Are Glofish hardy enough for a fish-in cycle?

[firteen888]

I'm also leaning towards something less than desirable in the water column, so the first step is going to be a fast drain and refill with well conditioned water.

Going to do this right when I get home!

 

[eco23]

Going to do this right when I get home!

A nice light swish of all the filter media in a bucket of dechlorinated water isn't a bad idea either. I think the vast majority of AA members would agree that it's very admirable of you to give this another shot. In a matter of time you'll be on threads telling people not to give up!

 

[librarygirl]

Just re-read this thread since we've had similar issues. I've already done some pwc along the fishless cycle so I don't think that would help me any. And you have a whole filter that was seeded in your tank and it didn't help? So then you added the plants and now have nitrItes. Did you have nirAtes before? I have nitrAtes but no nitrItes and I have no idea where they're coming from and my ammonia isn't moving. I'd almost hate to sink more money into this tank that may or may not end up getting beat with a hammer but live plants is the only other thing I haven't tried, so I may put some in this weekend. I"ll have to find an lfs that has them in a tank with fish, I've seen them in their own tanks but I'm guessing that wouldn't be a cycled tank without an ammonia source. So maybe I'll give it a try this weekend.

Oh and CONGRATS that you're cycle is finally moving in the right direction! Gives me some hope

 

[firteen888]

Thank you! I couldn't believe I was finally seeing purple.

I have a small amount of nitates, but those are straight out of my tap water. You said you tested your tap water and there were no nitrates right? I have no idea how you would be seeing them before nitrItes.

I really have no idea if it was the plants or putting in less ammonia that started the nitrItes showing up. Are you 100% sure you didn't overdose the ammonia? Can you post a few more pics here when you get a chance....with the vial flush against the test card.

It DID take a little over a week since lowering my ammonia and adding plants before I saw nitrites, so maybe with all the changes you recently made, you'll start seeing some within a week as well. Adding the anacharis plants certainly can't hurt. And like I said, the snails give me something to come home and look at everyday. I usually see 1 or 2 hanging on the aquarium glass...they're literally the size of a spec of dust!

 

[librarygirl]

Thank you! I couldn't believe I was finally seeing purple.

I have a small amount of nitates, but those are straight out of my tap water. You said you tested your tap water and there were no nitrates right? I have no idea how you would be seeing them before nitrItes.

I really have no idea if it was the plants or putting in less ammonia that started the nitrItes showing up. Are you 100% sure you didn't overdose the ammonia? Can you post a few more pics here when you get a chance....with the vial flush against the test card.

It DID take a little over a week since lowering my ammonia and adding plants before I saw nitrites, so maybe with all the changes you recently made, you'll start seeing some within a week as well. Adding the anacharis plants certainly can't hurt. And like I said, the snails give me something to come home and look at everyday. I usually see 1 or 2 hanging on the aquarium glass...they're literally the size of a spec of dust!

Yes I'm wondering if 3-4 PPM of ammonia is too much for my tank. Here's a pic of the shade of the tube against the card, this is the color it looks like now, looks to me about 3 but it's hard reading those darn things).

Maybe I'll wait the full week and see if the changes I made have helped any, if not maybe I'll try one last thing of lowering ammonia and adding plants. After that I'm out of ideas and patience.

Thanks!

 

[firteen888]

It's hard to tell in that picture bc of the light.

I would at least give it a full week from when you added the seeded material and see what happens. if nothing, I would lower the ammonia a bit..maybe do a 25% PWC and see what happens...you can add the plants now if you want.

of course I'm no expert but these 2 things seem to be what helped move my tank along.

 

[eco23]

Personally, if the seeded media and CC haven't made a difference within a week or more, I'm pretty much ready to call this officially a problem with the water. By all means plants won't hurt and might help, but after all these weeks both with and without fish...I'm officially at the conclusion there is some sort of compound in the water which is entirely preventing the bacteria from colonizing. In fact, with the seeded media in there without movement...I'd conclude it's actually killing the bacteria :-(

 

[librarygirl]

Personally, if the seeded media and CC haven't [made a difference within a week or more, I'm pretty much ready to call this officially a problem with the water. By all means plants won't hurt and might help, but after all these weeks both with and without fish...I'm officially at the conclusion there is some sort of compound in the water which is entirely preventing the bacteria from colonizing. In fact, with the seeded media in there without movement...I'd conclude it's actually killing the bacteria :-(

Oh no!

So....there might not be hope for me having unless I move. lol Great. Although I do work 35 miles from where I live (same state, but on the opposite tip), maybe their water would be better. Would it be possible to haul water from work to home and see if that helps? Ok I'm officially desperate lol

Actually for the heck of it....I'm at work now and I have a small plastic container I used for my lunch. I'm going to take some of the water home and test the PH, GH etc just out of curiosity.... I'll post results in my fishless cycling post tonight (after I test my tank yet again and become disappointed lol)

 

[eco23]

Oh no!

