The Rundown on my tank:
Running for ~5 weeks now
20 Gallon High
78 degrees
PH hangs around 7.1 or so
Tank includes 1 small Java Fern and 4 bunches of Anacharis (have used no fertilizer)
3 - 15 watt flouresent tubes (2.25wpg)
HOB filter
A colony of snails that hitchhiked in on the anacharis (small pond snails I believe)
Every evening when I test, Ammonia reads Zero and I dose it with clear ammonia solution to raise it to 1ppm (which it promptly reduces back to Zero by the following day.)
About 2 1/2 weeks ago NitrItes first appeared and within a week jumped to 3.5ppm - at that time I was worrying about the cycle and decided to give myself a break and give time for the tank to work so I did not test for 3 days - 3 days later when I DID test, Nitrites had somehow dropped to 1.0. I expected the Nitrite spike to last much longer (and higher) than that. The odd thing about it is that to this day (a week solid) Nitrites have been hovering around 1.0, occasionally dropping down to about 0.5ppm but then rising back up to 1.0ppm.
I have ~20ppm NitrAtes coming directly out of the Tap water, but during the past week my tank has measured around 5ppm Nitrates or so (I mostly credit the Anacharis for that - which is what I was hoping for putting them in there.)
******************************
During the past 5 weeks I have come to realize that I have done so many things wrong with this tank that it isn't funny. I tried to cycle with plants in the tank which means I had the lights on during a fishless cycle. That has lead to me having at least 4 different types of Algae in my tank that I can identify: Brown Algae - some Green fuzzy algae (very small amount only) a funky case of Beard algae that won't go away, and most recently a really nasty cloud of Green Water algae.
I do not have tests for Phosphates, Potassium, GH, KH or Calcium/Iron etc - only PH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate.
Tonight I am attempting a blackout on the tank: I did a 50% water change then completely covered the tank in black plastic bags and dark drapes - I don't believe any light has a chance of getting through. Tonight is Monday, unless I hear otherwise I plan to uncover the tank on Saturday morning for its normal 9:30am light-on cycle giving it Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday completely in the dark.
Currently the HOB filter is on, but I am worried that having it covered in black plastic bags will burn it up - it should be ok, ya?
I do not yet have any fish in the tank so that isn't much of a worry and to be totally honest I am not overly concerned with the well-being of that minor snail infestation I have. But I AM worried about my Anacharis - much of it was just starting to settle in and showing signs of healthy growth.
I really don't want to kill them and have to start the whole process all over again and end up with the same green algae problem all over
I am also really confused about the Nitrite readings: I had expected that when the Nitrites were to start dropping that they would drop to zero realitively quickly, not fluctuate both up and down around the 1.0ppm mark. Is it possible that stage of the bacteria isn't up to snuff somehow?
To boot I was also surprised at the Nitrate readings: From reading all over the net about the Fishless Cycle, I had expected my Nitrate readings to jump WAY off the chart once my Nitrites started to drop significantly - espically considering my Tap water starts out at a good 20ppm baseline. Ironically it was the opposite that happened and I really can't fully explain why:
The day my NitrItes tested at 3.5ppm my NitrAtes also tested at 25ppm. The VERY next time I tested it (3 days later) when my NitrItes tested at down at 1.0ppm my NitrAtes tested at 7ppm (down from 25ppm instead of up!). And they have never gone up since then....dropped from 7 to 6 and from 6 to 5 where it has been hovering for days.
Any idea what could have happened inside those 3 days to cause such strange results ?
Anyway, I have read everything I can get my hands on and I can't explain my results and really do not understand where my tank is in its cycle (the plants really complicate matters - I'm over my head here.)
I have put a lot of money into this aquarium and really cannot afford to put more into it (which is why I am going the blackout route instead of a UV or other fancy filter etc etc to try to take care of the problem.)
Anyway, If I am doing anything wrong or if I should be doing something different, I really could use any advice and information anyone who has dealt with these same issues could provide.
Btw, when I was draining the water from the tank during the 50% water change, I was draining it into a white bucket and the water was very, very clearly a lime green. At first I thought it might have been a late bacterial bloom somehow, but in the past several days it has become obvious that it wasn't the bacteria. The haze was thick enough that you couldn't see from one side of the tank to the other at all.
5 weeks in I am really hoping that my cycle is nearing its end and that things will stabilize so that I can add fish soon.
Would really like to have my algae problems under control by then. For the record I do not mind having some green algae on the ornaments or substrate, but having the "Green Water" phenomenon so that I can't even see into my aquarium just totally defeats the purpose of having an aquarium to begin with
I have never done any of this before (or dealt with any of these problems obviously) so absolutely any suggestions, advice or information would be hugely appreciated. :help:
Right now I am mainly worried about the state of the fishless cycle, and what the blackout will do to my aquarium and my plants. (also having my HOB filter running when it has a plastic garbage back pressed around it - ugh)
Thanks for any help
It isn't too late for me to backtrack and forego the blackout period or something if that is a really bad (or useless) move.
