Struggling with new tank

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chrispower1980

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Aug 18, 2014
Messages
7
Hi All,

I have recently set up a tank and I am having problems and looking for general advice.

Set Up
I have a 54 litre tank which i completed a fishless cycle on for 1 week then added 6 neon tetras and 3 Skerba. I left the tank for a couple of weeks and tested at which point nitrites, nitrates and amonnia were all zero. I added a further 6 rummy nose tetras and 3 molly's.

Problem
After 1 week 2 of the molly's have passed away and now i cannot get my nitrites down as they are very high. I have also tested Amonia and there is a minimal trace 0.25ppm but as i say nitrate remains around 5ppm which is very concerning.

Tank Management
I have been completing 30% water changes and treating the water with conditioner. In addition i have been treating the tank with Fluval Cycle biological enhancer. I have also dropped feeding to once every two days. This is a brand new tank and filter, I have also been cleaning the filter once a week making sure no blockages and cleaning the sponge in tank water only. I have also displaced the gravel to mix up to try and help.

Really at a loss as the nitrate levels starting to worry me as the water changes don't seem to be reducing this.

Would anyone be able to recommend any other courses of action?

Thank you in advance

Chris
 
looks like your doing everything ok Chris, the only thing I would suggest is to do larger WC, and don't clean your filters too much, also do a test on your tap water, can you say what you have in your filter? some how you are getting a spike, may be too many fish
 
The first thing you should do is multiple hourly 50% water changes until your nitrites are at a safe level.

It normally takes at least a few weeks to complete a fishless cycle. How much ammonia were you dosing? The test should show some nitrates if your cycle was completed. If nitrates were at zero, I'm guessing your tank wasn't cycled.

I just learned about cycling but I already have fish. What now?! - Aquarium Advice
 
I don't believe your tank was cycled when you added fish. You are now going through a fish in cycle. You will need to test your parameters daily and do frequent water changes until the tank actually cycles
 
Ask your LFS for some filter medium (FB) most will oblige for free, put this in your filter, this will cycle it immediately..........
 
Believe you added too many fish at once and bioload couldn't handle it. That is if you were (as suggested above) completely cycled to begin with.
 
Should have sticked with fishless cycle.

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Thanks for the replies. I'm getting that I didn't cycle properly so how do I rectify that now? Daily water changes? Do I keep adding the fluval cycle? Should I also add filter start? I did go to LFS at the start of the process and just going with what they advised but it would seem too many fish too soon!

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Have you changed the filter cartridge for your tank? If you have that would have caused the cycle to restart.
 
Ricky, what do you mean what do I have in my filter? Sorry I'm a complete beginner

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Thanks for the replies. I'm getting that I didn't cycle properly so how do I rectify that now? Daily water changes? Do I keep adding the fluval cycle? Should I also add filter start? I did go to LFS at the start of the process and just going with what they advised but it would seem too many fish too soon!

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
Chris, if you get a squeeze of bacteria from your LFS and put it in your filter, I kid you not it will work........
 
Ricky, what do you mean what do I have in my filter? Sorry I'm a complete beginner

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filter mat, ceramic noodles, etc. sorry I should have explained, we have all been there so no worries.........
 
Thank you every one for your input. Twice daily water changes and the bacteria from LFS have done the trick and ask ammonia and nitrites at zero and I've got happy little fishes!!

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