Ok, have a few questions here.
I have a new 77gal tank that is the proposed new home for my 3 Colombians. I started off doing the fishless cycle. I goofed at the start and ended up adding WAY to much ammonia, so much so that it took 2 50% water changes to get it down even to like 3ppm. At the week and a half point, talking with Adamj, I realized I wasn't actually making my tank Brackish (the old "Aquarium Salt" in the milk carton doesn't make water Brackish? goof). Anyway, I added some salt, enough to get my salinity up to 1.012ppt. A few days I added 5 Knight Gobies to help with the cycle. During this time my Ammonia dropped down to approx. 1ppm. I don't know if it was the salt, or the Gobies that prompted this drop. However, another week and a half later, it is still sitting there at 1ppm. I did a 20% water change on Friday, which seemed to hardly lower my Ammonia at all. As of this morning, still at 1ppm for Ammonia, and 0 Nitrites. I've got red algae spots growing on the glass, the Gobies seem perfectly fine. My question is can the Marine salt perhaps be stalling my cycle? Any suggestions on what might be happening, or am I just being impatient at this point?
Oh, newsflash via MSN. Adamj found some info stating that bacteria growth is decidely slower in salt water. The reproductive rate for bacteria in fresh water is about every 8 hours, in salt water, its more like every 24 hours. However, as catfishmike has said before(lazy fishkeeper syndrome), the toxins are less toxic in salt water than they are in fresh, so that's why its not as hard on my Gobies. We're going to try 15-20% water changes every other day to get our Salinity down and see if that kicks our cycles into gear. Adamj's is stuck on the Nitrites the same way mine is stuck on Ammonia. We'll keep yah posted.
I have a new 77gal tank that is the proposed new home for my 3 Colombians. I started off doing the fishless cycle. I goofed at the start and ended up adding WAY to much ammonia, so much so that it took 2 50% water changes to get it down even to like 3ppm. At the week and a half point, talking with Adamj, I realized I wasn't actually making my tank Brackish (the old "Aquarium Salt" in the milk carton doesn't make water Brackish? goof). Anyway, I added some salt, enough to get my salinity up to 1.012ppt. A few days I added 5 Knight Gobies to help with the cycle. During this time my Ammonia dropped down to approx. 1ppm. I don't know if it was the salt, or the Gobies that prompted this drop. However, another week and a half later, it is still sitting there at 1ppm. I did a 20% water change on Friday, which seemed to hardly lower my Ammonia at all. As of this morning, still at 1ppm for Ammonia, and 0 Nitrites. I've got red algae spots growing on the glass, the Gobies seem perfectly fine. My question is can the Marine salt perhaps be stalling my cycle? Any suggestions on what might be happening, or am I just being impatient at this point?
Oh, newsflash via MSN. Adamj found some info stating that bacteria growth is decidely slower in salt water. The reproductive rate for bacteria in fresh water is about every 8 hours, in salt water, its more like every 24 hours. However, as catfishmike has said before(lazy fishkeeper syndrome), the toxins are less toxic in salt water than they are in fresh, so that's why its not as hard on my Gobies. We're going to try 15-20% water changes every other day to get our Salinity down and see if that kicks our cycles into gear. Adamj's is stuck on the Nitrites the same way mine is stuck on Ammonia. We'll keep yah posted.