I do have fish food, but I may consider the ammonia drops, purely for the cleanliness option, I`m not keen on making it dirtier than it needs to be, but then again I am trying to save money, and I will have to syphon the gravel anyway!
I was intending to wait until the ammonia and nitrite are both stable at 0ppm before adding any fish, but I am getting bored at looking at the empty tank! I`ll add a few pinches of flake and see what happens. xxx p.s my proper name is sally, I know, I hate it, I`m sure my parents didnt like me, LOL!!!!

Hey Sally

How's it all going?

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Hey FL,
I`m not really sure how its going to be honest, I thought I had the nitrification process sorted in my head, thanks to your advice and those links you sent me, but I`m unsure if I`m doing things right, cos my results seem different to what i`ve read on fichless cycling.
Anywho, the ammonia has leveled out at 0ppm, the nitrite is still off the scale, showing up purple when I test. i did do a 30% water change on monday, thats a week on from when I set up, to bring the nitrate reading down. I`ve been adding in a little fish food, but the ammonia seems to be sticking at 0ppm, I`m worried that I may not be putting enough in for the next bacteria to grow that changes the nitrite to the nitrate, I know they need some ammonia to continue that process.
I`m so confused.com! Am I doin the right things?, or would it be a good idea to try and chat up some of the fellas at my lfs and blag some bacteria rich media they have in their filters!!
Ps, loved your pic, its a great idea of tashas` to get faces to names! I reckon you have a striking resemblence to daniel beddingfield!!! can you warble like him too!!! LOL x

It's okay for the ammonia reading to be zero, that means the ammonia consuming bacteria are alive and well and getting the nourishment they need from the fish food lol!

It's also perfectly normal for your nitrite reading to be off the charts (purple).

I wouldnt worry about nitrates too much.

If i was you now, i would stop with fish food, add one large frozen prawn or a few small value prawns, then test every day or other day is fine, you could just test for nitrite if you want.

Once Nitrite gets very close to zero, (i.e. slightly dark blue on your strips) you are almost good to go. This could take anything from 1-7 days now i think.

When nitrite is 0.25 or below, take the prawn out and test for ammonia too, which should be 0 or 0.25 max.

If nitrite is 0.25 or below and ammonia 0.25 or below, me personally, i would be satisfied with doing a 75% water change (treated tapwater, taking out chlorine and/or chloramine), then on the same day, i would add a few small fish and keep testing!!!!

Keep up the good work!

Daniel Beddingfield lol, thats a new one!!!!

Have you put your picture up yet?

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thanks mate, inbetween the adding of prawn, do I still carry out weekly partial water changes? or leave well alone until the nitrite reading comes down? wont the nitrate build up and make the tank all manky? I`ve put plants in, which seem to be doing well at the mo, but too much nitrate will make them go all brown and disgusting wont it? and encourage more algae, or is this just part of the process?
I would put pic up if I knew how! I tried to add one alongside my username, but that obviously didnt work! I like the thought of bein a woman of mystery! I`ll get my techie sister to help me get a pic on for you

. .

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a woman, yeah thats me!I`m not a patch on tasha, (you have good taste in women by the way!) I`ll try and get some more up. Off to get me prawn!!!! ta ta for now!

just looked at the pic I hurriedly attached to my profile, gawd I look such a dude, must change asap, somethin sexy and sultry!!! LOL

ha ha

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theres nowt wrong with that pic! a natural beauty,but are you a nurse?you look like one in that pic, and by all means if youd like to go sexy + sultry please feel free

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