fishless cycling - pH problem?

"muddyfox" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi,

I'm new to this newsgroup, so please redirect me if this question is in
the wrong place.

This is r.a.f.MISC, we do everything ! ;~).

I'm trying to cycle my new aquarium using Ammonia. Things seem to be
on track except that the pH is climbing to very high levels (pH 8.4
today) and I'm concerned that the bacteria I need for my nitrogen cycle
will not do well in these conditions.

Details:

Small 6 gallon tank
L2000 Ladybird AIr Pump
GPS 370 filter
2 plants
medium well washed gravel + (on day 1) added 2 large handfuls of gravel
from an established tank to seed the bacterial populations.
Tap water treated with de-chlorinator.

Initial water chemistry before start:

pH 8.0 (interestingly the tap water here is pH 7.0 - the tank had sat
for four days before I began. I don't know where this change came
from.)

Probably just CO2 outgassing. Pour a glass of water. Check the pH. Let
it sit open on a counter and re-test the water in 24 hours. This might
answer that question, otherwise, could you have minerals leeching calcium
into the water?

NH3(Ammonia) 0ppm
NO2 (Nitrite) 0ppm
NO3 (Nitrate) 10ppm

Day 1 - added 4 drops ammonia solution (9.5%) (I suspect this is
Ammonium Hydroxide which would then give me the OH- ions for
alkalinity). NH3 went up to 1.0 ppm

Day 2 - added 5 drops ammonia

pH 8.3
NH3 2.5ppm
NO2 0ppm

Day 3 - added 5 drops ammonia

pH 8.4
NH3 4ppm
NO2 0ppm

So, my questions a


Is this pH a problem for my fishelss cycle?

I don't think so. The nitrifying bacteria actually prefer alkaline
conditions.

If so what can I do about it?
If not, how can I lower it before adding my fish?

Tsk tsk, don't mess with the pH. Remove causes of influence, otherwise
I'd leave it alone.

Is my main cause of high pH the Hydroxide from the ammonia solution, or
something before that (since my tap water is at 7.0 and my initial
reading was 8.0)?

Any advice, guidance, help would be really appreciated.

Cheers,

Muddy

That's all the advice I have. Wait for the NO2 and so on.
--
www.NetMax.tk

Thanks NetMax - that's really useful info. I will wait. I spoke to my
local fish shop and they see the same thing with the tap water around
here. Their pH starts at around 7.0 and goes up to just over 8 after a
few days. CO2 outgassing makes sense as the reason too. I will follow
your advice about not messing with the pH, apart from a 50% water
change at the end of the cycle to get rid of excess NO3.

Cheers!