5 weeks in, no ammonia...halp!

[nanirami]

Hey everyone,

my apologies in advance for such a noob question but im going insane here.

I bought a 260litre/50gallon tropical aquarium 5-6 weeks ago. The guy that sold it to me said to do cycling with hardy fish (yes I know now fishless is better ) it's been over a month and I have never had any ammonia, nitrites or nitrates.

This is the tank history:
Set it up with air stone running, added 5 platies. 1 died the next day.
Added 2 gouramis a few days later.
Waited a week or so, nothing happened, guy told me to add more fish.
Added 15 neon tetras.
Waited a few weeks. Nothing. Guy told me to add a larger fish. Added a very large Angelfish.
Within a week, tetras have all disappeared. Went back to fish place, he said "oops, your angelfish ate them all, sorry my bad..." he said to start feeding them a bit more which will promote cycling but also stop my Angelfish from devouring his colleagues.
So I got 8 large black/salmon tetras and start doing 2 small feeds per day . 2 tetras died next day. Algae started forming, so I gave tank a wipe down and did 1/4 water change (cleaned filter in tank water). Am minimizing lights to 5-7 hours per day.
A week or 2 later (now) and still have zero readings.

your thoughts/help really appreciated.

Oh i have heaps of plants that i have been adding each time I added a new fish. They are eating the plants a lot so have been replacing them.

Currently have - 4 platies, 2 gouramis, 1 xl angelfish, 6 lg tetras, 2 xl snails

Im confused why there isnt any ammonia at all? fi there is no ammonia, how can the bacteria convert it to nitrites and nitrates???


Am using API Master test. Also have taken water into fish place and he tested it once. zero ammonia.

 

[mgamer20o0]

possible expired test kit? dont mean to sound rude but are you sure you are testing it right?

 

[nanirami]

At this point you can insult me as much as you like if you help me

I think Im testing it right, but the guy at aquarium place also tested it and nothing. So unless we're both retarded...

hrmm the kit doesnt have an expiry date on it..I better go buy another one from another place just to be safe...

 

[kangster]

there are always ammonias in the tank but just not as much so it would take more accurate method/device to detect
the level does not get high enough to get detected thus a cycled tank with tracable amount of ammonia and nitrite is right for fish to live
nitrate is safer for fish but you still need to get rid of it with PWCs

are there any species that use nitrate to convert it to nitrogen and oxygen?
algae and plants do i guess

theoretically it then would be possible to create a tank environment isolated from the outside and maintain itself with only light as an energy source. something like noah's ark but then not really...

 

[happygirl65]

Welcome to AA!
This does not sound strange to me at all if you have a planted tank. Your plants consume ammonia and nitrates and therefore leave you with undetectable levels.
Another thing to consider...plants are loaded with beneficial bacteria when you get them from the lfs. I really don't think you have anything to worry about other than the fact that you have a large angelfish that will eat anything he can fit in his mouth.
I would return the large angelfish and get juvenile angels if you want them and grow them out yourself. Then it will be safe to add the neons without fear of them getting eaten and if the angels grow up not thinking neons are a food source they will probably not eat them later on (especially since the neons will also be quite a bit larger by then) at least that has been my experience. You could get cardinals instead of neons since they get even bigger but are just as pretty.
Basically the fact that you have "heaps of plants" means your tank was almost instantly cycled. It is still good to do the tests and you should probably do a weekly water change but otherwise your fish are just fertilizing your plants and all is well.
(Some of us even need to add nitrates as well as other minerals to keep the algae from taking over so you may want to check out the planted tank section.)

Also consider that currently the bioload is relatively small so in 50 gals of water with heaps of plants I would say you are seeing what I would expect to see.

I should also mention that if you do not have enough lighting the plants will eventually die and release a ton of ammonia etc into your system so you will want to make sure everything is set up properly. (It happened to me when I started out) It all depends on what plants you have, how much light etc.
Check out the planted tank section!