A new race - Page 4

BJP · 05-01-2007, 08:22 PM

Day 30
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Tank L
0ppm ammonia, 2ppm nitrite, 10ppm nitrate
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Tank M
0ppm ammonia, 2ppm nitrite, 10ppm nitrate
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Tank N
0ppm ammonia, 2ppm nitrite, 10ppm nitrate
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Tank O Day 4
No ammonia was added today. Since yesterday the ammonia level has been at .5ppm. Any ammonia level in testible ranges should mean there's more food availible than bacteria so it should encourage growth. It's also been reported that high ammonia can slow or hinder nitrospira development so I guess that's two reasons not to go higher early on. I guess we'll see if it helps any.

BJP · 05-02-2007, 07:58 PM

Day 31
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Tank L
0ppm ammonia, 2ppm nitrite, 10ppm nitrate
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Tank M
0ppm ammonia, 2ppm nitrite, 10ppm nitrate
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Tank N
Finished
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Now there's a surprise. It's the same bottle of Stresszyme I used in the first test. It started out way slower than the other tanks but somehow finished first. I'm not redosing these tanks to increase the bacteria population since I still feel all of them have taken too long to get this far.

Tank O Day 5
No changes.

BJP · 05-03-2007, 07:46 PM

Day 32
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Tank L
0ppm ammonia, 1ppm nitrite, 10ppm nitrate
* The nitrite dropped today. Now to see if it bottoms out at zero or wether the preservatives lock a trace amount in place for the third time.
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Tank M
0ppm ammonia, 2ppm nitrite, 10ppm nitrate
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Tank N
Finished Day 31
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Tank O Day 6
No changes.
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Introducing Tank P
Brand new 10 gallon tank, brand new Aquatech 5-15,new thermometer, new five pounds of gravel. I bleached and cleaned the 100watt Ebo-Jager from my goldfish tank since I couldn't locate a 50watt Visa-Therm and don't want to trust Petco junk again. Temperature running 87 F

1 ounce of Marinelands Bio-Spira for Freshwater.
1 drop of ammonia added.

I figure the only way we're going to speed this process up is to keep the ammonia levels low enough up front not to damage/hinder any nitrospira provided by the products so they can set up shop faster.

This should run very similar to Tank O except at a higher temperature. I'll increase the drop count daily until it's either in testible ranges or the total reaches 20 drops a day whichever comes first. Hopefully the bacteria will keep pace and prevent ammonia from ever being testible. We'll see.

BJP · 05-04-2007, 06:35 PM

Tank L
Finished Day 33
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Tank M Day 33
0ppm ammonia, 2ppm nitrite, 10ppm nitrate
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Tank N
Finished Day 31
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Tank O Day 7
No changes. Redosed with Cycle this evening by bottle instructions.
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Tank P Day 1
Added two drops of ammonia

BJP · 05-05-2007, 07:47 PM

Tank L
Finished Day 33
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Tank M Day 34
0ppm ammonia, 2ppm nitrite, 10ppm nitrate
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Tank N
Finished Day 31
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Tank O Day 8
No changes.
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Tank P Day 2
Added three drops of ammonia

BJP · 05-06-2007, 07:58 PM

Tank L
Finished Day 33
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Tank M Day 35
0ppm ammonia, 2ppm nitrite, 10ppm nitrate
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Tank N
Finished Day 31
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Tank O Day 9
No changes.
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Tank P Day 3
Ammonia at .25ppm. No more ammonia will be added until the current level is gone.

BJPrice · 05-07-2007, 07:59 PM

Tank L
Finished Day 33
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Tank M Day 36
0ppm ammonia, 2ppm nitrite, 10ppm nitrate
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Tank N
Finished Day 31
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Tank O Day 10
.5ppm ammonia, .25ppm nitrite, 5ppm nitrate
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Tank P Day 4
No changes

BJP · 05-08-2007, 07:48 PM

Tank L
Finished Day 33
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Tank M Day 37
0ppm ammonia, 2ppm nitrite, 10ppm nitrate
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Tank N
Finished Day 31
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Tank O Day 11
.5ppm ammonia, .25ppm nitrite, 5ppm nitrate
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Tank P Day 5
No changes

BJP · 05-09-2007, 07:57 PM

Tank L
Finished Day 33
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Tank M Day 38
0ppm ammonia, 2ppm nitrite, 10ppm nitrate
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Tank N
Finished Day 31
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Tank O Day 12
.5ppm ammonia, .25ppm nitrite, 5ppm nitrate
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Tank P Day 6
I'm stopping this test since every other test of Bio-Spira has yielded faster results. The tank was drained, the filter media pressure rinsed and then the tank was refilled with some chlorine added and the filter plugged back in to run for a while.

After I've recleaned the tank to remove the chlorine and run it long enough to be certain the chlorine is out the test will be restarted with one of the other 2 ounces of Bio-Spira from the same 3oz pack still in the fridge.

I figure there's two explanations. Either I got my first bad pack of Bio-Spira or a stupid mistake I made at start up killed it. I filled the tank with hot water thinking it would take me longer to get around to finishing setting it up. Plugged everything in, added the Bio-Spira straight from the fridge then noticed the temperature sitting at 97 degrees. 10 minutes and 3 ice cube trays later the temp had dropped to 90 but it may have been too high for too long. Retesting should verify which problem it was.
__________________

BJP · 05-10-2007, 08:08 PM

Tank M Day 39
0ppm ammonia, 2ppm nitrite, 10ppm nitrate
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Tank O Day 13
.5ppm ammonia, .25ppm nitrite, 5ppm nitrate
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I guess we're going to call this Tank Q

Same basic setup, tank, heater, filter, 5 pounds of gravel.

Water temperature was 80 degree's. One ounce of Marinelands Bio-Spira was added from the remainder of the 3 ounce pack used for Tank P.

One drop of ammonia was added and the heater plugged in so the temperature should be rising into the mid 80's by bedtime.