Hello all, I'm for advice/reassurance. I've been cycling my 29 gallon freshwater for 13 days now. I've got a seargeant major loach in there, who has proved miraculously hearty (diurnal too, go figure), as well as 3 zebra danios, and 5 neon tetras. I realize that this is a bit ambitious for a fishy cycle, but I've been having a lot of 20/20 hindsight since experiencing a renaissance in my fishkeeping ability and research. I also have 4 java ferns, 4 acorus gramineus, and a wee dwarf anubia in there. For lighting, I've got a 65 watt full spectrum coralife light, with 2 moonglow lights. An air pump runs on my night timer, adding a small amount of air bubbles during the night.
Anyway, I've been checking my chemistry daily, and my ph is usually around 7.4, ammonia around .25, and no positive nitrate. I didn't have a nitrite kit until day 7 (smacked myself and ran out to get one), and never got a single positive nitrite once I started testing. Today, however, (day 13), I got my first very slightly positive nitrate reading, probably 1 ppm. No nitrites, and my ph is a solid 7.0. I thought my ammonia was still .25ppm, but I'm colorblind a bit, and my fiancee assures me it's in fact 0, or just slightly above. In any case, it looks like I'm finally in the beginning stages of a cycled tank. Curiously, with daily readings, I did not register an ammonia spike at all! I was poised to spring into action with water changes or amquel (think that's it), but I never really got close to the "danger" zone. I did add "stress zyme", one of those crappy "live bacteria starters", but I doubt it did much good. Anyone else have a cycle start without registering a serious ammonia spike?
MY QUESTION: around day 10, I started getting the white cloud so often associated with new tank syndrome. on day 12, the cloud was so thick that I did a 20% water change ahead of schedule (fridays are the daily 10% for me), just to be safe. After a lot of reading, I concluded (not to say I'm right) that I've got an abundance of heterotrophic bacteria blooming in my water column, since the established little buggers in the medium haven't caught up yet (I've got gravel and a biowheel). After the water change, though, the bloom seems to have intensified. This seems common after reading a lot of other "white cloudy water" searches in the forums. I have definitely been overfeeding, adding what I thought was a pinch of flakes twice a day, and then feeding frozen tubifex or daphnia in small amounts every three feedings or so. I always THINK I'm not overfeeding, and then I read more, and of course, I'm overfeeding.
Anyway, I've cut back their food immensely, feeding only a miniscule pinch of flake (I actually measure and observe that I give no more than four or five flakes crumbled up - I was feeding about 10 - 12) once a day after a 36 hour fast. I'm holding off on frozen until the bloom clears a bit. Is the overfeeding causing the bloom? Can I expect it to go away BECAUSE my colonies seem to be establishing themselves? I guess I know it WILL go away, I'm just curious about the mechanisms of why it appears, and why it will go away. Is it simply a question of different strains of bacteria competing with one another? My course of action now is cut back on food, don't fiddle with the water, i.e. no changes, and absolutely no additives like flocculents, cloud-away, or other such things. Only thing that goes in is water conditioner; I'm using "stress coat", which I checked to make sure has sodium thiosulfate.
Also, I'm getting this tank prepared for a shoal of 6 glass cats. I've got a powerhead going at the mid-level of the tank, since I hear they appreciate currents, and I'm adding a pennywort today to add some cover along the surface. Any advice on this notion? I want to get the tank really healthy for the glass cats since I hear they're picky and fragile, and I guess I'm just tired of committing fish genocide with my lack of knowledge.
I have to say, I'm an aquarium addict now, and this forum has given me an explosion of knowledge. Now I know how much I don't know, and it's exciting getting deeper into this hobby and all its little nuances. A generic thanks to the forum...
:coffee:
Abilor
Anyway, I've been checking my chemistry daily, and my ph is usually around 7.4, ammonia around .25, and no positive nitrate. I didn't have a nitrite kit until day 7 (smacked myself and ran out to get one), and never got a single positive nitrite once I started testing. Today, however, (day 13), I got my first very slightly positive nitrate reading, probably 1 ppm. No nitrites, and my ph is a solid 7.0. I thought my ammonia was still .25ppm, but I'm colorblind a bit, and my fiancee assures me it's in fact 0, or just slightly above. In any case, it looks like I'm finally in the beginning stages of a cycled tank. Curiously, with daily readings, I did not register an ammonia spike at all! I was poised to spring into action with water changes or amquel (think that's it), but I never really got close to the "danger" zone. I did add "stress zyme", one of those crappy "live bacteria starters", but I doubt it did much good. Anyone else have a cycle start without registering a serious ammonia spike?
MY QUESTION: around day 10, I started getting the white cloud so often associated with new tank syndrome. on day 12, the cloud was so thick that I did a 20% water change ahead of schedule (fridays are the daily 10% for me), just to be safe. After a lot of reading, I concluded (not to say I'm right) that I've got an abundance of heterotrophic bacteria blooming in my water column, since the established little buggers in the medium haven't caught up yet (I've got gravel and a biowheel). After the water change, though, the bloom seems to have intensified. This seems common after reading a lot of other "white cloudy water" searches in the forums. I have definitely been overfeeding, adding what I thought was a pinch of flakes twice a day, and then feeding frozen tubifex or daphnia in small amounts every three feedings or so. I always THINK I'm not overfeeding, and then I read more, and of course, I'm overfeeding.
Anyway, I've cut back their food immensely, feeding only a miniscule pinch of flake (I actually measure and observe that I give no more than four or five flakes crumbled up - I was feeding about 10 - 12) once a day after a 36 hour fast. I'm holding off on frozen until the bloom clears a bit. Is the overfeeding causing the bloom? Can I expect it to go away BECAUSE my colonies seem to be establishing themselves? I guess I know it WILL go away, I'm just curious about the mechanisms of why it appears, and why it will go away. Is it simply a question of different strains of bacteria competing with one another? My course of action now is cut back on food, don't fiddle with the water, i.e. no changes, and absolutely no additives like flocculents, cloud-away, or other such things. Only thing that goes in is water conditioner; I'm using "stress coat", which I checked to make sure has sodium thiosulfate.
Also, I'm getting this tank prepared for a shoal of 6 glass cats. I've got a powerhead going at the mid-level of the tank, since I hear they appreciate currents, and I'm adding a pennywort today to add some cover along the surface. Any advice on this notion? I want to get the tank really healthy for the glass cats since I hear they're picky and fragile, and I guess I'm just tired of committing fish genocide with my lack of knowledge.
I have to say, I'm an aquarium addict now, and this forum has given me an explosion of knowledge. Now I know how much I don't know, and it's exciting getting deeper into this hobby and all its little nuances. A generic thanks to the forum...
:coffee:
Abilor
