...and I thought I might avoid the whole cycling issue

JDM

OK.

Lunch (late) and the levels show as 0.25 ppm nitrites.... no increase, happy about that much but would have loved to see zero. I figure since it is not going down I am going to help it along and did a 30% water change. My water changes are getting more efficient and faster, not to mention drier.

I attached a shot of the pre-change and post change test... you can guess which is which. It looks like somewhere midway between 0 and 0.25ppm.

I noticed that the initial test showed purpler later than the five minutes, after the water change it looked like between 0.25 and 0.50. Perhaps five minutes is best.... not 45 mins.

The water is very clear now, sort of miss the brown/yellow tint... although it will be back.

Jeff.

Attached Images

test result.jpg (27.7 KB, 33 views)

beaslbob

In this particulare case it is because it is for nitrItes.

I have had fish survive in nitrItes that pegged the api test kit (5 ppm) for 2-3 weeks with no food added.

and then in 2 days the nitrItes drop to 0.

This is not what I recommend for ammonia or cases where some toxin has been added to the tank.

For a toxin immediate massive water changes prevent the immediate danger to the fish.

But that is not the case here.

Even just ammonia is reduced in hours by plant life. And co2 lowered and oxygen added.

Plus longer term even normal levels of toxins are reduced to safe levels.

And on an even larger level, letting the tank heal and correct itself in much more longer term stability. To reduce the need for future water changes.

still just my .02

JDM

Can anyone with an iphone 4 take a flash shot of their API test card and post it? Primarily the nitrite levels. I want to compare the colours for zero, I think that the zero on the card is off. I don't get 0.25 ppm, the test is a nice bright blue with no purple but the zero on the card isn't the same... it almost looks like it has a yellow overprint from the next test on it.

I included a picture here, the yellow is obvious, my test matches the little strip of blue at the top which I assume to be the true zero colour.

I have been going by the test matching the 0.25 level, not just that it doesn't match the zero, so my testing has not been off... I just want to confirm that it is, in fact, a nice clear blue that indicates zero.

The fact that the card looks yellow is due to the incandescent lighting... which is why I mentioned using the flash.

Jeff.

Attached Images

nitrite card.jpg (44.6 KB, 25 views)

rockhound

My picture sort of shows two colors because my phone had a really hard time focusing on the card. Ignore the darker bottom color within the 0ppm block. The lighter color closer to the top of the 0ppm block looks truer to the original.

JDM

Thanks.

Yah, that's what I thought... bad card. So my nitrites appear to be zero now, I'll test again at lunch, the fish will be happy that they can eat again.

My shot is a crop of the full size image without having reduced it first.... that is not a "phone that close" shot.

Jeff.

JDM

OK,

Nitrites, zero this morning and this evening.

Ammonia, there is a slight hint of green in the test, almost enough to say "not zero" depending upon the light. I'll check it again in the morning. This would be the first non-zero ammonia test yet.

Nitrates, zero

Fish were happy (as happy as a fish can actually be) to see some food raining down from heaven.

Jeff.

beaslbob

see there!

Wasn't that easy?

Hallyx

A little too easy, if you ask me. Three weeks is an unusually short time to expect a cycle to develop in a lightly stocked tank.

Besides, Jeff still has >0.0ppm ammonia showing and no nitrate. Do I correctly infer this is not an overly planted tank? Where is the expected nitrate from all that nitrite being converted?

Nemo the Clownfish

JDM,

My "Silent Cycle" worked well for me. I had a lot of fast-growing stem plants, and there were a lot of them. The fact that you have been showing Nitrites would indicate that you don't have enough of these - you need a lot- or that you have slow-growing plants.

I finally found out recently why people dose Nitrates in planted tanks - the plants consume the Nitrates after the other two Nitrogen-bearing compounds have been exhausted, and it's good for them to have some Nitrate to eat. With a well-stocked tank, the plants ought to take care of all of the ammonia, bypassing the rest of the Nitrogen Cycle.

Hallyx

I submit that a heavily-planted tank that feeds on ammonia is not a cycled tank as I understand the term "nitrogen cycle." What little nitrifying bacteria there may be is barely hanging on by converting what little ammonia/nitrite is left-over by the plants.

I do not understand what "silent cycle" even means.