Cycling

The nitrite plateau is testing our patience. After four days at 5.0 ppm, we’re doing water changes to keep the snails alive while waiting for biology to catch up.

Nitrite hit 5.0 ppm today—the maximum our test kit can measure. Our snails are stressed, and we did our first water change.

Two weeks since setup, and the cycle is entering its next phase. Nitrite is rising—which is exactly what should happen.

We couldn’t wait any longer. With ammonia at safe levels, we added our first livestock: three Nerite snails.

Twelve days in, and we got the news we’d been waiting for: ammonia is dropping!

Ten days in, and we’re starting to see the first real evidence that the nitrogen cycle is progressing. The numbers are moving in the right direction.

A full week since setup. The water is clear, the plants are settling in, and the nitrogen cycle is progressing exactly as expected.

The first two weeks of cycling brought stable parameters and growing plants. The silent cycle hypothesis is looking more likely with each test.

Three days of staring at a cloudy tank. Today we finally got to test the water, and the results were interesting.