A new race - Page 3

BJP · 04-21-2007, 10:11 PM

Day 20

Tank K
.5ppm ammonia, 1ppm nitrite, 10ppm nitrate
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Tank L
0ppm ammonia, 2ppm nitrite, 10ppm nitrate
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Tank M
0ppm ammonia, 2ppm nitrite, 10ppm nitrate
-------------------------
Tank N
0ppm ammonia, 2ppm nitrite, 10ppm nitrate

BJP · 04-22-2007, 07:30 PM

Day 21

Tank K
.5ppm ammonia, 1ppm nitrite, 10ppm nitrate
-------------------------
Tank L
0ppm ammonia, 2ppm nitrite, 10ppm nitrate
-------------------------
Tank M
0ppm ammonia, 2ppm nitrite, 10ppm nitrate
-------------------------
Tank N
0ppm ammonia, 2ppm nitrite, 10ppm nitrate

Redosed the Stresszyme and Cycle tanks according to bottle instructions.

BJP · 04-23-2007, 08:01 PM

Day 22

Tank K
.5ppm ammonia, 1ppm nitrite, 10ppm nitrate
-------------------------
Tank L
0ppm ammonia, 2ppm nitrite, 10ppm nitrate
-------------------------
Tank M
0ppm ammonia, 2ppm nitrite, 10ppm nitrate
-------------------------
Tank N
0ppm ammonia, 2ppm nitrite, 10ppm nitrate

BJP · 04-27-2007, 05:15 PM

Day 26

Tank K
.5ppm ammonia, 1ppm nitrite, 10ppm nitrate
-------------------------
Tank L
0ppm ammonia, 2ppm nitrite, 10ppm nitrate
-------------------------
Tank M
0ppm ammonia, 2ppm nitrite, 10ppm nitrate
-------------------------
Tank N
0ppm ammonia, 2ppm nitrite, 10ppm nitrate

No changes to the numbers so I haven't been posting them. I'm probably going to try something radical tommorow after some more thought.

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In the never ending quest to find a way to make this happen faster I've decided to minnimalize the ammonia addition. Tank O is a new 10 gallon, new 5 pound bag of gravel, new Aquatech 5-15, pretty much identical to the other test tanks. After filling and running for a while two capfuls of Cycle by Hagen from a brand new bottle were added as instructed on the bottle. 1 drop of ammonia was then added. I used a standard dropper I aquired from Walmart. 40 drops filled a 1/4 teaspoon measure which should mean 20 drops would approximately equal 1ppm of ammonia in a ten gallon tank. I'm thinking I'm getting the ammonia level way too high too soon before the bacteria suppliments have time to settle in properly. I can't get much lower dosage than a single drop of ammonia. For those into little details I'm using the standard household ammonia aquired at Walmart in the purple labelled bottle I've been using all along and that should be far less strength than Nomad's formula in the fishless cycling articles where he was using ammonium hydroxide.

Quote:

While the original recipe works quite well (4-5 drops NH3 / 10 gal / day until nitrite peaks, then reduce to 2-3 drops / 10 gal / day), it does NOT take into account varying concentrations of ammonia that are available. ACS grade ammonia, which I was using, is ~28% NH3, while most household cleaner grades vary from 4-10%, a fairly wide variation in concentration.

A quote from the second fishless cycling article. I plan to add two drops tommorow, then 3, etc until I get an ammonia reading of about 1ppm or a drop count of 20.

A heater and thermometer are added also. I expect to stabolize the temperature near 80 F.

BJP · 04-27-2007, 05:58 PM

I finally figured out what messed up Tank K, the Bio-Spira tank. It was progressing nicely then stopped suddenly.

Cheap Petco junk heater. I looked all over the place locally for Penn Plax heaters and couldn't find them. I settled for this junk from Petco since I had planned to give the tanks away. Apparently the thing broke at the bottom and has been leaking electricity into the tank and some white gooey looking chemical.

I gave the tank about a 95% water change and refilled, then readded ammonia but it might already be too late.

That's half the heaters in that brand messed up now. I had to replace the one on the Cycle tank with a Hagen since it wouldn't heat the water over 80F. Don't waste your money on that junky brand at Petco.

BJP · 04-28-2007, 08:11 PM

Day 27
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Tank L
0ppm ammonia, 2ppm nitrite, 10ppm nitrate
-------------------------
Tank M
0ppm ammonia, 2ppm nitrite, 10ppm nitrate
-------------------------
Tank N
0ppm ammonia, 2ppm nitrite, 10ppm nitrate
-------------------------

Tank O Day 1
added two drops of ammonia

BJP · 04-29-2007, 07:41 PM

Day 28
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Tank L
0ppm ammonia, 2ppm nitrite, 10ppm nitrate
-------------------------
Tank M
0ppm ammonia, 2ppm nitrite, 10ppm nitrate
-------------------------
Tank N
0ppm ammonia, 2ppm nitrite, 10ppm nitrate
-------------------------
Cycle and Stresszyme redosed by package instructions.

Tank O Day 2
added three drops of ammonia
__________________

BJP · 04-30-2007, 07:55 PM

Day 29
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Tank L
0ppm ammonia, 2ppm nitrite, 10ppm nitrate
-------------------------
Tank M
0ppm ammonia, 2ppm nitrite, 10ppm nitrate
-------------------------
Tank N
0ppm ammonia, 2ppm nitrite, 10ppm nitrate
-------------------------

Tank O Day 3
added four drops of ammonia

devilblue · 05-01-2007, 03:31 AM

Is tank L still not cycled after 29 days? Or am I confused

BJP · 05-01-2007, 07:25 AM

Until the nitrite disappears or at least drops to a point I think the preservatives from the products are holding a residual reading in place they're only halfway cycled. Obviously not as fast as I've been hoping for and the tank I expected to be the fastest was messed up by the heater. I'm already moving on to other variations trying to find ways to speed this up a little with even smaller ammonia additions initially to give any nitrospira provided directly from the products a more hospital environment to set up shop. That would be Tank O and a few letters still to come. Supposedly high levels of ammonia enterferes with nitrospira development somehow so I'm trying to avoid that as completely as possible. I may include water changes as well in Tank O and other tanks to counter any affects of the preservatives used to package and transport the bacteria suppliments. Life would be easy if we could achieve perfection on the first attempt but unfortunately it appears it's going to take a lot of trial and error to figure out what the best method is.