Tank Cycling Revisited

Cycling of a new tank is an interesting challenge and just when I thought I was through it, I found out I was not...

The data of the first 62 days

Days	Before/After	Ammonia	Nitrirte	Nitrate	pH	GH	KH	Phospate	FE	Chelated FE				UV
	Water Change	TAN	NO2	NO3				PO43−			TDS	ORP	rH
	Startup										142
9	NO WC	0	0	0	6.8	300	35	0
9					7.2
10					6.8		35				475
16		0	0	0	6.8	265	50	0.25
23	Before		0	0	6.8	180	25
24	Before	0.25	0	0	6.4	300	25	0			551
24					7.0
25		0.25	0	0			50
26		0.5	0	0
27		0	0
28		0.25	0
29		0.25	0		7.2
30	Before	0.5	0	0	7.6
30	After	0.5			7.0
31		0.25			7.0		35
32		0.75			7.0
33		1			7.0
34		4	0		6.4
35		4	0		6.6
36		4	0		7.0
37		4	0		6.6		50
37	again…	4	0		7.0	380	50
38		4	0		6.6
39		8	0		7.0
40		4	0		7.0
41		4	0		6.8
42		6	0	0	6.6						510	150	25.20
43		6			7.2		35					125	25.56
44	After	4	0	0	7.0	220	35	0.25	0	0	460	118	24.92
45		4			7.0							125	25.16
46		4			7.0							82	23.70
47	Dark	4	0		7.0							95	24.14
48		4			6.8						470	86	23.44
49		4			7.0							75	23.47
50		4			7.0							100	24.31
51	Before	4	0	5	7.0	340	35	0.25	0	0	512	108	24.58
52	After	4	0		7.2						550	80	24.03
53		4			6.8							67	22.80
54		4			6.6						567	75	22.67
55		3.5			7.0							61	22.99
56		3.5			7.0							85	23.80
57		3.5			7.0							87	23.87
58	Before	3	2	20	6.8	400	35	0.25	0.5	0.5	660	90	23.57	UV
59		0.5	2	40	7.0				0	0.1		88	23.91	UV
60		0.5	2	40	7.0							88	23.91	UV
61		0.25	0	40	7.0							85	23.80	UV
62		0	0	40	7.0							76	23.50	UV

TAN= Total Ammonia Nitrogen (i.e. NH3 + NH4)
TDS = Total Dissolved Solids
ORP = Oxidation Reduction Potential
rH = Relative Hydrogen Score

Here's what it looks like

29 Gallon tank on day 57

What it might mean...

I started this tank very slowly, very deliberately, and the experience is suggestive of one thing in particular: First hand confirmation that plants do in fact compete with the filter for nutrients, which may have caused the slow cycling and the ammonia build-up. Carl Strohmeyer of AAP also came to that conclusion on the forum Everything Aquatic, when I shared my results there. But, as you can also see, eventually, once the nitrification cycle set in, things went pretty fast, and now I have a healthy tank, so my main takeaway is that both the nitrogen cycle is indeed more complex and less linear than we once thought, but mostly, the usual estimates of 4-6 weeks are misleading, it can be at least two months. As I publish this, it's day 62, and my ammonia and nitrite are 0, so nitrate, more plants, and water changes are the main worry now.

At first I had only the potted Wisteria, which had some gravel from the old tank that it came from, with the deliberate purpose of bringing in some bacteria culture from the old tank, but not too many plants, but by week three I brought in the two Amazon plants.

Diana Walstad, in her book The Ecology of the Planted Aquarium takes the view that a natural aquarium is one in which the balance between the plants and the fish is kept without any artificial filtration. That is one line of thought, and perfectly viable, but it is not where I want to be. It amounts in effect to the creation of an extremely small pond, whereas the addition of  power filters creates a simulation of a larger body of water, with more biological capacity, and I do not see anything wrong in that. I still feel that the plants to me are as important as the fish, but I like the luxury of adding some more fish.

However, the experience with starting this aquarium may indeed suggest that you might be better off starting the filter first and perhaps doing the deliberate cycling with ammonia before you ever add fish or plants, so that the filter is solidly started up before you ever introduce any plants or fish. I would still prefer to get the plants settled before the fish, even though I won't have species that attack the plants.  

Right now, I am going to continue with just five amano shrimp, and 4 pygmy cories, and I will be adding more plants and do another invert invasion soon. And I am watching my water parameters like a hawk, and in active dialog on the Everythng Aquatic forum.

Water Quality Revisited

It took me quite a while to start finding the good sources of information online, but it is finally coming together... American Aquarium Products is an absolutely amazing dealer, and their online tutorials are unsurpassed, if you want to run a thinking person's aquarium. The point being, keeping an aquarium is a learning exercise. You can sit and enjoy the beauty, but the excitement is about learning about the life that goes on inside. Beside the website for their business, with a proliferation of valuable technical information, AAP also maintains a separate informational site Everything Aquatic, and some online forums, the Everything Aquatic Forum. you can't beat this information source, and it has led me to research more deeply, among other things into water quality. I am quickly catching up after 20+ years without an aquarium in my life...

