Cycling with low Ph / soft water

[abcdefghi]

I am looking for ideas on what to do with my tank, its stuck cycling. I added ammonia on Sept 25th and am still showing 0 nitrites or nitrates. The problem I believe comes from my well water being both very low pH and very soft.

I had previously managed to cycle it (in several months) and believe that using Seachem Stability may have aided the cycle (not yet tried to use this again yet). After the tank had cycled (I know it did as ammonia/nitrite dissapeared and nitrate showed up in large levels) all levels eventually read (ammonia/nitrite/nitrates) read 0 (tank was stocked lightly) and 50% water was changed weekly.

But I am possibly getting a larger tank in the next couple of months, and am trying to figure out what options I have with cycling. Should I try some chemical options to get the tank cycled? if my ph and gH/kH are very low, would that cause bacteria to die off again once the tank was cycled, despite there then being fish in the tank to produce ammonia for the bacteria to feed on? :huh:

I had been really enjoying the fish I had before losing them all, but am now stuck trying to cycle a 10G (if only to use filters/gravel to seed the larger tank at this point).

Depending on the size of the new tank, would it be possible to lightly stock and do a fish cycle? although I would prefer fishless. If I went this route could I eventually add (albeit very slowly) additional fish? For example if the new tank was a 55G could I add 6 glowlight tetras and once the tank cycled add 1 glowlight a month later, another a month later etc until I had the levels I wanted?

Sorry for so many questions, I am fed up with an empty tank and pretty sure my water conditions are the root of all the problems, but short of chemicals (not a route I really want to take) I am not sure what I can do.

Thanks.

 

[Star_Rider]

it depends.. very low pH (6.0) may stall a cycle as bacteria may not be able to thrive in this 'acid' condition. what is your pH.

 

[DisgruntledUser]

what is the ph of your source water after sitting 24 hours? ammonia should be added daily during a fishless cycle. perhaps add a ph buffer to around 7 during cycling, maybe would allow bacteria to establish. oh yea, water changes are very important during cycling too.

 

[Hank]

I don't think your low pH will affect your cycling! I believe your tank has cycled even though your readings are 0. Due to the 50% water changes could lower your NO3 or your tester is old. How about doing 20% water change every 2 weeks only because you have a light fish load. Needless to say the fish poop and food will cause the NO3 and PO4 to rise
I assume you do have some sort of biological filtration.. ;>)

 

[southpaw]

A pH below 6.0 can stall a cycle out... I had pH drops during my fishless cycle to 6.0 or below and it would stall it out. I would do a 30% water change or so to buffer the water back and it would do fine for awhile.... I got where I would start keeping a check on it weekly and do a WC if I noticed it getting around the 6.0 mark.

Like mentioned above ...if your well water has that low of a natural pH you might can use something to buffer it higher while it is cycling and stop using it once it is done and fish are added.... Baking soda works good for raising the pH and is cheap.

 

[artdale]

Bacteria use OH- iones (and O2) to break ammonia into nitrites acidifying water so, during cycling, keep (water oxigenated and) kh quite high (I stabilized kh around 7-8 dKh/130-140 ppm) to "buffer" ph.
You may add calcium, potassium and/or sodium bicarbonate to raise kh (and consequently ph). Best use a kh-up commercial product in order to add the right mix of minerals to the water. Test your gh too and, in case of need, use commercial products in order to keep this measure also under control.

PS: You may also use baking soda to keep kh high but be careful using it. If you use too much sodium bicarbonate you may alter the iones equilibrium between sodium and potassium. So if you have to raise kh up a couple of dKh degrees, no problem. If you have to rise your kh more than 2-3 degrees better use a right mix of sodium and potassium bicarbonate
Calcium carbonate may also be used to rise both kh and gh or, in order to rise gh you may use calcium chloride and magnesium sulfate (epsom salt).

 

[artdale]

Sorry, I don't know why, but I'm not able to edit my previous message any more.
So, in order to use baking soda to raise kh, when i gave the measure of a couple of degrees I had in mind a "medium" kh, say, to raise kh from 5-6 to 7-8.
Obviously you probably have a much lower kh, so adding only baking soda to rise 1-2 dkh means a lot in terms of percentage of sodium over potassium. Better use the mix of bicarbonates. In other words better think in terms of percentages...