missing nitrite cycle

[ineke]

My 100 litre tank was filled up last week 24-5 , 30 litres used RO water 70 litres new RO water and salty shrimp, benibachi soil and 2 used sponge filters 1 new sponge filter, last saturday a new canister with some new and some old filter media was added on to the tank. Monday had ammonia 8, no nitrites didn't test for nitrates, yesterday ammonia 4, no nitrites, today ammonia 2, no nitrites , nitrates 10. It seems I missed the nitrite cycle and went straight to the nitrates so do I now start water changes to get the ammonia and nitrates down or leave it a few more days to let it continue cycling and get the ammonia down naturally. I haven't had this happen before so not sure what to do- leave it or water change?:confused:

[torface]

Leave it in my opinion, just let it do its thing :)

[ineke]

Yes that's my thoughts I'm in no hurry this tank is for VIS- very important shrimp- so it will be a few more weeks before they would be transferred into it . It just seems strange that I haven't had any nitrite readings. All my other tanks have cycled exactly as the cycle should.:encouragement:

[torface]

Yeah I cant tell you why you havent had any nitrite, but i'm a firm believer in not fiddling with tanks while they cycle. I reckon you take out/ disturb the developing bacteria if you water change whilst cycling. I'm sure others will have their opinions but that's mine :)

[ineke]

No I'm pretty sure you are right but it is a bit confusing with some recommending water changes but I'm guessing maybe that is when you are using fish to cycle your tank- this is a fishless cycle and I haven't done that before- when I saw the really high ammonia reading I couldn't bear to put my betta in the tank this time usually I have a betta to help with the cycle.:encouragement:

[torface]

Yes it is confusing, I know. When I first got into this game i didnt know whether to water change when cycling as everywhere says something different. Your tank will cycle either way, so i think it's just up to you what you do :encouragement:

[ineke]

I will give it another week and then retest I'm having to learn to leave things alone so that's my aim -test next week!!!:encouragement:

[JohnH]

I'd be temped to do a water change to get the ammonia down. If you are getting Nitrates reading then you have the right bacteria established. Shrimp tanks don't need too big bacteria colony. So if you let it do the full cycle, then most of the bacteria colony will die off to a level to just support the shrimp population that you add anyway.

Depends if you are in a hurry to get the shrimp in the tank I suppose.

[ineke]

hi John yes that"s the confusing part whether to water change or not. The ammonia is coming down, the reading today is half of yesterdays reading. I added some snails because it was mentioned that their trails get bacteria growing on them pretty quickly and I put 1 pellet of shrimp food in every other day but even so it seems a very quick cycle although I did use water from another tank. The benibachi soil also cuts the cycle down but I think I will give it a few more days and see if the ammonia goes down more then I will do some water changes early next week. I'm not in a hurry for this tank and want to make sure it is 100% before I add my shrimp.:)

[Squiggle]

The reason you didn't get a nitrite reading is because you started with seeded media, the bacteria(nitrospira) which uses the nitrite to produce nitrates was already present &, of course, the bacteria(nitrosomonas) that uses the ammonia to produce nitrite was already there too. So as the ammonia built up both colonies grew & there was never a time when the nitrospira wasn't there to allow the nitrites to build up, as they would in a normal cycle :encouragement:

[ineke]

Thanks Mr Squiggle well explained. What do I do now leave it for the ammonia to drop or start water changes?:encouragement:

[torface]

That's what I thought it might have been :)

[Squiggle]

Leave it till the ammonia is zero, the water change to get your nitrates back down, check your TDS, then put the shrimp in straight after that & vwalah! Zero ammonia, zero nitrites & very low nitrates, perfect shrimp conditions. If you water change while there's still ammonia then when you put the shrimp in there will still be ammonia, let the cycle remove it all naturally :victorious:

[ineke]

Thanks Squiggle will leave it apart from water tests great stuff:encouragement:

[Dean]

you wont get a NITRITE reading with benibachi soil :)

there is something in it that removes all nitrite from the water..

[ineke]

Thanks Dean thought it was a bit strange, still have a bit of ammonia showing up so a few more days before I can put shrimp in:encouragement:

[HelvinHT]

Some soil release amonia in the begining to help the growth of the bacteria in the nitrogen cycle. It is a great idea to use old water and old bacteria media from your old tank to speed up the process. Amonia will change to nitrit then nitrat by the beneficial bacteria. If you detect any nitrat as it is the last product of the nitrogen cycle, means that the cycle is complete.

Sometimes you can not detect any nitrit (of very little to detect) because the bacteria has changed it into nitrat.

May be if you start your tank without any bacteria from old tank, you may detect the nitrit due to slow growth of the bacteria colony.

[ineke]

Thanks HelvinHT

I have nitrate showing but still a bit of ammonia hopefully another couple of days and all should be OK. I did use 30% water from another tank and also seeded the filter with used materials. This is the first time I have had high ammonia readings when setting up a tank but the nitrates are there so definitely cycling:encouragement:

[ineke]

My tank was filled 25/4 a canister filter added 28/4 for the last week it has shown ammonia and nitrates which have come down to ammonia 1 ppm and nitrate 10 it has stayed at that level for the last 4 days no change. I have not done anything to it should i be doing anything? It just seems to have stalled. The lights are on for about 3 hours a day for the moss and plants. Is it still just patience or is there something I can do to help it?

[CNgo2006]

Crank up the heat a bit, add some live bacteria additive.

[2OFUS]

Also throw some plants in there

preferably some frogbit or water sprite

[HelvinHT]

Crank up the heat a bit' date=' add some live bacteria additive.[/quote']

Agreed. Bacteria will go slow on cold temperature. Normally i maintain it at 24 celcius. I also regulary add live bacteria as biodigest and sera liquid specially after water change.

[ineke]

I have some java ferns and moss in there, temp 23/24 I have also topped up with some water from other shrimp tanks. If nothing happens over next few days I will look for buying the bacteria can anyone tell me what it is called. There are no shops that stock shrimp products in Adelaide so will have to buy on line but need to know what to look for. I could put some bettas in the but they don't like ammonia either

ooops just saw Helvin named them already thanks guys.

[Squiggle]

I use Seachem Stability, works very good :victorious:

[ineke]

Looks like I better get some this is my mishling tank so don't want to take any chances thanks