Exactly How Long Does Cycling Take?

[goldentiff]

I have a 55 gallon, which after a week of being fishless, I had my lfs check the water quality and it was perfect. I added a common pleco (aprox 7-8 inches) and left it there for 3 days alone. Then I added 2 male convicts and 4 blue gouramis. All was fine. Afterward I added 6 african cichlids and some snails (4 black and 1 apple).
A month later all was still fine, then I had a bacterial bloom. I did a 50% wc, and thats when all went crazy.

All the levels are fine (at 0%) except for for nitrites. Its off the wall at 5. I have tried doing 10% wc daily, Cycle, Bio-spira (2x). Its been over a month now and still the nitrite just will not go down.

What can I do or is this normal?


P.S. I have lost 4 of the cichlids.

HELP

[kyle3]

sounds like your cycle has never really finished and your water changes aren't big enough

10% will make almost no dent in the nitrite level

do a 60 % water change once a day until you get the nitrites down to .25ppm and them monitor closely and do huge water changes when necissary- it could take another month it depends on a lot of suttle little variables

good luck! -Kyle

[goldentiff]

I was only doing 10% because that is what the kid at the lfs said. He said I messed up by doing 50% change, that I had removed all the good bacteria.
He recommended Bio-Spira. He said that cycles a fish tank pretty much overnight. He also said I should NEVER change more then 30% of water.

OK, I now know NOT to trust him. But I still don't understand...will the water changes kill the good bacteria or not?

[LunchBox]

nope. those bacteria live in your filter and substrate.. water changes will not affect it :)

[hurricanejedi]

Yah its a common misconception. The bacteria are not freeswimming. They will live on porous surfaces. Doing water changes won't hurt your bacteria.

[kyle3]

infact water changes help your bacterial colonies b/c they need oxygenated water in order to survive

[EcoPit]

You can't do big water changes for a day or two after adding the BioSpira, but once it is established then changing water [with dechlorinated water] will not affect your bacteria. The bacteria that convert the nitrite to ammonia can be the slowest step in the cycling process. Just keep doing about 50% water changes to get the nitrite down and wait. It took many weeks for me, but I was doing it fishless so the only problem was impatience.

[goldentiff]

Ok, I just added the 2nd Bio-Spire yesterday, so I should wait until at least Saturday before doing any more wc.

Got it.

How about cleaning the gravel. I tried buying the gravel vacuum, 2x it broke and it didn't do a very good job. Now when I clean the tank (not just w/c) I syphon out about 25% of gravel and then put it back in. Is this bad? and if yes then how do I clean the bottom of the tank?

[goldentiff]

Sorry I didn't say it before but THANKS so much for all your responses. Its been so very helpful.

[kyle3]

broken how?

you should vacume the gravel every time you do a water change

there's no reason you should be sucking gravel out of the tank i wonder if you got a faulty one or something

try controling the water flow by bending the hose and releasing or tightening depending on how fast you want the water to come out

[kyle3]

we are always happy to help. . . humbly and dutifully (that last bit is sarcatic ;) )

[goldentiff]

I bought the first one (battery operated) and it seemed to be very weak but with patience it got the job done. One day I came home and my husband had tried to clean the tank and the tip of it had broken off.

The second one was the same thing except this time it was with me. But I found both had very weak suction.


P.S. I am from NY - I am the definition of sarcasm according to my co-workers. :eek:

[Jay-Stew]

Hi, You are never going to get your gravel 100% clean evrytime. Just try your best each time and evrything should balance itself out. You don't want to clean the gravel 100% anyways there are some good bacteria living in there. You could try a bit smaller gravel vac. to slow down the sunction power. i have a 65 G and I use a Python sytem it is well worth the $$.

[goldentiff]

I bought the first one (battery operated) and it seemed to be very weak but with patience it got the job done. One day I came home and my husband had tried to clean the tank and the tip of it had broken off.

The second one was the same thing except this time it was with me. But I found both had very weak suction.


P.S. I am from NY - I am the definition of sarcasm according to my co-workers. :eek:

[kyle3]

i've never had a battery opperated one and i just bought i python that i'm learning to use (seems to have lower suction)

up until the last water change i did i just used a good old fashioned siphon with the larger section for seperating the gravel and it has plenty of suction

no one said 100% clean- but you have quite a few fish that are going to produce some serious waste so a good thorough vacume is needed on a weekly basis- i've never heard of anyone having a problem with too little rotting organic matter.

[mishi8]

I bought the first one (battery operated) and it seemed to be very weak but with patience it got the job done. One day I came home and my husband had tried to clean the tank and the tip of it had broken off.

The second one was the same thing except this time it was with me. But I found both had very weak suction.


P.S. I am from NY - I am the definition of sarcasm according to my co-workers. :eek:

Try a regular (not battery operated) gravel vaccuum. They should provide enough suction to easily clean the detritus out of the gravel. You can get one from Big Al's for as little as $3 (for small tanks) or $8-$10 (for large tanks.)

[Star_Rider]

I just use a siphon gravel vac..they run about $7. I vac about 50% of the tank at a cleaning..

and can easily clean 1/2 of the gravel..the vac should suck up water n the tube with gravel the gravel is heavey enough that about 1/3 of the way up it fall back down.