The Whole Shebang

[Stephen]

A bit of a late reply,

And a bit of of Sheba 4 :




(The Corys came from Stephen)

Nice cory Andy

[Gingerlove05]

Ah well i was right about one thing

[Vale!]

I'm currently ministering to my bucket and will be back with latest developments shortly, after coffee and toast-and-marmalade. Meanwhile ...


New foam has just arrived :





And I know some readers will be baffled by the resolutions/'accuracy' of the test results, so I thought it might be helpful to show you what I'm using for this trial:



Starting at two o'clock and going clockwise :

Hanna nitrate photometer (blue thing. Returns the amount of nitrogen contained by the nitrate in a sample [aka: nitrate-N]. Multiply by 4.43 to get mg/l of nitrate)
Extech multi-parameter meter (using it for EC and pH)
Hanna low-range nitrite checker (red thing. Photometer. Returns the nitrite content of a sample in parts per billion. Being innumerate, I use an online source to change it to mg/l)
Hanna low-range ammonia checker (yellow thing. Photometer. Returns the amount of nitrogen contained by NH₃ and NH4⁺ combined in a sample. Multiply by 1.214 to get mg/l of Total Ammonia)
Mrs. V!'s calculator (to do the multiplications above)
Tablet used as a timer (the nitrate test vial has to be shaken vigorously for exactly ten seconds and then rocked back and forth for a further 50 seconds! Any deviation noticeably affects results).

These are a step down from lab-grade tests (though they are calibrated against lab standards*) but they're many steps up from test strips and liquid kits that involve colour-charts!).


* I checked the nitrate machine before using it this morning. Its bottle of calibration standard 'expired' in October 2015. It's supposed to be 15.1mg/l of nitrate-N ; the photometer reported 15.3mg/l - which I thought was close enough for jazz!

[Vale!]

Bucket results at c24hrs after wetting (new suite of results includes temperature and nitrate (Na)) with reminders of the parameters of the water that was put in :

Temp 22.1C
pH 6.84 [rose from 6.2]
Conductivity (EC) 445uS/cm [rose from 158]
Total Ammonia (TA) 0.57mg/l [fell from 0.89]
Nitrite (Ni) 0.013mg/l [rose from 0]
Nitrate (Na) 26.13mg/l [not measured]

I tweaked the heater thermostat up a bit.

The above, apart from the temperature which I want to increase, represents a reference point.

The increase in pH and EC could be due to whatever airborne detritus had got into the bucket during its year-long dry sojurn. The TA in the original water was from its peat-infusion : interesting that it had fallen everso slightly, and that nitrite had increased ; could be signs of some sort of nitrifying activity?


Now to start the trial proper! ...

[Vale!]

I added 6 drops of nitrite solution (0.5M sodium nitrite, should anyone be burning to know!) through one of those pink nozzles that come with the Salifert KH test.


Temp 23.9C [tweaked it up a bit more]
pH 6.92
Conductivity (EC) 453uS/cm
Total Ammonia (TA) [not measured - I'll check again tomorrow to see if it's decreased some more]
Nitrite (Ni) 0.115mg/l
Nitrate (Na) 26.13mg/l [as measured an hour previously]


I'm not planning to add any ammonia until I've seen what, if anything, happens to the nitrite/nitrate. If it does fall to zero, though, I shall probably add a drop or two just to keep things ticking over in that regard.

[codheadjohn]

What do you think would happen with the media in my old filter that has been sat dry for nearly 2 years? I will be using some of it for my sump (assuming this tank ever arrives, apparently it's difficult to deliver during covid, Amazon don't seem to have that problem). I was planning to cycle with Stability to speed it up, but I'm half tempted to experiment

[Vale!]

It'd certainly be worth a bash, I think, if you've the time and the patience!

I remember, in Another Place (far, far away) a Forum Member (was it 'Cabbie'?) found a filter in his garage that hadn't been used for yonks. As far as I recollect it hadn't dried out to a crisp, so perhaps not quite the extreme conditions that you'd have. Anyway, I think he had some positive result in terms of a quick recycling of it.

[plankton]

I think there has been some sort of nitrifying activity to answer your possibly not rhetorical question.

[Vale!]

Today's bucket report, with changes over the last 24 hours ...



Temp 25.1C [up from 23.9C]
pH 6.98 [up from 6.92]
Conductivity (EC) 482uS/cm [up from 453]
Total Ammonia (TA) 0.18mg/l [started at 0.89 a couple of days ago]
Nitrite (Ni) 0.126mg/l [up from 0.115mg/l]
Nitrate (Na) 30.56mg/l [up from 26.13mg/l]

[plankton]

(I think your ph has gone up from 6.92 )