Eventually, I ended up connecting the dots regarding water quality, including my experience with water ionizers in the past, and my gradual discovery that so-called alkaline water is nonsense, except that yes, we need the electrolytes, but the alkalinity is not the first point, the low ORP (Oxidation Reduction Potential) is, preferably in the -150 to -200 range, but beyond that, I have now come to understand that the real measure you want to look at is the rH, the relative Hydrogen score, which I found documented on an amazing website by one Vinny Pinto, who has put the whole thing together.
The formula is:  rH = ((ORP+205)/29.58+(2xpH)).

29 gallon March 1st, 2016

29 Gallon on March 15th, Wisteria taking off.

Nitrogen cycle revisited

I did a more deliberate startup of my 29 gallon aquarium than ever before. Somebody gave it to me last September, and I have very slowly and deliberately planned the whole setup, and still now I wish I could do it all over again, and be even more methodical about it. For one thing, in the beginning I only did water tests once a week, and only later, when things where not going the way I thought they should go, did I start to test daily. If I had to do it over, I would suggest that for ANY aquarium startup the first thing to do is to get the Seachem Alert Combo. The Ammonia Alert lasts a full year, and even the pH alert is good for 3-6 months, in other words, this little device will see you through the whole startup period and well into 'normal' operations.

Everything I thought I knew about the Nitrogen cycle was useless, for recent research has shown that the nitrogen cycles is far more complex than previously thought, and all of this stuff has come out since I was away from aquariums for at least 20 years. Again, it was through reading on the AAP website, and their information about Aquarium Cycling and the Nitrogen cycle that I found my way to a wonderful article on the Advanced Aquarist website that summarizes the whole new thinking about the nitrogen cycle, The Nitrogen Cycle, New Developments and New Prospects by Marco Colasanti. 

29 gallon, March 29th, 2016. 

Notes to pictures. The Wisteria in a pot was an experiment, using a light layer of my substrate, then some organic potting soil, and finally a layer of gravel from my 5 gallon tank, to get a bacterial culture started. The plant also came from my 5 gallon tank. The Wisteria is taking over the tank, and I've planted 5 shoots around the pot. I've added some Java Fern from the old tank on the drift wood, and since the beginning I've had some Java Moss with the drift wood also. The two Amazon Sword plants were store bought, and they sprouted 3 shoots, which I have planted as their roots grew large enough. The Marimos came from the old tank as well, and in the foreground are some micro swords that are also transplants. 

What we used to know

Graph of the nitrogen cycle in a new tank
http://answers.seneye.com/@api/deki/files/61/=seneye_new_tank-02.png

What we used to know about the nitrogen cycle, is what it looks like on the surface, as in the above grapha, which seemed to be fairly linear, was this:

1. The first stage was the conversion of ammonia to nitrite, 
2. then nitrite to nitrate, 
3. and finally the nitrate can only be handled to a degree by plants (because it is a nutrient to them) and for the rest by water changes.

But what we used to know is not all there is to know for there are more processes involved in the mature nitrogen cycle than the seemingly linear progression suggested by the observation of how it evolves in a new tank.

What we know now

New research that has been summarized by Colasanti shows that there are three other processes going on, and the whole thing is made up of interlocking cycles, and not linear at all (here are the three new processes from the article):

1. Ammonium oxidation by a particular group of microorganisms, the archaeabacteria (AOA)
2. The anaerobic reduction of nitrates to ammonium (DNRA):
3. The anaerobic oxidation processes of ammonium (ANAMMOX)

In short, the nitrogen cycle is far more intricate than we knew, and now the interesting issue is, can we learn to manage it better, especially during startup of a new aquarium. And the answer is we can. For now, I will write up how I would like to manage the setup of my next tank, based on what I have learned from this one. For that it is important to keep your eyes on the Relative Hydrogen Score referred to above.

The complete Nitrogen cycle - from: http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2011/4/chemistry

My Ideal Aquarium Startup

Based on what I have gradually learned from starting up my current 29 gallon tank, my ideal start up would be much more deliberate, and I would keep a record of daily results for the first two months, including Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, pH, ORP, KH, GH, and TDS. For my pH and TDS toolset I would use electronic probes, and for my Ammonia I would rely first and foremost on the Seachem Ammonia Alert mentioned above, because it measures only the free ammonia (NH3), and not the ammonium (NH4+). Traditional tests like the API ammonia test really give you the TAN (Total Ammonia Nitrogen) content of the water, i.e. both NH3 and NH4.

Constant monitoring is crucial during the early going especially. Once your tank is up and running you will still want to do monitoring, but you can do it more on an exception basis, and once a week, or even less, suffices.

