Please help

[Wisteriamyst]

I have had a 55-gallon salt-water tank set up now for two and a half months, but it still hasn't finished cycling. The ammonia went up and came down, the nitrites went up and stayed up, they have been between 3 and 6 since July 24 (when incidentally one clown fish died, sorry to say). I've been doing water changes, between 12 and 18 gallons every few days, but it doesn't seem to help at all. I still have two damsels, but they're NOT HAPPY! I know now that I should not have used fish to cycle my tank, but it's too late now and I really need help. I've heard of a product called Stability by Seachem, does anyone know if this is a good idea?

I'm at my wits end and really don't know what to do; please give me some advice.

P.S. I also have a bunch of brown algae growing constantly, which is annoying, but not my main concern.

 

[Bearfan]

The water changes are one of your big problems, since they slow down a cycle to almost nothing.

What kind of water are you using, tap or RO/DI? If you are using tap, there's your algae problem.

 

[Wisteriamyst]

I'm using tap water with a dechorinator for water changes. If water changes are a bad idea for cycling the tank, what should I do? I really don't want to see any more fish die!

 

[malkore]

If you have fish, you must do water changes. with levels of 3-6ppm you'll still have enuf nitrIte after a water change to keep the cycling process going...you'll just end up with less bacterial load when the cycle completes.

Brown algae is just diatom algae, common in any newly setup tank.

 

[lando]

You may want to try a new test kit. Which one are you using now?

 

[Wisteriamyst]

I really don't think my test kit is at fault here, as I am losing fish. I realize it was my own stupidity that killed the little guys, but I really want to save the others. Has anyone heard of the product from Seachem called Stability, and does it work?, or do you know of something else that would work to speed up the cycle?

 

[Atari]

Is it just sand in the tank or do you have rock too?

If fish are dying and you don't want to take the remaining ones out then you could give the bacterial cultures a try.. someone on here recently had great success with Stability.

For a more long term solution you might want to invest in some LR.