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First silent cycle ! Confused !

DannyJ1981

Seedling
Joined
2 Feb 2017
Messages
4
Location
Essex
Hi guys

So I'm week two into my first ever high tech planted tank and I'm fishless cycling the tank but my test results are leaving me confused and I can't tell where I am in the cycle anymore .

Parameters are:

KH - 15
GH - 15
PH - 6.6
Ammonia - 0.25ppm
Nitrites - 1ppm
Nitrates - 20ppm
Temp 26

The tank is 350 liters
Running fluval fx6 , external pump to run the co2 and external heater , high powered LED setup , pressurised fire extinguisher co2

Eco complete substrate

So I set the tank up and planted the same day well over 50% of the substrate is covered by plants , dosed standard EI mixtures from day one and I have some clay balls buried in the substrate

The tank runs two DIY spray bars and flow appears fine with a good circular flow from the front to back of the tank .

I'm running co2 over the 30ppm at the moment as I started to have some algae form .

Plants are doing well in fact I have had immense growth in just two weeks especially from my Rotala Macandra.

I have failed to get a increase of ammonia above 0.25ppm , is this just the plants doing their job in absorbing the ammonia ?

I am really confused I think I have read so much information I have scrambled my brains . I just don't have a clue where I am in the cycle anymore can you guys help me interpret the parameters ?

Cheers

Dan
 
Hi all,
I have failed to get a increase of ammonia above 0.25ppm , is this just the plants doing their job in absorbing the ammonia ?
Yes it is.

I think it would be fair to say that there are a huge amount of "alternative facts" on forums etc about cycling.

I'm not a great fan of test kits, the plants are a much better indicator of tank conditions.

Have a look at <"High Nitrate...">, <"Bacteria and plant..."> and <"Been trialing.....">

cheers Darrel
 
Thanks Darrel

Plants are doing really well , I guess I will learn to follow my gut instinct rather than panic and read to much conflicting information as I become more experienced
 
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