Long story short, our 60 gal was setup without a pump \ airstone, to begin a fish less cycle. 3 weeks or so went by, bacteria bloom occurred, then week 4 and 5 came by. Fearful of the wrong kind of bacteria growing in the o2 deprived environment - I was also fearful that it may have been contaminated with Ich from using the same net between the tanks, I drained the tank. I let the tank sit, and air dry for a week.
03/04 I refilled with tap, added a dechlorinator, and began feeding the tank when I fed our other tank. I also added a bottle of Jungle Start Zyme.
Initially I did not record the tank stats nitrites only just started showing a few days ago. A few days ago I began to keep a log of the water conditions. I had not been testing Nitrates due to the Ammonia \ Nitrite levels being low. I tested yesterday and they are at 5 ppm.
I siphoned the substrate yesterday to remove some of the remaining rotting \ fuzzy flakes \ krill. Today's stats are more or less the same, a slight rise in nitrites.
Here's the Log: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmeBKk9_sK0OdEVMUGcyb0dUN0JrcExLZ1dTekpBbFE#gid=0
Seeing as the stats are showing nitrates at 5 ppm and only minor changes to Ammonia \ Nitrites, I'm guessing there is still a fair amount of food captured in the filter decomposing.
Would it be better to wait and see if the nitrates begin to rise from 5 ppm, or do you think a partial filter cleaning to further remove decomposing food captured.
Side note, I've also removed the carbon, so the bacteria have more food to feed on.
03/04 I refilled with tap, added a dechlorinator, and began feeding the tank when I fed our other tank. I also added a bottle of Jungle Start Zyme.
Initially I did not record the tank stats nitrites only just started showing a few days ago. A few days ago I began to keep a log of the water conditions. I had not been testing Nitrates due to the Ammonia \ Nitrite levels being low. I tested yesterday and they are at 5 ppm.
I siphoned the substrate yesterday to remove some of the remaining rotting \ fuzzy flakes \ krill. Today's stats are more or less the same, a slight rise in nitrites.
Here's the Log: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmeBKk9_sK0OdEVMUGcyb0dUN0JrcExLZ1dTekpBbFE#gid=0
Seeing as the stats are showing nitrates at 5 ppm and only minor changes to Ammonia \ Nitrites, I'm guessing there is still a fair amount of food captured in the filter decomposing.
Would it be better to wait and see if the nitrates begin to rise from 5 ppm, or do you think a partial filter cleaning to further remove decomposing food captured.
Side note, I've also removed the carbon, so the bacteria have more food to feed on.