So....there might not be hope for me having unless I move. lol Great. Although I do work 35 miles from where I live (same state, but on the opposite tip), maybe their water would be better. Would it be possible to haul water from work to home and see if that helps? Ok I'm officially desperate lol

Actually for the heck of it....I'm at work now and I have a small plastic container I used for my lunch. I'm going to take some of the water home and test the PH, GH etc just out of curiosity.... I'll post results in my fishless cycling post tonight (after I test my tank yet again and become disappointed lol)

Don't freak out yet, lol. Hopefully the seeding material and CC will be what it takes to get things going. I'm not convinced either that it's actually the municipal water supply as opposed to something that made it's way into the tank (remember the bubbles?). I know you did a complete water change and cleaned some stuff...but I'm not certain that was necessarily efficient. The fact is seeding material + ammonia = cycling tank. If that doesn't happen...there is definitely another variable in the equation that is keeping this from happening. If it was actually your municipal water supply...I'm sure there would be word in the city about it because I'm sure you're not the only one with an aquarium that lives there.

 

[jetajockey]

Do some big water changes, put a fish in it, and then start doing frequent water changes as needed.

 

[firteen888]

All hope is not lost! My tank was cycling for over 2 months and I finally just saw nitrites for the first time yesterday!!

 

[picture_117]

I've been reading this and the same thing happened with me, I didn't get fish until May when I started cycling mid-January. I got the nitrates & nitrites, the only problem was they wouldn't go down no matter how many PWC I did. They were off the chart of the reader. They finally went down & now I have happy fish

But you saw nitrites so you're almost there

 

[eco23]

Do some big water changes, put a fish in it, and then start doing frequent water changes as needed.

She did that for weeks and weeks and weeks. No no2, no no3....just dead fish.

 

[eco23]

I'm talking about libraygirl btw. All these threads are getting pretty mixed together since they're both experiencing similar issues. What has it been now? 9 weeks both with and without fish? If anyone can explain why after all that time there has never even been a hint of no2...I'm MORE than happy to hear a hypotheses.

 

[jetajockey]

I don't know the background, but if it took me over 2 months to get my first fish tank going I would have quit long before that.

So putting a fish in the tank killed it, with no toxin readings? If so then there is something wrong with the water.

If that's not the case, then I stand by my previous statement, put a fish in it and start enjoying your tank, it's not like you don't know enough at this point about toxin levels and water changes to not keep them in a safe range.

 

[eco23]

I don't know the background, but if it took me over 2 months to get my first fish tank going I would have quit long before that.

So putting a fish in the tank killed it, with no toxin readings? If so then there is something wrong with the water.

If that's not the case, then I stand by my previous statement, put a fish in it and start enjoying your tank, it's not like you don't know enough at this point about toxin levels and water changes to not keep them in a safe range.

Yeah man...the threads are getting all mixed up and it's hard to follow each individual. We're pretty close to the point we're either gonna need a Mod to combine threads, or abandon these and start from scratch for each individual listing all the info in the first posts.

Just a quick recap-

Firteen888- fishless cycle taking forever...a bunch of plants seemed to get things moving and hopefully on the right track now.

Libraygirl- had fish for ~4 weeks, no no2 or no3 appeared. Fish died after that time even though she was doing pwc's to control ammo.
Started a fishless cycle...no movement for 4+ weeks. I noticed sudsy foam in her tank...she did a complete water change and basically started over. She's used Safe Start, has recently added seeding material and still no change. I've gone over every conceivable thing in my mind from dechlorinator to extreme pH and much more...everything is correct...just no movement. That's what brings me to the conclusion that something is either IN her water or LACKING from her water that is preventing anything from happening. I'm leaning towards something being in there that is either preventing bacteria from colonizing...or killing it off if the seeding material is not even budging the ammo.

 

[librarygirl]

Yeah man...the threads are getting all mixed up and it's hard to follow each individual. We're pretty close to the point we're either gonna need a Mod to combine threads, or abandon these and start from scratch for each individual listing all the info in the first posts.

Just a quick recap-

Firteen888- fishless cycle taking forever...a bunch of plants seemed to get things moving and hopefully on the right track now.

Libraygirl- had fish for ~4 weeks, no no2 or no3 appeared. Fish died after that time even though she was doing pwc's to control ammo.
Started a fishless cycle...no movement for 4+ weeks. I noticed sudsy foam in her tank...she did a complete water change and basically started over. She's used Safe Start, has recently added seeding material and still no change. I've gone over every conceivable thing in my mind from dechlorinator to extreme pH and much more...everything is correct...just no movement. That's what brings me to the conclusion that something is either IN her water or LACKING from her water that is preventing anything from happening. I'm leaning towards something being in there that is either preventing bacteria from colonizing...or killing it off if the seeding material is not even budging the ammo.

Sorry my fault, shouldn't have replied to this thread, I'll switch back to replying to my post. Sorry!!!