Ah man! Please tell me I didn't start my cycle again!!

PattyCakes81 · Apr 7, 2014

After I setup a new tank because my old one leaked, I tested the water parameters and they were all zeros!
That was on March 5, 2014.

Today, something told me to test the water parameters. The results were:
Ammonia .25 ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrates 0ppm

Tell me it ain't so

Did my cycle crashed?

Feeling more said,
Patty

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Fish_Bone · Apr 8, 2014

Patty it is quite possible you are having a mini cycle occurring. No worries though, just start doing small water changes daily or every other day to get through it.

If when you broke the old tank down you let the filter dry and or the substrate then it would have killed the beneficial bacteria. But no sense in stressing now. Just keep up WC and testing regularly for awhile.

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Star_Rider · Apr 8, 2014

did you move any media over from the old tank?

if so you may see a mini cycle as the bacteria catch up.

PattyCakes81 · Apr 8, 2014

Fish_Bone said:
Patty it is quite possible you are having a mini cycle occurring. No worries though, just start doing small water changes daily or every other day to get through it.

If when you broke the old tank down you let the filter dry and or the substrate then it would have killed the beneficial bacteria. But no sense in stressing now. Just keep up WC and testing regularly for awhile.

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Thank you, I will continue WC and testing the water. The substrate did dry up. The filter media was in tank water the whole time. :banghead: rookie mistake!

Star_Rider said:
did you move any media over from the old tank?

if so you may see a mini cycle as the bacteria catch up.

I did move all the media and used the same filter that was on the old tank. Like above the substrate did dry up completely.

Just tested the water again. Ammonia is at .50ppm. Nitrite and nitrate are zero.
How much of a water change do I do?
Should I use a pouch of AquaClear 50 Ammonia Remover I have?

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FreshyFresh · Apr 9, 2014

Oh no.. Was your 20g an old tank? Did it leak from one of the corner joints? Was it on a good, solid stand it's whole life?

Like said, if you didn't keep water pumping though the old filter, much, if not ALL of the BB could have died off due to lack of oxygen and then food. It definitely would have died-off in the substrate if you let the substrate dry out completely.

If you've got fish-in right now, like said, just measure your params daily and keep up on water changes. You'll be fine!

Star_Rider · Apr 9, 2014

the bacteria can go dormant..but that said it will take time for the cycle to get re established.

is this your only tank?

I would do water changes to try and keep the ammonia low..unless you are doing a fishless cycle(I suspect you may be doing fish in)
if you are doing a fishless cycle then I wouldn't worry much about ammonia unless it gets above 4 ppm.

PattyCakes81 · Apr 9, 2014

FreshyFresh said:
Oh no.. Was your 20g an old tank? Did it leak from one of the corner joints? Was it on a good, solid stand it's whole life?

Like said, if you didn't keep water pumping though the old filter, much, if not ALL of the BB could have died off due to lack of oxygen and then food. It definitely would have died-off in the substrate if you let the substrate dry out completely.

If you've got fish-in right now, like said, just measure your params daily and keep up on water changes. You'll be fine!

Thank you Fresh. Yes my 20g was old. It was always on a solid stand. First on 1 of those black metal stand then on my current stand.
Maybe that's what I did. I didn't keep pumping oxygen into the water that the filter media.

Star_Rider said:
the bacteria can go dormant..but that said it will take time for the cycle to get re established.

is this your only tank?

I would do water changes to try and keep the ammonia low..unless you are doing a fishless cycle(I suspect you may be doing fish in)
if you are doing a fishless cycle then I wouldn't worry much about ammonia unless it gets above 4 ppm.

Thank you Star.
Now it is my only tank. Letting the old 20g dry to reseal it.

I bought another 20 gallon that is the one that I think is going through a mini-cycle (hopefully).

I don't have where else to put the 5 cardinal tetra and the nerite snail currently in the new tank.

I have a box of AquaClear ammonia remover, do I use it? Or you guys don't recommend that?

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Symbol · Apr 11, 2014

I'm not familiar with how AquaClear ammonia remover works. Some ammonia removers detoxify the ammonia but leave it in a state that makes it still available to the beneficial bacteria. If that's the case, I would say that it's probably okay to use it. Otherwise, I would steer clear of it for now since removing the ammonia would also remove your beneficial bacteria's food source which would mean you'd just have to cycle the tank all over again once the ammonia started building up again.

I think that your fish will probably be okay as long as you're able to keep the ammonia below 0.50ppm and nitrites below 1ppm. If ammonia is up at 0.50 now, you might want to do a 25-30% water change. Keep testing so that you can see when it creeps back up again and do another water change. Hopefully the bacteria will be able to catch up to the ammonia production soon.


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Ah man! Please tell me I didn't start my cycle again!!

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