Fishless Cycle Mistake
- Thread starter hurricanejedi
- Start date
I too did the same thing when I started, put in about 2 times to much. I just did one 90% water change and kept going. Luckily after my water change the ammonia read 5ppm so I just let it sit. The ammonia didn't move for the first week and a half anyway.
Not sure what kind of filter you have, but if it is the hang-off-the-back box type then you just need to fill the box back up with water before you turn it back on.
Whenever I do a water change big enough to affect the filter I just unplug it first. Because of siphoning it will usually empty itself. Just to be safe I fill it back up to the top with water first thing after I unplug it. This is for two reasons:
1. I know that I won't forget to prime it again when I am done. I just have to plug it back in and go.
2. It keeps those nice bacteria colonies that I worked so hard to grow nice and wet and warm while I am futzing with the tank.
Not sure how important #2 is but it makes me feel better.
Not sure what kind of filter you have, but if it is the hang-off-the-back box type then you just need to fill the box back up with water before you turn it back on.
Whenever I do a water change big enough to affect the filter I just unplug it first. Because of siphoning it will usually empty itself. Just to be safe I fill it back up to the top with water first thing after I unplug it. This is for two reasons:
1. I know that I won't forget to prime it again when I am done. I just have to plug it back in and go.
2. It keeps those nice bacteria colonies that I worked so hard to grow nice and wet and warm while I am futzing with the tank.
Not sure how important #2 is but it makes me feel better.
It's not critical to be at an exact level, 5ppm is generally recomended as the starting point, but as mentioned 3-5 is fine.
Read this article for detialed answers to a lot of this.
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=64301
dave
I think I read that article about 10 times. And its most definitely not the last 
. I did a 90% water change, I have my level at 3-4ppm (ok its really hard to tell...). You know the color really dosen't match the test strip very well, its brighter but not darker (aquarium pharmaceuticals). But I figured that was good enough adn I can just guestimate. I had to put in quite a lot though. It was at 1ppm after the water change and I had to add about 17mL to get it up to 4 or so. I'm using the clear stuff from Walmart. Haha but that was so much less than what I did the last time. Then I panicked when I couldn't get my filter to start. I had several mouthfulls of water to get hte pressure back up again (yuck!). Anyway its all working and levels are all good.
Tonight I added some gravel from a friends tank and a plastic plant that had some algea and stuff growing on it. Tomorrow my coworker should be bringing some stuff in for me if he remembers .
. I did a 90% water change, I have my level at 3-4ppm (ok its really hard to tell...). You know the color really dosen't match the test strip very well, its brighter but not darker (aquarium pharmaceuticals). But I figured that was good enough adn I can just guestimate. I had to put in quite a lot though. It was at 1ppm after the water change and I had to add about 17mL to get it up to 4 or so. I'm using the clear stuff from Walmart. Haha but that was so much less than what I did the last time. Then I panicked when I couldn't get my filter to start. I had several mouthfulls of water to get hte pressure back up again (yuck!). Anyway its all working and levels are all good.Tonight I added some gravel from a friends tank and a plastic plant that had some algea and stuff growing on it. Tomorrow my coworker should be bringing some stuff in for me if he remembers
.LOL! This is funny because I did the exact same thing. I forgot to wait the 5 minutes for the ammonia test to work the first time, and I ended up putting in way more than 5ppm of ammonia. It's hard to tell how much exactly; the test I'm using turns green when theres ammonia. When I did another ammonia test about an hour after dumping in the ammonia, I waited the 5 minutes and the test sample was a dark green. This indicates that theres at least 8ppm of ammonia in the tank 
! I let the test sample sit for a few more minutes, and believe it or not, it looked as though it was getting even more green. So it's pretty safe to say that there is Way Too Much Ammonia in the tank.
I'm not sure what to do at this point. Should I do what you did and do a 90% water change? Or can I get away with just letting it sit for a bit and hopefully nature will do its thing? I'm in no big hurry, so I'm sort of leaning towards the second option. If by next weekend the ammonia test comes back as an excessively dark green again, then I'll do a water change.
! I let the test sample sit for a few more minutes, and believe it or not, it looked as though it was getting even more green. So it's pretty safe to say that there is Way Too Much Ammonia in the tank.I'm not sure what to do at this point. Should I do what you did and do a 90% water change? Or can I get away with just letting it sit for a bit and hopefully nature will do its thing? I'm in no big hurry, so I'm sort of leaning towards the second option. If by next weekend the ammonia test comes back as an excessively dark green again, then I'll do a water change.
i wonder as well, It should not be that difficult to prime a filter especially on a fairly new set-up.
Just an FYI, buy yourself a turkey baster to use for priming and other chores. I couldn't live without my turkey basters around my tanks.
Dave
I have an Eheim Canister. It was fine the first time I got it going. But the second time when I shut it off it had water in it. I couldn't get it to drain any more than it did without unhooking it. When I sucked on the tube to get it started again since the water was already in the hose I didn't have much time to get the suction going. Luckily I was able to pull it off without actually unhooking the filter and emptying it.daveedka said:
Its surprising how many uses a turkey baster has... You can use it at hockey games to get excess water out of the goalie holes... when mom cat is full of milk and her nipples invert... Feed works to frogs.... Actually baste a turkey
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I don't know but I just feel better knowing my ammonia is in an acceptable range. Particularly now that I'm adding gravel and gunk from other aquariums.asincero said:
