Zonks - Holy Nitrates, Batman!

Yep, that's right. I'm blogging in to let you know one of my mini tanks is FINALLY showing signs of nitrates. Not a lot, mind you, but a few traces of nitrates are showing up in my tests on my 10 gallon tank.

Well, it's been almost two weeks since I last posted. This past week, Hannibell, the lone survivor of the baby fries, has passed on. Not sure if it was the persistant ammonia levels hanging about .50 ppm in her 1 gallon tank, or if it was that dreaded bladder thing that many fries end up developing before they are fully grown. We could tell Hannibell was a female with a red coloring and a double bar unlike the momma which is a red wag tail. That was a sad day around here.

Although I thought for certain that the silver wag tail would be dropping her fry by now, she's still holding out. I placed her in the 2.5 gallon tank last week. The tank has been at the nitr[I]tes portion of the cycle, all week. Which brings me to another subject that I've been pondering. I don't have any aerator in that tank and I'm wondering if I should put one in. The nitrites levels shot out the roof tonight. Yet, the 5 gallon and the 10 gallon, which both have aerators have never gotten over 1.0 ppm. ??? Simply don't know if the water agitation is a significant factor that should be considered when using these smaller tanks. I know I have the 5 gallon over stocked right now which is the main reason I have an airstone in that tank. I am about ready to move fishies around to make things a bit more comfortable for every one now that the 10 gallon is done cycling. I've mostly kept the 10 gallon slightly understocked while trying to cycle it with just the three remaining platys.

Oh, that's another thing. While I had the three platys in the 10 gal, I was using pure ammonia in the 2.5 gal for about 10 days to continue a cycling process, albeit fishless. But, when I thought that Cammi (the silver wag) was about to pop, I cleaned out that little tank's water, and ran it for 24 hours with fresh water while testing several times for ammonia before putting her in that tank. Coincidentally(?) within a day after that, the nitrites were definitely developing, so I've been really careful about including some Prime in the water everyday along with small water changes. When today's nitrite reading was 2.0 PPM, I just about freaked. I did some serious water changes over the span of two hours until the nitrites were down to .50, gave the tank a sprinkle of salt, and think we'll be okay. But I'll need to keep closer watch on these nitrites levels. I don't want to add an airstone at this point since the fry delivery is close at hand. The bubbles are too hard on the babies.

I think the 5 gal will finish up the cycle quickly once I move one of the fish over to the 10 gal, giving it more of a chance to build nitrites without quite so many water changes needed. I'm only needing to do 2 or 3 per week (compared to the 7 per week just a few weeks ago), but if I can drop that down to once a week, I'm certain that tank will kick over into the nitr[a]te stage.

In the meantime, now that the 10 gallon is finally a nitrate producer, I've purchased some of those little filter sponges, and slid them in behind the filter pads of the mechanical filters.... (Yes filter[s]. I have two mechanical filters and an airstone in the 10 gallon tank.) My hope is to have some healthy bacteria seed ready at a moment's notice if I need to set up an emergency tank again in the future.

That's a good feeling! I began to wonder if I was going to have to be one of those 6 months and still cycling types of people. It's been a little over 8 weeks getting there, but I'm finally starting to feel as though I'm doing this thing correctly.

Ammonia / Ammonium to Nitr[I]tes to Nitr[A]tes - The Nitrogen Cycle

Sometimes, I feel like I need to be a chemist to understand all these aquatic terms, test kits and conditioners. During the first 1 - 3 months of initiating a new aquarium, the fish hobbiest is told to test the aquarium water, initially, every day for NH3, NH4, & Ph, then add in a test for NO2, and finally testing for NO3. You should also test, once a week, the levels of acid/alkaline & hardness. I believe that there are more types and brands of test kits available than there are fish in the world! Since I'm still in the basic "non cycled stage" with all four of my mini aquariums, I am still focusing in on the three most "concerning" chemical readings that I test for every day; Ammonia, Ph & Nitrites.

