Hello all,
I'm new to the forum and new to the aquarium fun. And I need some advice regarding my apparently stalled fishless cycle.
I got a new 36 gallon tank 4 weeks ago and seeded the tank with filter media from my established 10 gallon tank and dosed (2ppm) with Dr. Tim's ammonia. The cycle started immediately and was consuming .5ppm of ammonia daily but after just 5 days, the cycle stalled and ammonia stopped falling. That's when I noticed a chemically smell (like faint burning rubber) coming from the water. A few days later (ammonia still not dropping), I decided some of the fake ornaments, gravel, etc might not have been rinsed well (causing that smell) and maybe some chemical on them killed the beneficial bacterial.
So I did a 90% water change, put in API stresscoat+ (as the water conditioner), waited 24 hours, dosed with ammonia (2ppm) and added Tetra Safe Start. A week later, the ammonia started to drop, but then stalled again.
I noticed the PH was quite high (8.6 - my tap is 7.4), so I used chemicals to lower the PH to 7.6 (I know I probably shouldn't have now).
Anyway, it's been 3 weeks since I used the TSS and although ammonia was dropping about 10 days ago, it's not now. Right now, ammonia is 2ppm, nitrites 0ppm, nitrates 2ppm, PH 7.8. temperature 81°.
So, how should I proceed? Should I do another water change (I can still faintly smell that chemical? Get more TSS? Our should I just be more patient and keep waiting?
I'm anxious to get my fish in there!
Thank you for the help!!
I'm new to the forum and new to the aquarium fun. And I need some advice regarding my apparently stalled fishless cycle.
I got a new 36 gallon tank 4 weeks ago and seeded the tank with filter media from my established 10 gallon tank and dosed (2ppm) with Dr. Tim's ammonia. The cycle started immediately and was consuming .5ppm of ammonia daily but after just 5 days, the cycle stalled and ammonia stopped falling. That's when I noticed a chemically smell (like faint burning rubber) coming from the water. A few days later (ammonia still not dropping), I decided some of the fake ornaments, gravel, etc might not have been rinsed well (causing that smell) and maybe some chemical on them killed the beneficial bacterial.
So I did a 90% water change, put in API stresscoat+ (as the water conditioner), waited 24 hours, dosed with ammonia (2ppm) and added Tetra Safe Start. A week later, the ammonia started to drop, but then stalled again.
I noticed the PH was quite high (8.6 - my tap is 7.4), so I used chemicals to lower the PH to 7.6 (I know I probably shouldn't have now).
Anyway, it's been 3 weeks since I used the TSS and although ammonia was dropping about 10 days ago, it's not now. Right now, ammonia is 2ppm, nitrites 0ppm, nitrates 2ppm, PH 7.8. temperature 81°.
So, how should I proceed? Should I do another water change (I can still faintly smell that chemical? Get more TSS? Our should I just be more patient and keep waiting?
I'm anxious to get my fish in there!
Thank you for the help!!
