My cycling story or attempt with Dr Tims one and only

by DiegoK Sun Nov 12, 2017 10:50 pm

Hello I am sure there are a lot of posts similar to this one but I wanted to share my experience with cycling my 10 gallon tank so far. I am another noob trying to figure this out.
Dr Tims, neither Api, Top Fin or Nutrafin have nothing to do with me and I am just using their products.
Mg/l = ppm
Ammonia test and ph test are nutrafin. Nitrites and Nitrates are API.
As it goes with all the time reading post and "how to cycle tanks fishless" posts and articles I have read, my fiancee (she gifted me this tank) is threatening to send me to aquarium rehab.
I started so set the tank at the 29th of october, by setting decor, air tubes, two air stones, filter, heater, etc. The same day I filled it with water and added dechlorinator, Top Fin for Bettas, I'm sure that doesn't matter. And I ordered Dr Tim's one and only with the ammonium chloride solution. There was no rush because I had to get out of town for a couple of days.
I did a water test to have a base with the following results:
Ammonia 0 mg/l
Nitrites 0 mg/l
Nitrates 0 mg/l
and PH 7.6
So I left the tank running for a few days until my order arrived, of course in the mean while I read every single article and saw every single video on youtube I could find about cycling and Dr Tim's one and only.
My order from Dr Tims arrived monday November the 6th, and I started the process.
Added 4 capfuls of one and only (recommended 2 capfuls for 10 gallons), after shaking the bottle a lot and 40 drops of the Ammonium Chloride.
I never had used Nutrafin Ammonia test with high level of ammonia, and the instructions provided are not clear at all.
The following day I tested the water with the following results:
Ammonia: 6.1 mg/l (or over that the top pf the reading), nitrites 0 mg/l, nitrates under 5 mg/l ph 7.6.
Here comes my confusion with Nutrafin's ammonia. The 6.1 is Ammonium (NH4) not Ammonia (NH#). In Nutrafin test to find NH3 you need their table and the PH and finding where they meet in the table you get the results.
So I did a 30% water change, but still in my head things didn't make a lot of sense. Also I added another 2 capfuls of One and only.
November 8. Water test results
Ammonia: 2.4, Nitrites: 0, nitrates 5, PH 7.6.
With those results I decided to take a sample of water to a lfs. Their results (done with test strips)
Ammonia: 0.5, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 0,Total Hardness 75, Chlorine 0, Total alkalinity 120, and PH 6.8.
Very varying results, but still figuring out nutrafins ammonia is kind of a pain.
November 9.
Ammonia 2 (using the table would be .04) Nitrites 0, nitrates between 5 and 10 and PH 7.6.
So I started wondering what was going on more with the varying Ammonia and PH readings.
So I decided to head to another lfs also tested my water with strips and results differ again.
Ammonia 2, Nitrites 0, Nitrates 0, PH 7.5, KH 30 and GH 50. (no idea what KH and GH are).
Still more confused.
November 10. Thats when I figured out how the tables work exactly in Nutrafins ammonia test.
Ammonia 2 and using the table with the ph of 7.6 gives a NH3 reading of 0.05 in the green zone of the table. Nitrites 0 and Nitrates 10.
So I decided to add more ammonium Chloride and test again.
Ammonia total 6.1 or over and using the PH of 7,6 gives NH3 of 0.15 in the red Zone of the table.
November 11
Ammonia 6.1 (using the table .15 still in the red zone) Nitrites 0, Nitrates 10 and PH 7.6.
I went to another lfs to get my water tested but in that one they don't do it, so I bought Seachems Ammonia Alert Series, and after 2 hours in the water the read is in the alarm zone at .2ppm
November 12
Ammonia between 3.7 and 6.1 (using the table gives .1 in the yellow zone) Nitrites 0, Nitrates 20 and PH 7.6.
Seachems alert is between .2 and .05.
Also did another tap water test to see if the ammonia was not reading correctly but it came back at 0.
So far seems to be working, Ill test tomorrow again and hoping to be low to add more ammonia to have the cycle almost ready.
Sorry if it long or messy ask any questions and I'll try to answer my best.
Diego