Freshwater cycling

Yup, (most likely)your plants ate'm.

With a very small fish load and all the stuff that you put in from other tanks. You could very well have enough bacteria to do what your seeing.

Being only two days though. I'd let it run for at least a week before comming to too many conclusions. And adding more fish.

Good luck with it.
Welcome to AC!

And might wanna start a thread in General/freshwater, incase this gets to be a long drawn out discussion.

Thanks for all the information I have just set up my 48g tank two days ago with plants and plan to transfer some of the gravel from my small tank to help get it started. Current readings are ammonia 0 nitrite 0.25 and nitrate 80. Following reading this I have a much better idea of how the ammonia/nitrite/nitrate interact

Based on the information above I will add a couple of fish in a week or so and continue testing daily and doing water changes to keep the nitrate down ... the guy at the shop said it would be OK to start adding fish after a week but from alot of stuff I had read on this website I was starting to doubt that as being possible!

So thanks to everyone for their input ... best website for getting sensible information that I have ever come across!!

Has anyone on this forum ever started a fishless cycle by directly adding ammonia with surfactants? There seem to be lots of people with firm opinions -- one way or the other -- about the toxicity of surfactants to aquatic animals, but I can't find any posts from anyone who's actually done it. My own research indicates that the most likely surfactants to be found in household ammonia cleaner are nonylphenols, which are very toxic. However, I suspect that they could be reduced to safe levels with massive water changes when (if) the cycle is complete.

Despite the probable toxicity to fish and inverts, I wonder what surfactants would do to the bacteria. The bacteria need to attach themselves to a fixed surface in a current. This is provided by the filter. Once there, with sufficient food (ammonia, nitrite) they multiply into colonies, still firmly attached to the surface. One of the main properties of surfactants is that they prevent things from sticking together. If the bacteria cannot attach because of the surfactants, then they can only float in the water column or settle to the bottom. Either way they won't be able to form colonies and the cycle will never get past the ammonia spike.

Anyone?

Ya know, I've always wondered the same thing...when I did my first fishless cycle I just followed conventional wisdom and bought "pure" ammonia.

I wonder how true this is...

http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/274723-how-dangerous-are-surfactants/

Surfactants (detergents) break down the meniscus (water surface) ad this prevents the gasses from staying in the water. Normally the surface tension on the meniscus holds a certain amount of oxygen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide in the water. A small amount can naturally and slowly pass through the meniscus without any problems. However, if you add soap/ detergent, then the surface tension is broken and the gasses can go in and out very quickly. Because water is under more pressure than air, the gasses are forced out of the water and into the air. This causes the water to become depleted of oxygen and the fish suffocate.
In a healthy aquatic environment, detergents can be broken down in a few days (by various bacteria and through dilution) and any fish that survived the low oxygen should make a full recovery. If the fish are exposed to a low gas environment (low oxygen, nitrogen & carbon dioxide) for an extended period of time and survive, then they can have problems due to their body not having enough nitrogen and oxygen in it.

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Fish food method?

I can't find pure ammonia (without surfactants), so I'm going with the fish food method. However, this is day three of adding fish food, and my ammonia level is still zero. :huh: How long should it take for the ammonia to build up to appreciable levels in a 3-gallon tank? (I'm using about six goldfish pellets once daily.) My ammonia/nitrite test kit only barely expired in September, so I doubt that's the problem...

Help? :1zhelp:

i have a question on the fish cycling. i was wondering when you do water changes.. how do you know u have to do one. it says do one frequently but when do you know and how much of a water change do you do?

also when you have your nitrites and ammonia at 0 how much of a water change would you do.

also what is a good fish to start out with for fish cycling?

I am interested to know about the differences in advice on the end stages of a cycle, I got mine to clear the nitrite (finally!) but since then have only been topping off ammonia to 1ppm and it only just clears that much in 12 hours. Should I ramp it up slowly to 5ppm over several days or just bung 5ppm in there, I am afraid of another giant nitrite spike

I had a 75 gallon tank set up for a while (over 2 years). Unfortunately my fish eventually passed and I decided to clean the tank (as well as filters, bio-wheels, EVERYTHING) well with soap and water on Wednesday 3/12. That night the tank was set up, filled, and dosed with Stress Coat+ and Stress Zyme.

Doesn't the Stress Zyme add biological bacteria to speed up the cycling process?

EDIT: I also wanted to add that at one point about a month ago my sand was taken out of the tank and placed in a 5 gallon bucket. It was rinsed with hose water but never came in contact with any soap or anything. Do you think this still contains bacteria that will aid the cycling process?

jri4 said:

I had a 75 gallon tank set up for a while (over 2 years). Unfortunately my fish eventually passed and I decided to clean the tank (as well as filters, bio-wheels, EVERYTHING) well with soap and water on Wednesday 3/12. That night the tank was set up, filled, and dosed with Stress Coat+ and Stress Zyme.

Doesn't the Stress Zyme add biological bacteria to speed up the cycling process?

Click to expand...

First off DON"T EVER, EVER, USE SOAP ON AQUARIUM STUFF, it is nearly impossible to remove all traces of it and it WILL KILL YOUR FISH. Sorry if I seem harsh, I am not trying to be. The capital letters are just to emphasise the point.

Also Stress Zyme most likely contains the wrong kind of bacteria.