I learned early on that if the NH3/NH4 (Ammonia) levels get above 1ppm (parts per million) then you should do a decent water change of about 20% (i.e. 2 gallons on a 10 gallon tank) and test the ammonia level again. The higher the PPM reading of the ammonia levels, the more water that should be changed out. Some test kits distinguish between NH3 (a toxic to fish form of Ammonia and typically found in water with 7.2+ Ph readings) and NH4 (a less toxic to fish ammonium, the ionized form of ammonia typically found in water with the below 7.0 Ph readings). Most test kits combine the two types together since, if there is Ammonia in the water, it is likely to raise the neutral 7.0 Ph readings into the higher 7.6+ levels rather quickly. Most tap water in the US is in the neutral Ph range, HOWEVER, there are regions that have extreme Ph levels one way or the other. Knowing your base Ph level straight out of the tap is a good idea to start with. AND do you begin to see what I mean about needing to be a chemist?

Yah, yah, yah.... I've read all the articles about getting healthy bacterial seed from reputable fish folks to speed the cycling process along. Yes, I've read all the tips and tricks for speeding up the cycling process with all the wonderful proclamations of completing the nitrogen cycle in less than a week (or two). I don't know any fishy folks in the area and I've read enough horror stories online to dissuade me from asking for the "seed" from the local fish store (LFS). Also, I'm not inclined to join a "fishtank support group" just to get the bacterial seed.

So I set out to make certain I didn't poison my fish with my new little tanks which obviously were not cycled. Although I originally purchased the dip-in test strips, I immediately figured out that these little testors do NOT have a very good accuracy ratio... I can dip three different testors from the same container into one of my tanks at the same time and each will come out with different readings!

Obviously, there are a plethora of testing kits on the market. You are basically at the whim of your LFS as to which are being made available to you. Some kits are super expensive, while others are less expensive. Try to find something that lasts a long time (longer than a month) to get the most value for your testing pleasures. As I mentioned earlier, there are the dip in the water chemical strips (similar to the EPT [Early Pregnancy Tests]) and then there are the water in a vial tests. The vial test involves taking a sampling of water and pouring the water (dribbling) into little vials. Then you add toxic chemicals (liquid or dry powder) into the vials, shaking the vials and letting them stand for a period of time. Next, you compare the color of the vial after the required "waiting period" to a color code paper/sheet to get an approximate reading of "ppm" for your aquarium's water. Finding a way to keep from knocking a row of "test vials" over in a domino effect seems to be my biggest challenge with these tests. Remember to wash hands with soap and vials (without soap) thoroughly after you are done testing.

During the initial cycling through the NH3/4 (ammonia/ammonium) and NO2 (Nitrite) stages, a company named "Seachem" has become my best friend. This is not to say that they are the only or best company to help with testing and monitoring during the nitrogen cycling. I'm just saying that this company has helped me to maintain my sanity. But, then, who in their right mind goes out and gets 4 new little aquarium tanks over the span of two weeks? Okay, so perhaps sanity was not my main agenda. But some of Seachem's products have made the monitoring process a little easier.

First I discovered the Seachem Ammonia Alert Monitor. This great little device hangs inside the aquarium with an easy to read color code ranging from yellow (good) to blue (toxic). The nice little feature with this ammonia monitor is that it mostly focuses on the NH3 (more toxic to fish) ammonia. Seachem has a forum and a FAQ support portion on their site that can help answer questions.

Any way, back to being a chemist. Because of the breaking in the aquarium nitrogen cycle process thingy, I was forever doing water changes on all four little tanks and seemingly getting no closer to obtaining any nitrItes for fear of killing ALL my fish. I read online in a forum the great things that Prime (TM) another Seachem product does to bond with the toxic ammonia and to help detoxify Nitrite levels as they develop. The theory is that the ammonia and ammonium are still involved in the nitrogen cycling process, but the toxic form of ammonia gets "nullified" for approximately 24 hours. The bottle of Prime claims that it "REMOVES" Chorine, Chloremine & Ammonia. Not quite accurate, but it does condition the water so that it is safer for your fisies. On the side of the bottle, it clarifies a little with "Prime(tm) converts ammonia into a safe, non-toxic form that is readily removed in the tank's biofilter." What I have kinda figured out on my own is the fact that while it makes the ammonia non-toxic and filterable, it seems that I need to add the Prime(tm) again the next day because the fishies do NOT stop producing ammonia (toxic and other wise) in their water. So, each day, I need to add more.

