Help with fish-in cycling, please

[Kelly5978]

I hope I am posting in the correct place. (My phone app doesn't show the categories). I am cycling my 10 gallon and 20 gallon tanks with fish in the tank, using stability and prime. I was told not to make any water changes until I got my ammonia spike 1-2 ppm, and then not to change water again until I got a nitrite spike...unless I tested over 0 for ammonia again. I test the water daily.Here's the questions:
20 gallon...I started 12 days ago. Did the stability for 7 days, and prime every 48 hours. I have 2 angels and 2 danios. I stopped using the stability after 7 days (as bottle instructed). I have had ZERO readings (0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, slight nitrates that I think are just from the tap water). 1. Am I supposed to keep dosing with prime? 2. Why do I not get spikes of any kind? The test kit works, because i get readings from the 10 gallon. 3 THERE ARE TINY WHITE PARTICLES FLOATING IN THE WATER....but I don't want to do a water change, and take out "good" bacteria. Should I just leave it be?
10 gallon....the ammonia stays at .25, nitrites .25. That's it. Every day. No spikes. 1. Am I supposed to change the water to get the cycle going again? 2. I keep dosing with prime every 48 hours to protect the fish, am I over conditioning the tank? 3. Is the nitrites what caused my now quarantined gold gourami to get bacterial septicemia? 4. If the low nitrites are poisoning the fish, how do I get through this phase? Use more stability?
Sorry for all the questions. I am so excited to get past all this cycling stuff so I can actually enjoy my fish!

 

[BBradbury]

Fish In Tank Cycling

Hello Kelly...

Fish keeping isn't an exact science. There are many conflicting opinions. But, here's how I did fish in tank cycling.

Provided your tank is all set up and full of water, you get some Anacharis (floating plants) and just drop some sprigs of the plant into the tank water. It helps cycle the tank, by using ammonia and nitrite.

You get a few very hardy fish like Feeder Guppies, Zebra Danios, White Clouds or Platys. 6 or so will be enough. The waste the fish produce starts the "nitrogen cycle".

You must have a reliable water test kit and be able to test for ammonia and nitrite. These forms of nitrogen are very toxic to your fish. So, you test the tank water every day and when you have a trace of these toxins in the water, you remove and replace 25 percent of the tank water with pure, treated tap water. You don't want to remove more water, because you want to grow the microscopic bugs that use the ammonia and nitrite for food. These little guys reproduce and eventually keep the water safer for the fish.

Again, you test every day and remove the water when you have a positive test for the bad forms of nitrogen.

One day, your water will test "0" for those bad toxins, but you need to get several days' of "0" tests. When you do, the little bugs have grown in numbers high enough to use the toxins and your tank is cycled.

This is the brief explanation, but the process can take several weeks.

B

 

[patrickriley2010]

I'm doing an in fish cycle thought I was done So added 1 little fish and then my amonia stated showing again. It's hard

 

[MMantelli]

If you have fish you plan on keeping I wouldn't let the ammo to go above 0.25, 0.50 max.

 

[patrickriley2010]

If you have fish you plan on keeping I wouldn't let the ammo to go above 0.25, 0.50 max.

My reading looked like it was .25 so I swapped out 5 gallons of my 20 and waited an hour did another and this was my reading



I can't even tell

 

[MMantelli]

That looks like 0.25 but its hard to tell on a phone you do want a tiny bit of ammo but above 0.25 can be hard on the fish. I did fish in on my first two tanks. It's a pita but it can be done just keep testing daily and any time it passes 0.25 do a small water change if its 0.5 do 50% and don't worry about big water changes if you have to almost all your bb is in your filter and there's a little in your substrate and on the decorations. Just make sure your filter media does not dry out during your pwc's.

 

[patrickriley2010]

That looks like 0.25 but its hard to tell on a phone you do want a tiny bit of ammo but above 0.25 can be hard on the fish. I did fish in on my first two tanks. It's a pita but it can be done just keep testing daily and any time it passes 0.25 do a small water change if its 0.5 do 50% and don't worry about big water changes if you have to almost all your bb is in your filter and there's a little in your substrate and on the decorations. Just make sure your filter media does not dry out during your pwc's.

I've noticed my bio wheel keeps freezing up from a dirty filter so I put a new one behind the old one letting it run like that for awhile to transfer any bacteria onto the new media "idk if it works like that"



And it's weird because I just did a 25% ill do another in a little bit

Will buying a moss ball help with my cycling ?

 

[MMantelli]

I have a bio wheel your best best with a bio wheel is once its established you can just take the old cartridge and prince it in the tank water from your pwc's and just put it back in. I don't even use the cartridges I actually ripped off the blue stuff once it started falling apart and replaced it with poly mat and don't even use carbon.

 

[Kelly5978]

Thank you everyone! Sorry, I've just had so many people tell me different things....which is why I came here. The stability/prime method was supposed to (stability) add "good" bacteria to fight the "bad"....-and (prime) basically make the fish untouchable by the ammonia and nitrites, for 48 hours (along with clearing water of chlorine, etc). This was so the cycle COULD spike, and then the water change would take it to the next step. I understand that any changes will disrupt the cycle and I could show ammonia again. But, again, the fish were supposed to be protected by the prime. That way I wasn't doing a bunch of water changes that took out the beneficial bacteria and made cycling take a lot longer. I'm going to play it safe and do a water Change on the 10 gal. I'm just not getting why I've had the 20 gal running for almost 2 weeks, WITH 4 FISH, but have never showed ANY anything. I appreciate the first persons advice on cycling, but my problems began because I put fish in before even knowing there was a cycle. Now, I'm quite find of my "angels", and don't want to lose them. If definitely do it differently if I had known all that I know now. Anyways, if anyone has an idea why my 20 gal stays completely free of everything (even with fish in it), let me know. Also, if anyone has tips on getting past the nitrite stage on the 10 gal, I'm all ears.