Hi all, my friend is setting up a 250ltr pond on her deck (fully enclosed) and is having trouble cycling it. She originally asked if she could borrow some of my goldfish to cycle it and when I said "no!" she decided to use cheap fish food to cycle it (clear ammonia doesn't seem to exist down here).
Well its been "cycling" for almost three months now with no nitrate showing whatsoever. The ammonia is off the charts, the nitrite is off the charts but still no nitrate.
According to her log book (thank god she listened when I told her to keep one) the ammonia started showing at about 2 weeks into the "cycle", the nitrite started showing about a month after that, its been almost a month an a half since the first nitrite reading and still no nitrate at all.
Its winter here and I did tell her that it might take longer to cycle in cold weather, but three months seems a little long? She won't buy any bottled bacteria for it because she's a cheap skate and I don't know what else to tell her.
So my questions are:
1. Is it normal for a pond to take this long to cycle in cold weather? Its been below 15°c for most of winter.
2. Is there anything she can do to speed it up besides buying bottled bacteria? I'm sick of the daily texts complaining that nothing's changed.
3. If I take some substrate from my goldfish's tank will the change in temperature (about 5°c drop) kill the bb on it?
4. Assuming it can survive the temperature swing, will the high amount of ammonia and nitrite in the water kill the established bb on my substrate? Or will it just start consuming it?
Thanks in advance for any help.
Well its been "cycling" for almost three months now with no nitrate showing whatsoever. The ammonia is off the charts, the nitrite is off the charts but still no nitrate.
According to her log book (thank god she listened when I told her to keep one) the ammonia started showing at about 2 weeks into the "cycle", the nitrite started showing about a month after that, its been almost a month an a half since the first nitrite reading and still no nitrate at all.
Its winter here and I did tell her that it might take longer to cycle in cold weather, but three months seems a little long? She won't buy any bottled bacteria for it because she's a cheap skate and I don't know what else to tell her.
So my questions are:
1. Is it normal for a pond to take this long to cycle in cold weather? Its been below 15°c for most of winter.
2. Is there anything she can do to speed it up besides buying bottled bacteria? I'm sick of the daily texts complaining that nothing's changed.
3. If I take some substrate from my goldfish's tank will the change in temperature (about 5°c drop) kill the bb on it?
4. Assuming it can survive the temperature swing, will the high amount of ammonia and nitrite in the water kill the established bb on my substrate? Or will it just start consuming it?
Thanks in advance for any help.
