Brisbane water...hot or not?

[Wraithie]

Tbh, the ph and tds sound like brisbane tap water

[h20rat]

I think I had some contamination somewhere. I've done a total retest of straight out of tap vs in the tank.

Both consistent between 7.4 & 7.6 pH

Ammonia tap 0.5 vs tank between 0 & 0.25

Nitrates tap between 0 & 5 vs tank between 10 & 20

Nitrites tap and tank 0

GH both 214.8

KH tap 125.3 vs 53.7 tank

TDS is a little strange tap 313 vs tank 394?

I'm hoping the ammonia and nitrates variance means cycling is happening that might do the higher TDS?

:what:

[h20rat]

They make purty colours!

[Wraithie]

You can get most of those colours as shrimp!

[h20rat]

I hadn't thought of that! They will be my breeding wish list! :)

[jayc]

They make purty colours!

Sorry, coming late into this conversation.

What tests do the test tubes correspond to? From left to right please.

Is your issue one of cycling?

How long have you been cycling the tank?

Fishless or with fish/shrimp?

What are you adding into your tank?

What substrate?

Did you use old filter media?

[h20rat]

That's OK would be good to hear thoughts...left to right...nitrites, nitrates, ammonia, ph high, ph low. Fishless startup new media used, but also some older rock with some decaying moss on it from tank before stripping. New substrate fluval shrimp, water filtered thru brita media. Shrimp safe added and quick start with daily ish doses of less than .5 mL co2 booster

A couple of new plants too from store and a little bit of the old moss (Java)

HTH :)

[jayc]

some older rock with some decaying moss on it from tank before stripping.

Ok, that would explain the Nitrates.

Looks like you have some beneficial bacteria, but not enough yet to get rid of the ammonia in your tank within a reasonable period of time. Time is all you need now for colonisation of the bacteria. Wait and be patient.

You have ammonia in your tap water, so keep adding tap water when you see ammonia drop. Treat the water to get rid chlorine/chloramine of course.

Note: water changes (WC) are not necessary with your fishless cycling, I am suggesting it only as an easy source of ammonia.

In your specific case, WC will reduce Nitrates as well, as you seem to have quite a dark orange there.

What temp is your tank?

Don't forget, a higher temp will help speed up the bacteria colonisation.

28-29 deg C will be good. You can always reduce the heat after the tank is completely cycled.

Monitor your pH, make sure it doesn't drop below 6, as the process of nitrification reduces pH.

And anything below 6 will slow the bacteria growth/multiplication.

[h20rat]

Was 23° just bumped it up a notch bam! Thx for the input!!

[jayc]

No problem.

Just thought of something else.

Oxygen.

The bacteria you want needs oxygen.

So ensure you have enough water surface agitation.

More heat and more oxygen = bacteria bloom! (the good kind hopefully)