White film during fishless cycle?

[KevinVA]

Big difference between 2 and 5. Two is like a light lilac and 5 is a deep purple.

My tank got a bit of slime on the glass when I was cycling, too. It might have been the aloe or stress coat in my water conditioner, too. I just wiped it off with a paper towel.

I think it must be 2ppm, then. It looked more like lilac. My test colors look very similar, though. Had to ask my wife if she saw a difference. She said the 2 looked more pinkish than the bottom one.

I've noticed that my rocks also have some growth on them, as well, but not white. It must be related to the cycle, somehow. Odd stuff.

[homemadepopcorn]

A bacterial bloom would cloud up your water, it wouldnt make clumps of nasty in your substrate... I don't know to be honest... could be mineral wool from the plants if they came in that....

[KevinVA]

A bacterial bloom would cloud up your water, it wouldnt make clumps of nasty in your substrate... I don't know to be honest... could be mineral wool from the plants if they came in that....

I would assume if they came with anything, I'd have seen them immediately. They just appeared today, after 4 days from planting my last shipment of plants.

Do you think it could be a reaction from the flourish tabs? I just placed them in the tank a couple of days ago. Mineral overload?

[KevinVA]

Hey guys,

Quick question about fishless cycling: I started the cycle, dosing with pure ammonia. I brought the Ammonia levels up to 4ppm and as soon as I saw Nitrites and my Ammonia level was down to 2ppm, I dosed again to bring the Ammonia levels up to 4ppm.

Now, my levels are the following (after about 2 weeks):

Ammonia = 4ppm
Nitrites = 5ppm
Nitrates = 5ppm

Should I be continuing to dose with Ammonia, but only a little bit each day, or should I stop dosing? I only dosed to bring the levels back up to 4ppm, but now it's not going down... while Nitrites & Nitrates are going up.

[MetalMike415]

Let the ammonia go to 0ppm then dose 2ppm of ammonia once per day.

[KevinVA]

Let the ammonia go to 0ppm then dose 2ppm of ammonia once per day.

Got it. Thanks Mike