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Ok, I know alot of people have been posting about this and I've read them all. I still have a few questions about my 55 gallon cycle. I think I'm approaching the end eventhough I haven't gotten exactly the readings I expected.

1. Now my ammonia is getting rapidly used up, but the nitrites are not coming down yet (although it is hard to tell (everything from 1-5ppm looks pretty much like the same color to me). How much ammonia should I be adding and how often? I'm trying to keep the ammonia level up between 2-5ppm, but that means adding 4t (20mL) at least 2 times a day.

2.When the cycle is complete how do I do a large water change without killing the bacteria. I plan on lowering the water temp from 84F to around 77F when it is done. Will a large temp swing kill the bacteria. I'm going to have to use warm water from the tap using a "python like system" which is not the best way to use dechlorinator effectively. Will a little chlorine exposure kill the bacteria?

3.I plan on moving over 5 lemon tetras and 1 large common pleco after the cycle is over. Is this enough to support the bacteria, or should I try to get more fish quickly. I'm a little worried because I read that if you don't have enough fish, the bacteria will die off, pollute the tank, and screw up the cycle.

1: i think when adding ammonia manually, you need to add the same amount every day e.g two drops, as opposed to adding sufficient ammonia to keep the readings at a certain level.
when the nitrifiers are consuming the ammonia, it will make the ammonia results in your testing drop. this means that they are converting the ammonia fully and efficiently. there is still ammonia in the water as you are adding the same amount every day. adding more and more ammonia means the bacteria are munching to keep up with the increased ammonia levels and effectively will never catch you up!

2: when you want to do your water change at the end of the cycle, don't touch the filter, just change enough water to bring the nitrates down to an acceptable level.
if using a python setup and you are anxious about the cholorine killing off the bacteria, add enough conditioner to the water remaining in the tank to treat the fresh water you will be adding. make sure it is mixed through the old water evenly. this will be enough to ensure no damage to fish or bacteria from chlorine. a temp drop will not kill the bacteria.

3: i am sure the plec and the food you put in the tank will provide the bacteria with enough ammonia to thrive.

just remember, when adding more stock not to add all the fish you want at once!

hope this makes things a bit clearer

x

i think when adding ammonia manually, you need to add the same amount every day e.g two drops, as opposed to adding sufficient ammonia to keep the readings at a certain level.

This is the part that I was unsure of. I asked about it in another thread but never got an answer. Some articles I read said to determine how much it takes to make your tank reach 5ppm and then add that amount everyday. Other articles said to add that amount initially, then test everyday and only add enough to bring the reading back up to 5ppm. That is what I have been doing up until now...testing daily and then adding enough ammonia to bring it back up to 5ppm. Now that the ammonia is being used up so quickly I'm wondering what do the bacteria eat for the next like 20 hours until I add more ammonia?? Obviously if you are cycling with fish...the ammonia supply is more constant.

My readings have been a little screwy from the beginning. I had ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate all at the same time. This was probably because I have been seeding the tank with bacteria from my 2 smaller tanks throughout the cycle, so there was probably a small amount of bacteria that completely converted the ammonia to nitrate eventhough nothing had spiked yet. I have also had the nitrate go up and down a couple of times which I don't understand. I thought the only way nitrate could be reduced was with plants/algae or water changes. My kh has also dropped from 5 to 2, but the ph has not crashed or reduced more that a few tenths?? But ph/kh changes could also be from the 4 pieces of driftood I added which released quite a bit of tannins into the water.


[span class="edited"][Edited by MO 2004-07-15 16:46][/span]

[span class="edited"][Edited by MO 2004-07-15 16:47][/span]