cycling question

[Paulcm10]

so i have had my tank set up a little over a month now and last night after doing a 50% water change both of my fish died.
I don't know how.
I don't have a clue what my ammonia levels are at the moment because i am waiting to get my test kit this week.

anyways my question is what do i do that now i don't have fish to keep my cycle going?
I won't be getting any fish until later because I want to get my RCS first and i want them to start breeding before i add any CPDs.
I do have tiny little MTS in the tank but I'm not sure if they have much of a load.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

If your not wanting to continue with a fish in cycle, you can switch to a fishless using pure bottled ammonia.

 

[Paulcm10]

i see. where can i get one? and would that harm my MTS?

 

[Smudge1983]

Hello paulcm10,

did you check the water temp?

Im currently cycling mine and ive decided for a regular weekly 10-15% change rather then a big 50% less often. it will stop massive change in the water and reduce the stress on the fish.

 

[Paulcm10]

yah i have thought about bringing it down to 30% since i will only have about 8 one inch fish, a bamboo shrimp, RCS and some MTS.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Regular 50% water changes will not stress fish. The only way this will happen is if the water parameters are different or the temperature is way off. If your tank water is reading different than your tap water then you're not doing enough water changes. Its old school thinking that large water changes are harmful. It was a belief that changing too much water too often would lead to the cycle crashing and the fish suffering disease when in fact the tank was suffering from OTS (old tank syndrome). Large water changes while cycling will not hider the cycle but will protect the fish. The nitrifying bacteria affixes itself to surfaces in the tank so its not being removed by water changes.

When performing weekly water changes let your test results determine how much water to change.

Pure ammonia is available online and in some stores. It can be hard to locate at times. If it contains surfactants its no good. If you shake it and it foams it's no good either. To continue as a fishless cycle you may or may not loose the MTS. You could always only dose the tank to 1ppm ammonia instead of the 'recommended' 4ppm because your only planning on stocking shrimp that have small bioloads.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/artic...-Guide-and-FAQ-to-Fishless-Cycling/Page1.html

 

[Paulcm10]

oh i see. well how do i match the parameters of my tap water and tank?
and how do i determine how much water to change through tests?

 

[Mumma.of.two]

oh i see. well how do i match the parameters of my tap water and tank?
and how do i determine how much water to change through tests?

The tap water should have the same pH, alk, hard, etc as the tank. Exceptions are if your substrate and rocks aren't inert or you have driftwood leaching tannins. The nitrate will be different but that's good because you want to replace tank water with nitrate, with tap water without nitrate (or only a little bit).
When cycling you test and get say, 1ppm of ammonia or nitrite so you need to do two 50% water changes to bring it down. 50% bring it down to 0.5ppm then another 50% brings it down to 0.25ppm. When a tank is cycled you have to do enough water changes to keep nitrate at or under 20ppm. Whether this takes 1 or 2 (or more but that could mean the tanks overstocked) water changes a week.

 

[Paulcm10]

oh okay so i want my ammonia at 0 ppm?

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Because your ammonia consuming bacteria colony is big enough to consume all the ammonia in the tank converting it to nitrite. It's a good thing!

 

[Paulcm10]

Because your ammonia consuming bacteria colony is big enough to consume all the ammonia in the tank converting it to nitrite. It's a good thing!

oh okay so how do i make sure to keep it that way? just weekly water change?
also i have another question. do you recommend aqueon water conditioner or would u prefer using prime?
i was told prime works way better than any other water conditioner.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Just continue your cycle as you have been making sure to change water to keep ammonia and nitrite down. Soon the nitrite consuming bacteria colony will be able to consume all the nitrite produced by the other bacteria. To keep a tank cycled you have to preserve the bacteria by always using conditioner, not changing the filter media and temperature matching any new water. Weekly water changes will always make sure any minerals the bacteria (fish and plants) need will be replenished and also keep nitrates down.
I use prime and I like it. Goes a long way. Never used anything else so I can't compare the two.

 

[Paulcm10]

oh ok! also i use an api stress zyme its suppose to contain beneficial bacteria. do you recommend to keep using that?

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Nah. Don't bother with bacterial supplements. A lot of them don't contain the proper bacteria or the bacteria is dead.

 

[Paulcm10]

oh ok. do u recommend anything else for me to use for my tank besides water conditioner and fertilizer?

 

[Mumma.of.two]

No. That's all you need.

 

[Paulcm10]

oh ok sounds good to me! thanks!