Running for ~5 weeks now
20 Gallon High
78 degrees
PH hangs around 7.1 or so
Tank includes 1 small Java Fern and 4 bunches of Anacharis (have used no fertilizer)
3 - 15 watt flouresent tubes (2.25wpg)
HOB filter
A colony of snails that hitchhiked in on the anacharis (small pond snails I believe)
Every evening when I test, Ammonia reads Zero and I dose it with clear ammonia solution to raise it to 1ppm (which it promptly reduces back to Zero by the following day.)
About 2 1/2 weeks ago NitrItes first appeared and within a week jumped to 3.5ppm - at that time I was worrying about the cycle and decided to give myself a break and give time for the tank to work so I did not test for 3 days - 3 days later when I DID test, Nitrites had somehow dropped to 1.0. I expected the Nitrite spike to last much longer (and higher) than that. The odd thing about it is that to this day (a week solid) Nitrites have been hovering around 1.0, occasionally dropping down to about 0.5ppm but then rising back up to 1.0ppm.
I have ~20ppm NitrAtes coming directly out of the Tap water, but during the past week my tank has measured around 5ppm Nitrates or so (I mostly credit the Anacharis for that - which is what I was hoping for putting them in there.)
******************************
During the past 5 weeks I have come to realize that I have done so many things wrong with this tank that it isn't funny. I tried to cycle with plants in the tank which means I had the lights on during a fishless cycle. That has lead to me having at least 4 different types of Algae in my tank that I can identify: Brown Algae - some Green fuzzy algae (very small amount only) a funky case of Beard algae that won't go away, and most recently a really nasty cloud of Green Water algae.
I do not have tests for Phosphates, Potassium, GH, KH or Calcium/Iron etc - only PH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate.
Tonight I am attempting a blackout on the tank: I did a 50% water change then completely covered the tank in black plastic bags and dark drapes - I don't believe any light has a chance of getting through. Tonight is Monday, unless I hear otherwise I plan to uncover the tank on Saturday morning for its normal 9:30am light-on cycle giving it Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday completely in the dark.
Currently the HOB filter is on, but I am worried that having it covered in black plastic bags will burn it up - it should be ok, ya?
I do not yet have any fish in the tank so that isn't much of a worry and to be totally honest I am not overly concerned with the well-being of that minor snail infestation I have. But I AM worried about my Anacharis - much of it was just starting to settle in and showing signs of healthy growth.
I really don't want to kill them and have to start the whole process all over again and end up with the same green algae problem all over
I am also really confused about the Nitrite readings: I had expected that when the Nitrites were to start dropping that they would drop to zero realitively quickly, not fluctuate both up and down around the 1.0ppm mark. Is it possible that stage of the bacteria isn't up to snuff somehow?
To boot I was also surprised at the Nitrate readings: From reading all over the net about the Fishless Cycle, I had expected my Nitrate readings to jump WAY off the chart once my Nitrites started to drop significantly - espically considering my Tap water starts out at a good 20ppm baseline. Ironically it was the opposite that happened and I really can't fully explain why:
The day my NitrItes tested at 3.5ppm my NitrAtes also tested at 25ppm. The VERY next time I tested it (3 days later) when my NitrItes tested at down at 1.0ppm my NitrAtes tested at 7ppm (down from 25ppm instead of up!). And they have never gone up since then....dropped from 7 to 6 and from 6 to 5 where it has been hovering for days.
Any idea what could have happened inside those 3 days to cause such strange results ?
Anyway, I have read everything I can get my hands on and I can't explain my results and really do not understand where my tank is in its cycle (the plants really complicate matters - I'm over my head here.)
I have put a lot of money into this aquarium and really cannot afford to put more into it (which is why I am going the blackout route instead of a UV or other fancy filter etc etc to try to take care of the problem.)
Anyway, If I am doing anything wrong or if I should be doing something different, I really could use any advice and information anyone who has dealt with these same issues could provide.
Btw, when I was draining the water from the tank during the 50% water change, I was draining it into a white bucket and the water was very, very clearly a lime green. At first I thought it might have been a late bacterial bloom somehow, but in the past several days it has become obvious that it wasn't the bacteria. The haze was thick enough that you couldn't see from one side of the tank to the other at all.
5 weeks in I am really hoping that my cycle is nearing its end and that things will stabilize so that I can add fish soon.
Would really like to have my algae problems under control by then. For the record I do not mind having some green algae on the ornaments or substrate, but having the "Green Water" phenomenon so that I can't even see into my aquarium just totally defeats the purpose of having an aquarium to begin with
I have never done any of this before (or dealt with any of these problems obviously) so absolutely any suggestions, advice or information would be hugely appreciated. :help:
Right now I am mainly worried about the state of the fishless cycle, and what the blackout will do to my aquarium and my plants. (also having my HOB filter running when it has a plastic garbage back pressed around it - ugh)
Thanks for any help
It isn't too late for me to backtrack and forego the blackout period or something if that is a really bad (or useless) move.
Last edited:
