New tank starting today... (pics soon)

[Keman]

Water went from "new tank cloudy" to crystal clear today while I was at work. Ammonia dropped to almost zero. No trace of Nitrite yet, no Nitrate either... Adding more ammonia...
PH still wicked high. (good thing there are no fish in it)

 

[Racersk]

Just be sure your rocks dont leach hardness.. Ive heard some will. Testing with some peroxide I think gives an almost instant reaction. You may want to check some stones... search up on it.

Looks INCREDIBLE!

 

[Keman]

Well, here's the numbers so far;

Also posted in the fishless cycling thread.

Started the "fishless cycle" on 9/20. I did cheat a little by adding a sponge from my well established tank filter to the new filter.

Here's the numbers..
Remember, this is a half aquatic, half "dry" tank with only 10 gallons of water.

9/20 First water added

NH3/NH4+ (ammonia)= 0
PH= 8.4
N02 (nitrite)= 0
N03 (nitrate)= 0

Added 5 drops pure Ammonia

9/21

NH3/4+ = 0.50
N02= 0
N03= 0
PH = still 8.4

Added 5 drops ammonia (later in the day I added more to hit a higher PPM on ammonia.)

9/22

NH3/4+ = 0.25
N02 = 0-0.25 (just showing color change)
N03 = 0
PH = this sucks... Added wood to tank

9/23 AM

NH3/4+ = 0
N02 = 0.50
N03 = 0
PH =well, It will settle eventually...

added 3 drops ammonia

9/23 PM

NH3/4+ = 0
N02 = 0.50
N03 =0
PH = cut up wood to gain surface area, ordered Fluval peat pellets...

added 3 drops ammonia...

The addition of old established media to the new filter seems to be having a positive result. Now if I can just get the PH to balance out...

 

[Keman]

Added a bag of peat to the tank (floated above bubbler) to see if that helps drop he PH. Nitrite still climbing, Nitrate still zero.. PH still off the chart. If I does not come down in the next week, I will be redoing the rocks and such to remove suspect materials.

Other than PH, the tank is progressing as expected.

 

[Keman]

9/25/4, Update.

PH down to 7.6
NO2 5.0 + "spiking"
NO3 20ppm
Ammonia 0ppm (added three drops after testing)

Seems like progress. Still working on getting the PH under control... Will be pulling the big rocks out and testing them in the next few days...

 

[Keman]

Found the PH culprit... It seems a bunch of really pretty small rocks I picked up at a garden place are the bad guys here. Tested all my bigger rocks and river stones.... no fizz But when I put a few of the pretty ones in Vinegar... Looked like Alka Seltzer... Dug them all out and tossed tem out into the backyard shrubs... My only worry is that I ma have contaminated the tank with a tiny amount of the vinegar from my fingers. Could that cause a problem?

 

[Keman]

Hmmm...,, PH still high. Everything else is going along as it should. Nitrates and nitrites spiking as they should, having trouble keeping a measurable amount of ammonia.... I can put three drops in and six hours later read zero. My only worry is that the PH will not swing. I may have to completely go through the tank to find anything I may have missed while testing the rocks and such.

On the other side of the room, I ran tests on my 55g "variety tank" and could not ask for a better balanced tank. Every test right where it should be. Happy critters swimming about, happy microbes doing their jobs in the filter...

 

[Keman]

Well, No2 and No3 starting to slip down, Ammonia tough to keep a reading... Darn PH is still driving me nuts. Went through the tank looking for source... Still 8+ I can't get it to drop even with a large bag of peat and lots of wood (as in no room for newts) Still no critters going in until I can get a reliable drop and stability in PH...

Added a Co2 reactor to help the plants out today...

1 gallon bottle with sugar, water, and yeast. Ran a tube to a smaller bottle with clean water, then tubing up into the waterfall so it mixes with the bubbler inside the return from the filter.

 

[Keman]

No2 and No3 both dropped to zero (lots of plants to clear nitrates) Can not keep ammonia at a readable level six hours after adding five drops to the ten gallon water volume it reads zero.. Sounds like the filter has come full cycle to me... Only one problem left... PH still hovering near 8... I want to bring my Newts home, but I just can't see dropping them into 8.0 PH water no matter what the other numbers are... Grr!


Day two of CO2 added into the bubble stream, plants have perked up a bit.

 

[Keman]

Well, so the ph has finally normalized and is right at 7.0 for two days solid. Today the tank went live. Four newts, three Rasboras, a volunteer, and a small calico Placo. All seem to be doing fine. The newts are exploring the rocks and finding interesting places to hide. Found a gap behind my waterfall that leads down under the eggcrate.. had to do a quick fix there since one of the newts was right by the spot where it could get into the underworld and not be able to get back out.

Noticed one of the newts has a petty bad scar across his face.So he is now called "Scarface".