
I just watched the video on that product and i say it is things like that that screw new fishkeepers up. He spends most of the video talking about how people are using his product wrong because its confusing and how everybody needs to buy $50 of add on products including his "exclusive" ammonia to make it work right.
To fix your current predicament dont do anymore water changes, dont add more prime and dont dose more stability. When all you have left is nitrates you can add fish.
To fix your current predicament dont do anymore water changes, dont add more prime and dont dose more stability. When all you have left is nitrates you can add fish.
Hello; A few days ago I decided to step away from this thread as there was a sense you are not understanding the suggestions of myself and others and I did not know how to explain well enough.
I will try again. I do not follow why you added another dose of ammonia. I do not think it is needed anymore since you have plenty of nitrates.
If the source water (tap water I guess) does not have nitrates then the presence of nitrates should be from the second type of bb having converted nitrite into nitrates. To have nitrites for them to convert the first type of bb must have converted the ammonia into nitrites. So you must have at least some of both types of the desired bb as colonies present and doing their job.
What is not perhaps settled is the balance of the bb with the extra ammonia you keep adding. If there were fish in the tank the ammonia would be coming from the metabolic activities of the fish. With a constant population of fish there would over time become a balance between the ammonia they excrete and the population of bb hat live on the surfaces of a tank. That balance is dynamic and will change if conditions change.
Example; if you had five medium sized fish in the tank for weeks there would be a balance with the bb. Say you add five additional fish then there would be more ammonia suddenly than the bb population could convert. Over time the bb population will increase due to the extra nutrients and a new balance will happen. The bb are fairly slow reproducers compared to other bacteria taking as much as 15 hours for one division. So you would have an ammonia spike for a day or few.
In summary. Do not add any more ammonia. Check every so often ( 12 hours, 24 , 18 or what you feel like) until the ammonia and nitrite are zero. Do a big water change and get a couple of fish.
