cycling my filter

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ginty

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Jan 20, 2014
Messages
291
hi guys.

i need help with my aqurium. ive had it nearly 3 months. i got it from pets at home. its a 28l aqua one 320. it came with an aqua one 101f filter. (which ive had replaced after about a month and a half).*
i go back to pets at home every week for free water tests but my tank isnt improving. ive only got two platties. my levels are and have been for over a month. ammonia: 1. nitrite:0.25. nitrate: 20ppm and ph 8.2*
it doesnt seem to be improving. i rinse my filter sponge once a month in syphoned water. i do water changes weekly. 30%. i tried doing 15% water changes every other day and it still hasnt improved.i feed a them a small pinch every other day. im running out of ideas as to how to finish the cycling of my tank. please help.*
thanks for your time*

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Hi there. Tanks can be a problem to cycle with a small filter having only a small amount of surface area on the filter media (sponge).
Firstly, I recommend that you do not clean your sponge until you are fully cycled. Only clean it if water flow is reduced.
Secondly, have you had your tap water checked? Is there any ammonia in your water source. I am assuming that you are using a de chlorinator for your water changes. Chlorine will kill BB in the filter.
Lastly, what I have done in my QT is to get a sponge filter bigger than your filter body, use a knife to carve out a hole in the sponge so the filter fits inside the new sponge. This can increase you media area by heck of a lot. It worked a treat in my QT but I don't really mind that it looks a bit bulky. It might look less obtrusive at the back of the tank. Or this could be a good move until your tank is cycled. Then remove the extra sponge and see if your filter is coping. I have taken a photo to give you the idea.
I personally found that the cheap 'give away' filters, when you buy a deal from stores such as Pets at Home (I bought the same deal for my QT so no dig intended) are not so brilliant.
Hope that's of some help. Good luck. Steve. ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1392501166.681021.jpg
 
Hi, don't despair too much a ph of 8.2 is on the top end of ok for platys, ammonia of 1.0 is not disastrous either especially for platys as they are quite hardy fish, your nitrite levels are acceptable as well, dont worry too much about the nitrate levels nitrate is relatively harmless, having said this you should ideally get ammonia down to zero so my suggestion would be to continue with the water changes and get yourself a testing kit, the liquid ones are more accurate than the strips but both are fine and you have the advantage of being able to test the water parameters daily rather than weekly, also to reduce ammonia you could add a live plant which will digest the ammonia. Cut down on your feed also or even miss a days feeding until ammonia gets down to 0 your platys will only need 1 piece of flake each during a feed, you dont seem to be doing too much wrong and your fish will appreciate the water changes, apart from feeding them water changes are the most important thing you can do for your fish, good luck and you did right asking for advice here, pets at home staff are only store trained so take what they say with a pinch of salt
 
My personal opinion on sponge filters is that they work well as both biological and mechanical filters. However, the sponges in small power filters aren't very large, so surface area isn't great. Having sad that, you have few fish. I have already posted on another thread about the sponge filters I have made at work and we even keep marines with just a sponge filter made from a car sponge from asda!

Your pH is actually quite good for beneficial bacteria. What you have to think is 'are my fish suffering'? Obviously, they are still.alive and well,.so is there really much of a problem? As suggested already, get yourself a couple of test kits and keep a record of water parameters at different times of day. Never test your water within an hour or so of feeding.... fish produce most ammonia during digestion.

With regard to feeding, apologies to the poster above, but one flake per platy is too vague.... its like, how long is a piece of string?! Fish naturally feed little and often. Every book I have ever read suggests feeding as much as your fish will clear up in two three minutes and do this three or four times a day. In my experience, this is good advice and I have found that even more small feeds per day, although not practical for most fishkeepers, is even better.

My opinion on cycling is that the term ' cycling ' itself tells you that the process is continuous. Numbers of bacteria in the filter will fluctuate over time and this is why we sometimes get varying readings in an otherwise stable tank.

Try doing less or smaller water changes so the system can settle a little. I know many folks on here will disagree with that, but I know many marine fish keepers that do only 20% per month.
 
thanks guys. i really appreciate your replies. i only started small because one day i would like to have a bigger tropical fish tank. Im not giving up but i feel disheartened for the future as it seems im struggling to cycle a 28l tank. :( .

