Reply With Quotehmm...so what is it really testing? NH3 or NH4+?Originally Posted by sawzai
Yup.
The test kit wrote " NH3 / nh4+ " below the word ammonia. Nh4+ is ammonium, nh3 is ammonia . Alright, :smile:
hmm...so what is it really testing? NH3 or NH4+?
It test the total of both ammonia and ammonium . If you only want to test for ammonia , get a seachem ammonia alert as it only test for ammonia and not ionic ammonia ( ammonium ) . Take a look at their product
Last edited by sawzai; 23rd May 2013 at 18:55.
Hello
What is the temp of your tank? The higher the temperature, the more toxic the ammonia. Also, at higher temp the BB goes into a dormant state.
Also, too high an ammonia concentration would harm the BB.
Do a test on a new test kit...
I have experience this before...
There is a shelf life for test kit...
And once opened...it's must be kept in a certain temp requirement.
i see - understand nowIt test the total of both ammonia and ammonium . If you only want to test for ammonia , get a seachem ammonia alert as it only test for ammonia and not ionic ammonia ( ammonium ) . Take a look at their product
tank is room temperature (my chiller is currently connected to my temporary tank)
no problem with the test kit - i tested the water of my temporary tank and it shows zero level
this thread should soon be updated to "5 weeks" lol
last night i measured and it is still maximum...i have transferred a sponge from my temporary tank - hope this will help
You'll have to get it down to a level that your test kit can actually read first. It's really amazing... when I was cycling my 36cm tank with ADA soil, it got stalled as well. I didn't add much ammonia but it still doesn't seem to be coming down at all. After 3 weeks, took a look at the nitrite levels.... off the scale. I did multiple big water changes within 3 days but the nitrite levels were still off my test kit charts since a lot of the tank water was in my canister. Finally got annoyed and poured out 70% of the tank water and 50% of the water in the canister. Only then did I get the nitrite level to 3ppm. 1 day after that ammonia went to 0, nitrite went to 0. For the next 3 days ammonia went to 0 from 2ppm within 12 hours and 0 nitrites detected. It looked as if the tank was ready to be cycled... but the super high nitrite level messed with the cycle
Although in your case it may be different... that level of nitrite would have killed any livestock you have in your tank already. Anyway, just get the levels down... then you can confirm that it is cycling... rather than having an unreadable level and hope that it IS cycling
why do you need to change the water in your cannister? shouldn't the water be flowing inside all the time?
last weekend my nitrite and nitrate levels are both 0 while ammonium is still 8
no livestock in the tank so nobody is harmed during the cycling process
In my case I wanted to do a close to 90% water change. My tank was small so the filter and pipes did hold about 20% of the total capacity. I didn't want to mess up my soil either so I drained the water using the filter intakes then poured the water out from the filter. Eheim ecco filters are rather easy to prime anyway... too bad the build quality is questionable :/
Bring ammonia down to 5ppm first and maintain the ph at around 7 for best results. At least you will know if ammonia is going down at all or going up instead
I ever tried using Ammonium Bicarbonate before, then dosed too much and the cycle stalled.
wonder if you guys add tap water directly to the tank or age the water overnight before adding to the tank?
wouldn't you need many pails for big amount of water change?
My 120gallon planted discus, i off the filters first then just fill up my tank with tap water via long hose then add prime after that. Awhile later then i on the filter. No problem before.
Will the tap water kill off the BB?
i thought so...turning off filter for prolong period of time (30mins?) would also kill the BB
some update...it's been 8 weeks since i started cycling...
at 6 weeks+ the ammonia was still >8ppm...
so i changed about 15-20% of water (i only have 2 clean pails) and a week later the ammonia dropped to about 4ppm
and today finally there is zero ammonia and zero nitrite...and high level of nitrate...
it's a long journey...i think the key was the water change - should have done it earlier as recommended by "urban aquaria"
i can add my shrimps to the tank very soon!
Water change is critical and a must for new tank.
Buy a reducing agent from the LFS to dechlorinate/remove chloramine/remove heavy metals from your water.
My nitrate reduced from 200 to 30 after added in purigen recommended by a bro here. Took 3 weeks to complete cycling.
I am not sure was it purigen taking effect or it was completing the cycling though. Ammonia and nitrie were close to zero then.
You can maybe try this if all else failed
Today is day 9 of my fishless cycle.
I had started with fish food for a few days but the increase in Ammonia is minimal.
So, I went to get Ammonium Bicarbonate (smelly powder) and brought the level up to 4ppm.
Ammonia drop for 1 day from 4ppm to 2ppm. I dosed it up to 4ppm.
The funny thing is that this morning when i woke up, I saw that I got increased reading on Nitrite and Nitrate at the same time.
Not very "standard" leh. I thought Ammonia and Nitrite will go both to 0 before I see Nitrate?
Any gurus can help?
My current readings are:
pH: 7.5
Ammonia: 4
Nitrite: 2
Nitrate: 0.75
Test Kit used:
Ammonia: API Ammonia (NJ3/NH4+)
Nitrite: API (NO2)
Nitrate RedSea
Those readings you are getting just mean the cycle is progressing steadily, the conversion process is abit like "chain production" in a factory.
In your case, the different types of bacteria responsible for each stage of the conversion process are growing at a relatively similar pace, so you can see all of them showing increasing/decreasing measurements. In time you should see ammonia eventually drop to 0, nitrite showing spike up momentarily, then then drop to 0 too... then from thereon only nitrate will showing readings and continue increasing steadily, then your tank is considered cycled.
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