So while my tiny axie has been fridged, I've been cycling his 10 gallon tank for the past 3 weeks now, and everything is going very smoothly. The tank has no substrate and one live plant. I've been testing it every other day, and I've only had to do a 25% water change due to ammonia levels > 4.0 ppm, once.
Since the process was so slow in the beginning, my boyfriend (who's in school for environmental engineering and water treatment) suggested turning my air pump on to oxidize the tank a bit and to get the process going a little more. It's a small battery-powered air pump with an air stone the size of a ping pong ball, and I've only been leaving it on for a few hours at a time. I've also considered getting feeder fish to speed up the cycling as well.
I tested it today and the pH levels are between 8.0-8.2, ammonia level was 4.0 ppm, and my nitrate level was 5.0 ppm. But my nitrite test came back as 0 ppm?
Does this mean that it's just converting to nitrate incredibly fast, and I should add a little more of my ammonia source? Or am I doing something wrong?
Since the process was so slow in the beginning, my boyfriend (who's in school for environmental engineering and water treatment) suggested turning my air pump on to oxidize the tank a bit and to get the process going a little more. It's a small battery-powered air pump with an air stone the size of a ping pong ball, and I've only been leaving it on for a few hours at a time. I've also considered getting feeder fish to speed up the cycling as well.
I tested it today and the pH levels are between 8.0-8.2, ammonia level was 4.0 ppm, and my nitrate level was 5.0 ppm. But my nitrite test came back as 0 ppm?
Does this mean that it's just converting to nitrate incredibly fast, and I should add a little more of my ammonia source? Or am I doing something wrong?