Since I only have small tanks, I needed to figure out the correct dosage of Prime(tm). One teaspoon will treat a whole 50 gallon tank for the day for up to 20 days. But I only need a few drops per day per tank. So I got an eyedropper that I have dedicated specifically for Prime usage. I calculated how many drops of Prime from the eyedropper were needed to make 1 teaspoon. Then I divided the number of drops by 50 (gallons) to come up with the number of drops/gallon. I have learned the hard way, never assume that all "drops" and eyedroppers are equal. Once I had this figured out, I took a permanent marker and wrote the dosage on the top of my Prime(tm) bottle for one gallon. I need to use 2 drops per gallon of water each day to combat the daily ammonia barrage put out by my fish.

Now, I don't change the water every day. I'm doing a once to twice a week water change. Also, I can use Prime with a little salt in the aquarium water (unlike some other forms of ammonia binding products) since my live-bearing water pets really do like some salt in their water. When I add the Prime(tm) to the tank, I hold the dropper over the front of the (outflow) filter and let the drops get quickly flushed out into the aquarium. Otherwise, my fish seem to feel that the drops are intended to be food and will quickly swim to the area where the drops are going in.

Okay, first and foremost, Prime(tm) does stink a little like rotten eggs. But that smell only lasts a few seconds until it is in the water. And the most important thing is.... My aquariums are finally, after 4 to 6 weeks, starting to produce more and more Nitrites (NO2). WOOHOO! Now that I don't have to do large water changes every day, the little tanks are starting to create the bateria that produce Nitrites.... hopefully, within the next 3 to 4 weeks, I'll have Nitrates and the cycling will be complete!!!!

A Full Moon Later

In an earlier post, I believe that I mentioned that the Platy fry were born(kinda) on the morning of the Lunar Eclipse/Full Moon in February. We were able to salvage 15 of them. After a week or so in the nursery cage, I put the remaining survivors into a one-gallon tank with a little box/aerator filter and a mini heater. Over the next few weeks, the survivors dwindled. I truly think that the largest survivor was munching on the smaller ones, one by one. So there is only one left from that original batch. We are naming it HanniBell until we know whether to it is female or male. If it turns out that the fish is male, we'll switch it to Lektor. The survivor has doubled in size (no surprise there) and seems fine being alone at this time.

We're still wondering if the "cycling" process is ever going to end. Yesterday, the five gallon, after 5 weeks had an ammonia level reading of 0ppm.... but there were not any detectable levels of nitrItes nor nitrAtes. Considering the water hasn't been changed in approximately 4 days, I'm not sure what that sudden drop could be attributed to. Could it have been a result of the slice of fruit that I put in?

Tuesday night, I put a thin slice of fruit (a disk) in two of the tanks for the platys and the goldfish. The goldfish totally ate the slice with nothing left within the hour. The platys were a little slower, but did finally take some healthy bites. The 10 gallon tank has been in the nitrItes stage for more than a week, so a low/no ammonia reading would not surprise me there. But since the 5 gallon tank has been consistently ranging in the .5 to .75 ppm range for the week, I was shocked when the ammonia reading was 0. I even retested, thinking I had done something wrong. But, today, the ammonia levels in the 5 gallon tank were back to .25 ppm. Would a piece of fruit really lower the ammonia? I have no idea where to check on that. I may need to do a little experiment to test this out!

Well, my silver wag platy is getting close to birthing within the next week or two. Wonder if this birth(kinda) will be on the New Moon, in about two weeks? I'll keep everyone updated as the events unfold.