Cycling - Soft acidic water

[Joelhill84]

Hi guys,

This is my first post here, I’m relatively new to the hobby, I’ve had a 30 liter nano tank with shrimp in the past. I’m trying to do a fishless cycle. I added 2ppm ammonia 7 days ago and it hasn’t gone down yet, after some research I think I worked out why..

My tap water parameters are:

pH: 6.6
KH and GH both less than 1

Tank parameters:

pH: less than 6
KH: less than 1
GH: 2

I’ve read that such a low pH can stall a cycle and stop the bacteria from forming.

I can’t test the ph actual reading in my tank because I don’t have a low range test kit and couldn’t find one in store.

I am running co2 which I’ve read can lower the pH by 1 point, I also have a piece of driftwood, corbo root, dragon stone and slate in the tank.

I noticed that the co2 drop checker also does not change back to blue when co2 is off, but read that the drop checker fluid is essentially pH water, could this be affected by it being such a low pH?

My main question is how can I cycle my tank? The pH is very low from tap water, I’ve read that I can add crushed coral to my filter, I have an Oase bio master 350, and this will raise the pH to allow a cycle, but once it has cycled and pH drops again, will the bacteria still be there or die off again? I only plan to keep some snails, neocaridina and possibly chilli rasboras in the future

My apologies for such a long post but I’m struggling to find definitive information elsewhere online.

Thank you

 

[hypnogogia]

You have very soft water, so it will ch age ph very easily with addition of CO2. I don’t believe your problem is with the low ph though.

Is the tank planted up? If not, plant it and then wait for it to cycle. There’s no need to add ammonia. Best just to let things happen by themselves, and be patient.

 

[Joelhill84]

Yeah I have planted it with
Hornwort
Java fern
Anubias nana
Rotala blood red
Monte Carlo (trying to make a carpet)
Christmas moss
Riccia fluitans

If I’m not adding ammonia and letting it drop to 0 how do I know when it is cycled?

Should I do a water change to remove the ammonia that I’ve added?

Thanks

 

[CRS Fan]

I have a similar dilemma in Vancouver (almost 0 GH/KH and a total TDS of 10-15 ppm). I’ve used SeaChem Equilibrium to buffer up my water as a result. I’ve also used SeaChem Stability as a bacterial booster. I would suggest pre-dissolving the Equilibrium before adding it to the tank as it can burn plants if it lands directly on them. Using both these products should help with bacterial activity and PH swings. As mentioned above, CO2 addition with a low GH/KH will cause PH swings and possibly a PH crash.

JMHO.

Stuart

 

[hypnogogia]

You’ll need to do daily water changes for at least the first week, dropping down to twice weekly after perhaps two weeks for the next two weeks. You’ll get some brown algae called diatoms, and the water changes will keep these under control. They will eventually disappear. (I’m setting up a new low tech and they went after 5 weeks). Once they’ve gone and your plants have started growing, you should be ready to introduce a few critters. Don’t get too obsessive about testing. You’ll naturally get an ammonia spike, which will then start reducing as nitrite starts developing.

There are a few threads about cycling, and @dw1305 can explain the science behind it.

 

[Joelhill84]

So if I remove all the ammonia through water changes that I’ve added, and let the soil naturally release ammonia that will let bacteria multiply then after a few weeks it should be cycled? I’m sorry for all the questions, Im struggling to find simple information that helps my situation.

Would you mind posting links to the threads that would give me information that would help me?

I don’t want to do it wrong and then add shrimp and have them die off straight away

Time is not a concern to me because I enjoy just having the aquarium with plants until I know it’s safe to add life