So i've had this 10g tank for 8 weeks now and there has been no spike in nitrites or nitrates the only thing i see is a trace of ammonia which spikes from here to there. I have been doing regular water changes but it seems like this tank is not cycling at all. I am cycling with three danios. Have an aquaclear twenty filter and have a marineland heater. Thought i was doing everything right and I have been waiting patiently but nothing is cycling. Any ideas of what could be wrong????
Problem cycling??
- Thread starter FiShNoObIe88
- Start date
I am in the process of ending my nitrogen cycle. I didn't make any WC since late January till today, just topping up some lost water due to evaporation. During the 2nd week of the process, I checked water parameters and found to have considerable amount of ammonia as I spiked the tank with a dead fresh prawn from my kitchen's refrigerator during the initial stage of the cycle. During the third week, ammonia was still around but negligibly but there was a tremendous amount of nitrite. Now in its 4th week, no ammonia but 0.1 nitrite. I have started introducing some fish so that the BB has some food.
My 3 feet 200 ltrs (round up) tank uses a DIY OHF consisting of mechanical and biological filtration of ceramic rings of about 2 kgs. A 500 ltr/hr power head is used to pump the water from the tank to the OHF.
IMHO, WC shouldn't be done during the cycling process but I maybe wrong.
Perhaps other forum members would like to give their inputs also.
My 3 feet 200 ltrs (round up) tank uses a DIY OHF consisting of mechanical and biological filtration of ceramic rings of about 2 kgs. A 500 ltr/hr power head is used to pump the water from the tank to the OHF.
IMHO, WC shouldn't be done during the cycling process but I maybe wrong.
Perhaps other forum members would like to give their inputs also.
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Water changes don't hurt the cycling process, it just might tank longer. If there's ammonia present then the tank will cycle. Is there live plants in the tank?
FN;
Nothing is wrong.
With the 3 danios you will not observe the typical spikes.
Time to start very slowly adding fish.
TR
there are no live plants but i will slowly begin to add more fish. What should i add and how many? and how often? thanks for the help in advance
I would reccomend having a ph test first test your tapwater rested for 24 hours then compear it to the ph inyour tank thelower ph is the slower bacteria reproduce so if ph is at 6 bacteria go into a dormant stage or may even die if your danios are still alive consider yourself lucky that they acclimated but also check your tap water ammonia nitrite and nitrate just in case because it could mess up your results if ammonia is dark green or turns into purpilish blue it is way off the chart do a 100% water change and you should still have ammonia in the tank i did this and i still had 2 ppm ammonia if ammonia keeps trying to spike just lower your ammonia ur goal is to maintain lower than 5ppm for api testkits lower or at 4 ppm just dont gravel vac unless you have fish and if you dont have fish put your heater to 80-81 degrees Farhenheit good luck and consider your self lucky because when i found all this out i had wasted 4 months of my time with no ammonia down no nitrites or nitrates the reason i say it's important to keep your ammonia down is because if level rise above5ppm it can inhibit bacteria growth and your cycle will stall or they just stop reproducing due to the bacterias bio feedback mechanisim just have patience even though its hard
ps once you see nitrites keep it low too dont let it get to high and nitrates the final result can be kept under 20 ppm plants would help but the problem is they will take away ammonia and nitrates so youll never know if your cycle completed if theres bacteria in the tank or if your filter is just the plant make sure if you have activated carbon you change it every 4-6 weeks (reccomend 4 weeks) if the carbon gets to old it will release all the toxins it has absorbed back into the water there for polluting your water and if you dont have fish i really reccomend fishless cycling because i find it easier in forgiving errors and if you can get filter media or gravel from another tank (filterfloss, sponges) you can go to your lfs see if they'll sell you some used filter floss from a oscar tank or chilcilds since there very messy if they wont give you the filter then ask them if they could give you some filter floss squeezing or sponge squeezings Good luck and sorry it's so long trying to help you
Reccomend a 30G aqueon filter
Fishless cycle web sites
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f15/fishless-cycling-for-dummies-103339.html
Fishless cycle data
http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/flc-data.htm
http://thegab.org/Water-Quality/fishless-cycling-data.html
Good luck if youre getting ammonia make sure shake it if it foams but it back its no god it has to say clear ammonia or pure ammonia only ingridents should be ammonium hydroxide and water there should be no phosphates itll help you know the ammonia concentrationtoo if you do know it just go to google and google ammonia caluclator for fishless cycle and you should be fine once again for the last time good luck i hope i helped
ps once you see nitrites keep it low too dont let it get to high and nitrates the final result can be kept under 20 ppm plants would help but the problem is they will take away ammonia and nitrates so youll never know if your cycle completed if theres bacteria in the tank or if your filter is just the plant make sure if you have activated carbon you change it every 4-6 weeks (reccomend 4 weeks) if the carbon gets to old it will release all the toxins it has absorbed back into the water there for polluting your water and if you dont have fish i really reccomend fishless cycling because i find it easier in forgiving errors and if you can get filter media or gravel from another tank (filterfloss, sponges) you can go to your lfs see if they'll sell you some used filter floss from a oscar tank or chilcilds since there very messy if they wont give you the filter then ask them if they could give you some filter floss squeezing or sponge squeezings Good luck and sorry it's so long trying to help you
Reccomend a 30G aqueon filter
Fishless cycle web sites
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f15/fishless-cycling-for-dummies-103339.html
Fishless cycle data
http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/flc-data.htm
http://thegab.org/Water-Quality/fishless-cycling-data.html
Good luck if youre getting ammonia make sure shake it if it foams but it back its no god it has to say clear ammonia or pure ammonia only ingridents should be ammonium hydroxide and water there should be no phosphates itll help you know the ammonia concentrationtoo if you do know it just go to google and google ammonia caluclator for fishless cycle and you should be fine once again for the last time good luck i hope i helped
Well said Bartny
In terms of what you could add...you could complete that danio school by adding another 3
I agree with going to the LFS and asking for some established media...or you have any family / friends that have tanks and would be willing to cut a piece of the filter floss or give up a handful of gravel
that will really set your mind at ease
In terms of what you could add...you could complete that danio school by adding another 3
I agree with going to the LFS and asking for some established media...or you have any family / friends that have tanks and would be willing to cut a piece of the filter floss or give up a handful of gravel
that will really set your mind at ease
In response to what is in bold.
It is a myth that activated will leech what it has adsorbed back into the aquarium. If your tank had the temperature required to cause carbon to leech out what it has adsorbed there would be no water left as it would all have turned to steam.
But I agree with the fishless cycle.