As for the filter that came with my tank. i feared it was crap. should i invest in a new one or continue with the one i have?
Also im starting to realise the people at pets at home dont know everything about caring for fish, because to be honest i think they're baffled as to why my tank has taken so long to cycle. i got my tank around about the end of December.

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Don't be disheartened mate you are clearly a responsible fish owner and you will get there, with regards to the previous poster mentioning one flake per platty being too vague i tend to agree with him in one way but i was merely suggesting sometimes less is more in terms of feeding your fish especially if you have a slight ammonia problem, just bear in mind a smaller tank is less forgiving on water parameters than a larger tank, but you are going in the right direction in terms of care so just hang in there, stick with your current filter for now as it will have built up beneficial bacteria by now and your current parameters are not dangerously high so just hang in there mate
 
Just been in touch with a mate of mine on your behalf, he has 30 years experience in fish keeping and used to breed neon tetras for a local aquatics centre, this is his advice..... You need to get your ph down as a high ph is linked to the toxicity of ammonia, do regular water changes, 25 % - 50%, reduce or discontinue feeding until ammonia is below 1.0 preferably 0, check water with a testing kit daily. He also said ammonia levels can rise and fall even in an established tank so not to rely on weekly tests from pets at home, also he said get a gravel vac to remove uneaten food and debris from the gravel, you can get pump action syphon gravel vacs off e bay for about a fiver ! As a last resort he said you can add ammonia reducing chemicals to the tank which u can get from aquatic stores or off the internet ! He also said that if your platys are not at the top of the tank gulping for air they are not in immediate danger but u really dont want that ammonia level to get above 1.0, this is his advice not mine and i really do trust his word as like i said he is a reputable breeder of tropical neon tetras and has successfully ran a huge saltwater tank in his home so his advice is good, and now i am going to bed phew lol ps good luck
 
I think it would be a simple fix, don't clean your filter and do frequent partial water changes.
Cleaning the filter removes the bacteria you need, if ever you need to clean your filter, lightly rinse it in aquarium water.
 
Yon need to rinse the filter in order to remove the accumulated detritus. By removing this, you maximise the surface area for the BB to colonise. You may lose some bacteria during rinsing, but there will be
millions still attached to the filer media.
 
Yon need to rinse the filter in order to remove the accumulated detritus. By removing this, you maximise the surface area for the BB to colonise. You may lose some bacteria during rinsing, but there will be
millions still attached to the filer media.

This is a mistake many beginners make, to have squeaky clean filter. A filter that has not even cycled should not be cleaned, is almost like reversing the process. Eventually yes, it has to be cleaned, but cleaning it just for the sake of cleaning it, I don't recommend it, the water flow should be an indicator whether it needs cleaning or not.

We are trying to solve the OP issue as to why his tank hasn't cycled yet and the only clue he's giving us is how often the filter is cleaned, of course there could be other issues like the filter being too small, over feeding etc.
 
thanks guys. i really appreciate your replies. i only started small because one day i would like to have a bigger tropical fish tank. Im not giving up but i feel disheartened for the future as it seems im struggling to cycle a 28l tank. :( .

As for the filter that came with my tank. i feared it was crap. should i invest in a new one or continue with the one i have?
Also im starting to realise the people at pets at home dont know everything about caring for fish, because to be honest i think they're baffled as to why my tank has taken so long to cycle. i got my tank around about the end of December.

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A small tank sometimes can be tougher to maintain than a bigger one, parameters change rapidly and you should not let that disappoint you.

How many fish do you have in it?
 
Well Ginty, you did ask!
Had anther thought. Do you already use an air pump with an air stone. If you do you could get a sponge filter that runs off an airline. Quite effective biological filters and quite cheap - under £10. Not so cheap if you have to buy an air pump, but they are are not dead expensive.
Again, in an attempt to increase your filter media surface area.
 