Tools for Aquarium Monitoring

• Hanna Instruments  ORP/pH/Temperature Tester (HI98121)
• API Fresh Water Master testkit, or you can buy the individual tests
• Seachem Ammonia Alert, or you might take the Alert Combo, which includes the pH test. Seachem now even offers a prepackaged one year supply, the One Year Combo Alert. With these two tools you can eyeball how your tank is doing without even lifting a finger.

With the above, you have the ability to do daily testing with ease, and with high accuracy. Currently I am working without an accurate pH probe, so all I have is the API test kit which has a range of 6.0-8.0, and it leaves me hanging for readings outside of that, which limits the accuracy of my rH computations.

Other startup supplies

• Seachem Prime, water conditioner and useful to limit problems; even if you do have an ammonia spike, like when some creature died (you can't even always find them...). or you can use Seachem Amquel when it's just about an ammonia spike.
• Seachem Stability, an effective way to support bacterial cultures to minimize New Tank Syndrome (NTS)
• Seachem Replenish, mineral supplement, to provide the proper electrolytes to the water - essential if you use RO/DI water, or even if you use a ZeroWater filter, like I do.
• for regulating the pH, you can use the Acid/Alkaline regulators, which provide the water with buffering capacity, and are probably a better bet than the neutral regulator, which sometimes is not without side effects, because it works with phosphates.
• Note, if you are using tap water, you need to be using regular water conditioners, such as Prime and Stability. Obviously, for specific fish you may need special conditioners, and Salt Water is a whole separate discussion.
• To start the bacterial culture in my substrate, I also used, and will use again in future, the Prodibio BacterKit Soil, which I applied in my current tank in about week three, but ideally you should use it when you set up the tank.

The Startup Process for a Planted Tank

I am being specific for a planted tank. I don't know any other. I've never really run a tank without plants, and the longer I go, the more important the plants are to me.

1. Preparing the tank as you always would, rinsing it out first.
2. Install under-gravel heating cable. Highly recommended because it provides circulation in the gravel.
3. Install the appropriate substrate, and treat with the Prodibio BacterKit Soil.
4. Fill up slowly with water.
5. Adjust the water parameters (pH, KH, GH), with Acid/Alkaline buffers, and/or Replenish, and if need be some baking soda to get your KH to where it needs to be (50-100 for the plants, and for healthy nitrifying bacteria).
6. Get filtration going, and ideally introduce plants, filter foam, and/or gravel from a healthy tank. Ideally do a full weak treatment with Stability, to seed the filter with healthy bacteria.
7. Add some Wondershell from AAP - the regular kind, not the medicated kind. Wondershell is a calcium/magnesium block which seems to help improve the ORP (negative shift), and get the rH lower, indicating healthy water conditions. It does not significantly affect the pH but it causes a slight bump in GH, depending on how much you use.
8. Introduce plants, remember to include some from established aquariums (to transfer good bacteria).
9. My first suggestion would be to start with an invert culture, at a minimum some Malaysian Trumpet Snails, but possibly more.
10. Gradually introduce some fish.
11. Monitor all your parameters like a hawk for the first two months.
12. If need be, manage all water parameters, but especially keep pH within reason, plus or minus 0.2 from where you want to be, and if you have an ammonia spike, remember it is less toxic below a pH of 6.4, but about 50/50 at the neutral range of 7.0. You want to keep your Prime, or Amquel and Stability at the ready.

Here are some initial observations:

• My ZeroWater filtered water has a pH of 6 or lower (TDS 000-006), and an ORP of about 220, and therefore the rH is nearly neutral at about 26, which is just slightly below the neutral point of 28.
• In my ATO tank I have a small AAP wondershell, and the parameters change to pH 6, TDS 36, and ORP 125, for an rH of 23, meaning that this water now is significantly reducing.
• In my tank my TDS is nearly 500, pH 6.8-7.0, and the ORP is ca 80 (it seems to be ca 10 points higher at night and 10 points lower by day). In short the rH now is 23.43, again very solidly reducing. 

The above corresponds to the findings on the AAP website on the healthy range of ORP in a tank, but I suspect that in the long run it will be very rewarding to focus on the rH directly. It does seem that it is the biological (bacterial) activity in the tank that causes the further left shift in the ORP, and would enable lower rH, and thus more Hydride (H- ions, negative Hydrogen ions, or Hydride) in the water, giving it anti-oxidant properties.

quote
Bacterial Activity
Bacterial action, by both anaerobic and aerobic bacteria, can significantly change the ORP of a mass of water (underground aquifer, lake, stream, bay) over time, due to biochemical action. Generally, this shift is in the negative direction, toward a lower ORP, but the direction and amount of shift in ORP will depend entirely upon the bacteria present, bacterial foods, other substances present in the water, as well as temperature and other factors.
unquote (from: h-minus-ion.vpinf.com/Methods-to-modify-ORP-water-1.html)

I use a spreadsheet for my water parameters, and it computes the rH automatically. For the moment, my limitation is my API pH water test, but once I switch to an electronic tester, my pH readings will become even more accurate.