Nitrite Test

[Deborah J. Brown]

Back with a weird question.

First off, if you'll remember, I'm the one with the 3 young fantails
and the 10 gal tank who was trying to get it to cycle. Owing to
problems most likely due to being unable to - even with AmmoLock or
Amquel - keep the tank ammonia levels safe we ended up getting a 30
gallon tank. Our one remaining goldfish (another injured itself and
the other just upped and died for no obvious reason). The remaining
one is, btw, almost frighteningly healthy and has grown about a half
inch to an inch since I got him or her. I'm not sure I'm glad or sorry
that it happened to be mine instead of the boys' but at least it's
survived me so far.

In any case, we now have one fantail in the 30 gallon tank awaiting
the tank's cycling. The 10 gallon is empty and I've been working on a
fishless cycle. So far that seems to be going well but I've come upon
a weirdness that I wanted to query.

I ran the test for nitrites this morning and was pleased to note a
nice rich purple in the test (again, this is the fishless tank) with
which to feed the nitrate bacteria. Except, five minutes later when
the test time was over, the color turned to a very pale lavender! (.25
ppm)

My Nitrate levels are at about 40, so I think I actually have a cycled
tank. Tomorrow I plan on testing everything to see, but the question
is, what the heck was going on with the nitrite test?

Given that the tank really is cycled, I plan on using it to seed the
30 gallon tank. Are there any pointers for this task? I'm thinking of
soaking a sponge in the cylced tank for a week (and get some small
tropicals for it), then transfer that sponge to the other tank. Is
this how it's done or is there another way.

Thanks!

Deborah

[Geezer From The Freezer]

To seed the 30, take half of the filter media from the cycled tank
and put it into the filter container for your filter on the 30 - this
should do the trick.

[Deborah J. Brown]

On Fri, 26 Aug 2005 16:00:15 +0100, Geezer From The Freezer
>To seed the 30, take half of the filter media from the cycled tank
>and put it into the filter container for your filter on the 30 - this
>should do the trick.

I'm a trifle on the ignorant side. The pumps and filters on the two
tanks are very different from each other. How do I transfer half the
medium over?

Deborah

[Geezer From The Freezer]

"Deborah J. Brown" wrote:
>
> On Fri, 26 Aug 2005 16:00:15 +0100, Geezer From The Freezer
> >To seed the 30, take half of the filter media from the cycled tank
> >and put it into the filter container for your filter on the 30 - this
> >should do the trick.
>
> I'm a trifle on the ignorant side. The pumps and filters on the two
> tanks are very different from each other. How do I transfer half the
> medium over?
>
> Deborah

ok if thats the case, pull the established filter media out and squeeze
some of the soaked water onto the new tanks filter media. Don't forget
to ensure that the new tank is getting ammonia (from either food, or fish
waste).

[Deborah J. Brown]

On Tue, 30 Aug 2005 14:04:32 +0100, Geezer From The Freezer
>ok if thats the case, pull the established filter media out and squeeze
>some of the soaked water onto the new tanks filter media. Don't forget
>to ensure that the new tank is getting ammonia (from either food, or fish
>waste).

I'll give that a try... Just not quite yet. Turns out the cycle hasn't
quite cycled as the nitrites are still bouncing all over the place.
Thanks!

Still puzzled over the solution getting lighter over the period of the
test but since, right now, it isn't doing that I'm not going to worry
about it.

Deborah