Hi all
I’m new to fish keeping and the forum and I am looking forward to the discussions and topics.
I know the title of this thread sounds like an insert in the Harry Potter novels,but it’s the only way to put it,and being a newbie,I’m baffled.
My journey into the world of fish keeping began back in February of this year,and apart from owning a very small tank as a boy,i can say I sailed with zero experience,or at least very limited.
I did a lot of reading up on the subject of the nitrogen cycle before purchasing my first tank,which after weighing the pros and cons,was a 200l.I remember how impatient I became during the fishless cycling process and being nervous of something going wrong,but it went like clockwork where the Ammonia spiked,then dropped as the nitrites went up,which in turn dropped as the nitrates went up,and I then began adding fish slowly and until a couple of days ago everything was good with “this” aquarium.
I quoted “this”,as I’ve got so drawn into the fish keeping hobby that I went and bought a new tank,a bigger one,double in volume at 400l.I began cycling this new tank just over 3 weeks ago and again I am doing a fishless cycle.I forgot to mention I cycled the first tank by way of the fish food method,and I’m doing the same with the new tank.
This is where I emphasise the word think,as I’m not sure,but I “think”something has gone wrong,either that or I’m getting ahead of myself.
I began testing the water a few days after getting the tank running and unsurprisingly I had zero ppm of anything that would indicate the beginning of the cycle.Since then I have tested the parameters on a daily basis and about a week and a half ago I got the first Ammonia reading of .25-.50 ppm and I also got the same reading the following day.
What was obvious was the brown algae,it was like a forest,so I performed a 40% water change and a bit of algae removal the next day.The following day I checked the parameters and the Ammonia had gone.I out this down to the water change,but a week and a half later and still no Ammonia.Nitrite and Nitrate have both remained on zero throughout the process so far.
pH has remained at 6.4.
That Ammonia spike has thrown me a bit and if it wasn’t for that I would be content in thinking the cycle simply hasn’t begun yet.
what’s making things worse,is that my 200l tank water is showing signs of Ammonia and I’m having to perform 50% water changes on a daily basis while waiting for this new tank to begin cycling.
I have a few questions that some may find silly to ask,as the answers are probably obvious.
Q1-has my cycle stalled or something worse?
Q2-should I give it another week,while fighting the Ammonia problem in the 200l tank?
Q3-would it be worse to transfer everything from the 200l into the 400l,including the livestock?
The fact that the smaller tank has begun to produce Ammonia isn’t helping in terms of my patience and being locked down isn’t helping with being able to go and get stuff to deal with the Ammonia,which isn’t going away.
Any advice would be much appreciated
thank you
I’m new to fish keeping and the forum and I am looking forward to the discussions and topics.
I know the title of this thread sounds like an insert in the Harry Potter novels,but it’s the only way to put it,and being a newbie,I’m baffled.
My journey into the world of fish keeping began back in February of this year,and apart from owning a very small tank as a boy,i can say I sailed with zero experience,or at least very limited.
I did a lot of reading up on the subject of the nitrogen cycle before purchasing my first tank,which after weighing the pros and cons,was a 200l.I remember how impatient I became during the fishless cycling process and being nervous of something going wrong,but it went like clockwork where the Ammonia spiked,then dropped as the nitrites went up,which in turn dropped as the nitrates went up,and I then began adding fish slowly and until a couple of days ago everything was good with “this” aquarium.
I quoted “this”,as I’ve got so drawn into the fish keeping hobby that I went and bought a new tank,a bigger one,double in volume at 400l.I began cycling this new tank just over 3 weeks ago and again I am doing a fishless cycle.I forgot to mention I cycled the first tank by way of the fish food method,and I’m doing the same with the new tank.
This is where I emphasise the word think,as I’m not sure,but I “think”something has gone wrong,either that or I’m getting ahead of myself.
I began testing the water a few days after getting the tank running and unsurprisingly I had zero ppm of anything that would indicate the beginning of the cycle.Since then I have tested the parameters on a daily basis and about a week and a half ago I got the first Ammonia reading of .25-.50 ppm and I also got the same reading the following day.
What was obvious was the brown algae,it was like a forest,so I performed a 40% water change and a bit of algae removal the next day.The following day I checked the parameters and the Ammonia had gone.I out this down to the water change,but a week and a half later and still no Ammonia.Nitrite and Nitrate have both remained on zero throughout the process so far.
pH has remained at 6.4.
That Ammonia spike has thrown me a bit and if it wasn’t for that I would be content in thinking the cycle simply hasn’t begun yet.
what’s making things worse,is that my 200l tank water is showing signs of Ammonia and I’m having to perform 50% water changes on a daily basis while waiting for this new tank to begin cycling.
I have a few questions that some may find silly to ask,as the answers are probably obvious.
Q1-has my cycle stalled or something worse?
Q2-should I give it another week,while fighting the Ammonia problem in the 200l tank?
Q3-would it be worse to transfer everything from the 200l into the 400l,including the livestock?
The fact that the smaller tank has begun to produce Ammonia isn’t helping in terms of my patience and being locked down isn’t helping with being able to go and get stuff to deal with the Ammonia,which isn’t going away.
Any advice would be much appreciated
thank you