Just been in touch with a mate of mine on your behalf, he has 30 years experience in fish keeping and used to breed neon tetras for a local aquatics centre, this is his advice..... You need to get your ph down as a high ph is linked to the toxicity of ammonia, do regular water changes, 25 % - 50%, reduce or discontinue feeding until ammonia is below 1.0 preferably 0, check water with a testing kit daily. He also said ammonia levels can rise and fall even in an established tank so not to rely on weekly tests from pets at home, also he said get a gravel vac to remove uneaten food and debris from the gravel, you can get pump action syphon gravel vacs off e bay for about a fiver ! As a last resort he said you can add ammonia reducing chemicals to the tank which u can get from aquatic stores or off the internet ! He also said that if your platys are not at the top of the tank gulping for air they are not in immediate danger but u really dont want that ammonia level to get above 1.0, this is his advice not mine and i really do trust his word as like i said he is a reputable breeder of tropical neon tetras and has successfully ran a huge saltwater tank in his home so his advice is good, and now i am going to bed phew lol ps good luck

thankyou so much for your time paul.i really appreciate it. and please thank your mate.
i have 3 gravel cleaners. i do an air pump vacum clean every other day, where it just sucks all the debris into a bag. and another one with my other gravel clean when i syphon water.
i think maybe i am over feeding. i only have two plattys.
they are not gulping for air so i guess they are fine.
he breeds neon tetra. :) i like them fish. they are what i aim to get when i get my tropical setup when i get more competent.
i need to get more water testers. i only brought ammonia and nitrite kits. but i will buy the full set when i get paid on thursday. i only brought them two as i didnt have much money and they were £10 each in pets at home. wished i checked online coz i can get api master kit for £20. and that checks nitrate, nitrite, ammonia and ph. :)

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
 
This is a mistake many beginners make, to have squeaky clean filter. A filter that has not even cycled should not be cleaned, is almost like reversing the process. Eventually yes, it has to be cleaned, but cleaning it just for the sake of cleaning it, I don't recommend it, the water flow should be an indicator whether it needs cleaning or not.

We are trying to solve the OP issue as to why his tank hasn't cycled yet and the only clue he's giving us is how often the filter is cleaned, of course there could be other issues like the filter being too small, over feeding etc.

hi gilpi. my filter came with my tank. its a maxi aqua one 101f. its 4.2w, max litre per hour=350l/hr. its for upto a 55llitre. my tank is 28l.

im going to try putting an even smaller pinch of food in when i feed them every other day.
maybe this is my problem.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
 
Well Ginty, you did ask!
Had anther thought. Do you already use an air pump with an air stone. If you do you could get a sponge filter that runs off an airline. Quite effective biological filters and quite cheap - under £10. Not so cheap if you have to buy an air pump, but they are are not dead expensive.
Again, in an attempt to increase your filter media surface area.

i have an air pump that i connect to a treasure chest. is this what you mean?

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A small tank sometimes can be tougher to maintain than a bigger one, parameters change rapidly and you should not let that disappoint you.

How many fish do you have in it?

hi gippi. sorry. just saw this. i have 2 plattys. i wont get nomore fish until it is right. i lost two white cloud minnows. :'(

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hi gilpi. my filter came with my tank. its a maxi aqua one 101f. its 4.2w, max litre per hour=350l/hr. its for upto a 55llitre. my tank is 28l.

im going to try putting an even smaller pinch of food in when i feed them every other day.
maybe this is my problem.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

Sometimes maintaining a balance is important, again don't get discouraged, being that your tank is small presents a challenge. Try to stay away from pH buffers and ammonia reducing additives, that can bring you other issues, keep it simple! Your 8.2 pH is not necessarily a bad thing, work on your filtering and the feeding, water changes are very important as well.
Good luck!
 
Sometimes maintaining a balance is important, again don't get discouraged, being that your tank is small presents a challenge. Try to stay away from pH buffers and ammonia reducing additives, that can bring you other issues, keep it simple! Your 8.2 pH is not necessarily a bad thing, work on your filtering and the feeding, water changes are very important as well.
Good luck!

ok thankyou. i have got ammonia remover but i took the advise of someone else and stopped using it mo ths ago. im trying to keep it natural. all i add is tap safe. (de-chlorinator)
should i do water changes every day? and roughly how much?

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I command you for keeping it natural. As far as I'm concerned, water changes are always beneficial, maybe a partial should be enough every couple of days or so till things stabilize a little. With two plattys you shouldn't have too much problem.
I just checked out your filter and I think it's ok for your tank, I'm wondering if you are using carbon?
 
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