Trouble with fishless cycle

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
ive never seen ph drop like that over a few days.

did u start off with new water?

ive done plenty of fishless cycles and i see no possible way for nitrates to go from 0 to 110 and back to 5 in week. u should see no signs of nitrate for at least a a week to 10 days.

someone suggested to start over. thats what i would do.

either buffer water with coral or baking soda to get ph to a stable 6.5 or higher. 7.0 would be ideal.

i wouldnt use prime for a fishless cycle. i only use prime when doing fish cycle to detoxify ammo and nitrite so it wont hurt the fish. use a simple decholinator that wont effect ammo or nitrite.
 
Clammie;4132914; said:
I did the method you suggested and the water just turned black.
I'm using Seachem Prime to dechlorinate so it's hard to get the exact amount for a small quantity of water. I used 0.5ml which is enough for 20 litres.
Could the black water be due to using too much prime?
Click to expand...

The water turned black when you added Prime? I've used a lot of Prime in a lot of tanks over a lot of years and have never seen such a thing...

2 drops treats one gallon, so one drop treats half a gallon... When I do the mixing method I estimate a half gallon in a pitcher, add one drop of Prime, then stir... Then measure an exact quantity out of the pitcher and match it with an exact measure from the tank...



I'm at a loss to give to much input here... as you are consistently reporting results that I simply cannot understand based on science... Prime turning water black... nitrates appearing in an uncycled tank in 24 hours... nitrates appearing then dissappearing without doing a water change...

I'm forced to suspect you are making mistakes in the testing process and I have absolutely no idea about the water turning black...
 
I didn't explain that properly, sorry.
The water turned black when I tested for ammonia.
I'll try the other method, using a whole gallon of water and see how that goes.
Do you think I should do a complete water change and start again?
The filter media I'm using is alphagrog and I have a whole bag I could use if I started over.
0 ammonia has been processed for the last 4 or 5 days now.
 
Even if you start over, there's no reason to throw away the filter media, just the water. For the first few days, you added ammonia a few times, even though it was too soon for anything to happen at all. I suspect the actual ammonia concentration in your tank is 673ppm and that is causing all your unusual test results. You might want to try a different test kit too.
 
I think I'll start over then.
If I added way too much ammonia in the first few days. Will this not affect the filter media in any way? If changing the filter media would help, it's no problem to discard it. I have a 15KG bag of it. If I keep the media should I just change 100% of the water. Let it run 24 hours and then test again to check the ammonia concentration before I add any more?
I've had no problems with the test kit I'm using. I use it for my smaller tank and tested it against my tetra test kit I was using. Unfortunately I don't have that kit anymore though. I used it all doing my fish-in cycle.
 
I agree with Bob's suggestion...

changing out 'all' of the water will reset upir waste concentrations...

Any 'residue' ammonia left on the media, substrate, decor, etc, etc will not cause any harm. There is nothing to be gained by changing it and if it happens to house any bacteria you will be loosing it...

As Bob mentioned, you were registering nitrites and nitrates on your tests far to soon which prompted you to continue to add ammonia. This likely shot your ammonia concentration through the roof. While out bacteria does utilize ammonia as food, in to high of concentrations the ammonia is deadly to the bacteria itself. My concern is your tank is at this level...
 
Thanks to both of you for all the help.
I'll replace 100% of the water tonight when I get home and let you know how it goes.
What do you think about letting it run 24 and test before I add any ammonia to it?
 
Clammie;4135999; said:
What do you think about letting it run 24 and test before I add any ammonia to it?
Click to expand...

I think that's a great diea... There is a good chance you'll have some level of ammonia reading after the "100% " water change, as it will be impossible to actually get "all" of the water out.
 
Hello again,
I changed as much water as possible on Wednesday, filled it right back up and let it run for 24 hours.
Tested yesterday and here are my results:
Day 1
Ammonia level - 0.6 mg/l
Nitrite - 0 mg/l
Nitrate - 0
pH - 6
Ammonia added - 20ml
Day 2
Ammonia - 1.2/2.4 (Kind of hard to tell.)
Nitrite - 0.8
Nitrate - 20
pH - 6

Does this sound right?
Could it be processing a small amount of ammonia this quickly because it was already set up over the past 11 days?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom