Fishless cycle questions

[black ghost]

If the ammonia and nitrite results are true the nitrate isn’t zero. If you’ve added 2ppm of ammonia the nitrates are whatever was in the tap water +7.

Bacterial blooms are nearly always heterotrophic bacteria. They double their numbers every 20 minutes (approx), so one bacterium can become billions in a day. Nitrosomonas, Nitrobacter and Nitrospira double their numbers on average every 24 hours or so, so one bacterium becomes two, in a day. They don’t reproduce quickly enough to produce a bloom. Unless you’ve added them, which makes it more possible.

@Chris_jennings A few of them work, such as Bacterlife, TSS, Dr. Tim’s. Apart from Bacterlife they’re all quite recent, and they were on sale before they worked, or worked well.

[Chris_jennings]

black ghost

Perhaps I should try some again, it has been a long time.

[black ghost]

Waterlife Bacterlife has been going since the late 60s and is still the best IMO. The second to work well was Dr. Tim’s, and then Tetra Safe Start when they bought Dr. Tim’s recipe and changed it to that. The others are catching up. I believe Stability and the Fritzyme one work sometimes...

[saiwong]

Today I retested and got the same results as yesterday



Ammonia 0.5ppm

Nitrites 0 ppm

Nitrates 0 ppm



I was curious as to why I am getting these results so did further tests



PH 6.5



my initial PH was 7 so what was causing it to lower. I read that aquarium cycles do cause PH to lower and also active bacteria might not populate if the PH is low and recommend PH of 7 or above. So does my lower PH a cause of the stalled/slowed cycle ?



I also tested KH. With the NT Labs test your initial water colour should be blue and you keep adding drops until it turns yellow. With my first drop it was yellow !!!



KH 1 dkh



so wondering if this is stalling my cycle.



to raise my PH I've heard you can use baking soda/bicarbonate of soda or do a water change. Which would you recommend (or with either do) ?

[black ghost]

I’ll always recommend a water change, whether you need one or not. Bicarb is good for a quick fix, but it’s very strong so be careful.

Bacteria produce nitrates, which are acidic. They also use/need carbonates. When carbonates get too low they can’t keep up with the acidification, so the pH will drop.

Lower than pH6 and the filter can start to suffer, but they’re fine at 6.5. But without carbonates they can’t function. I’d say that’s the reason for them stalling or slowing down.

[saiwong]

additional ...

I have some water de-chlorinated with SeaChem PRIME ready to do a water change, so I tested its KH

added the first drop and the water was yellow !

then I tested my tap water

added the first drop and the water was blue

then added the second drop and the water turned yellow

so

de-chlorinate water (via PRIME) KH 1 dkh

tap water KH 2dkh

so it seems I really need something to raise my KH and suspect this might be causing my problems in the aquarium cycle

recommendations please

[black ghost]

Bicarb, for the instant fix.

For the longer term, coral gravel. Circulate the water through it, eg in a filter. It dissolves, but it’s slow. If you have enough it’ll give you another 1 or 2 KH.
I would use quite a bit of it on my RO and tapwater for a few days before using the water. Can you store water in a large container with a filter full of coral gravel? You don’t need that much KH for the pH to be stable.

Don’t use coral sand. You can’t pass water through it.