added 2 new fish and got new filter...mini cycle?

djmodifyd

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Jan 26, 2006
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hey all
i recently added 2 5" blood parrots to my 60gal cycled tank.
I also purchased a xp3 filter. I removed all of the bio disc things from my old filter and put them in one of the baskets..also took one of the 2 carbon filters and put that into the new one. and of course i now have the bio stars and the foam and what not that came with the new xp3.

but i tested last night and everything was up...ammonia nitrate and nitrite.

i did water change..and tested again this afternoon.

ammonia: .75ish! between .5 and 1
nitrite: .5
nitrate 20

im hoping im in a mini cycle and this will fix itself in the next few days.

I thought i did everything correct by moving all media from old filter to the new one to save the colonies.
is it just the new blood parrots creating such a huge spike?
thanks


ps. im in the process of doing a large water change right now to bring those scary levels back down
 
IMO, you did it right adding the old filter media to the new filter; but I have a question:
Was the tank without fishes before adding the 2 blood parrots?
 
You increased the bio-load...it is to be expected...
 
Just keep doing water changes until it settles down.
 
Just keep doing water changes until it settles down.

:iagree:. It will settle down soon, unless those other 20 fishes are as big as the blood parrots. In that case, you may be reaching the maximum bio-load the tank can handle and you will have to do more frequent water changes in order to avoid ammonia spikes.
 
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