fishless cycling and testing water parameters....

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flukekiller

flukekiller

Piranha
MFK Member
Aug 2, 2014
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gloucester, va 23061
quick question since its been a while since i have done this, plus not with a tank this size..

so i have been testing my water daily and i have noticed that my ammonia drops from roughly
4-5ppm to 1ppm basically daily. i didn't get the chance to test yesterday so when i tested my
ammonia like usual it dropped to 1 ppm so i decided to test for nitrites.. they showed zero..
figuring i possibly missed the nitrite spike, i tested for nitrAtes which are also zero. I use 2 different
test kits which are both in date. So basically can something be throwing my tests off or is it
possible that the nitrites, since being slow to reproduce, are just not at a high enough level for
the test to register?

Thanks
Paul
 
forgot to add the pic

waterparameters.jpg
 
How long have you been cycling?
 
Close to 3 weeks... did not expect to see any nitrAtes yet but with the ammonia dropping daily I would expect to see some nitrites by now... plus I had added some seeded sponges from a buddy of mine
 
Just checked them all this morning ... ammonia dropped again but 0 for nitrites and nitrates.. might have to get anotherid test kit
 
I doubt if the test kits are defective since you said they are within date, however if you had been using them incorrectly (not shaking bottles) it might be skewed. Test another tank if you have one to double check the results.

3 weeks is early in the fish-less cycling process to see nitrites but your tank is processing ammonia.

What is tank temperature and pH?
 
Yeah.. I thought the same thing about nitrites but just like you said it's processing the ammonia..
Tank temp is 84 and
Ph is about 7.5...I think I'm gonna go the snake oil route and get the seachem stability.. read a lot of good things about it here and elsewhere.
 
Also, interesting question in the OP. It's one I meant to ask a friend of mine (she's been a chemist for 30 years.)

Here's what I understand: ammonia does not evaporate in water. Fish create urine which contains ammonia. But what people buy is not ammonia. Indeed, people rarely need pure ammonia except in industrial conditions: the product sold in stores is ammonium hydroxide. Pure ammonia is called anhydrous ammonia and is 99.9% or more pure ammonia. "Ammonia" sold in stores is 5-10% ammonia in a water solution.

Why is that distinction important?: ammonia does not evaporate in water, but ammonium hydroxide does (in an open environment in the form of gas.) Depending on conditions, some amount of ammonia in water converts to ammonium hydroxide. The rate depends on many factors including temperature. But ammonia in water always has a balance where part is ammonia and part is ammonium hydroxide.

Here are some quotes:
"Aqua (ammonia) should be stored in a closed container and kept cool, otherwise, the ammonia gas will come out of the solution and the material strength will be reduced."
"Ammonia dissolved in water is commonly referred to as "aqua ammonia"."
http://www.rmtech.net/Aqua Ammonia.htm
https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/ammonia_refrigeration/ammonia/

So logically, ammonium hydroxide is evaporating. As it does the ammonia in the tank re-balances and more ammonium hydroxide is created. The cycle repeats. At what rate, I can't say, but it's clearly not as fast as we'd like or there would be no need to worry about ammonia.

So, this does not mean that we don't need filtration, except possibly in the lightest possible stocking conditions where ammonia can dissipate chemically but never reaches a damaging level. But regardless, over time, ammonia should disappear in a tank by becoming a gas. This assumes an open environment. In closed containers, the ammonia may convert to some gas, but it doesn't disappear.

Anyway, that's my take.
 
That's very interesting... I sort of knew that the ammonia we use was different but basically aided the cycle in the same way.. anyways this could explain why I'm not showing nitrites yet.. I've done plenty of fish less cycles just never on this scale.. I also understand that patience is part of the cycle, but this just seems to be taking much longer than I remember.
 
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