Gf's 20 gallon.

[Calvin and Kyle]

Gave my girlfriend my old 20 gallon tank, she is new to fish other than her beta and I have multiple tanks so It was a good opportunity.

Started cycling her tank on September 1st.

Been on since, sand substrate, heater, 30 gallon filter, random fake plants, LED Hood.

Using API master test kit.

Ammonia is at 8 ppm

Has never dropped, no nitrites.

What's going on?


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[dragon14]

The ammonia is wayyyy too high first of all. You don't want it higher than 4-5ppm. Do a water change and make sure it reads around 4. Ammonia that high, from what I understand, can stall out/slow down the cycle.

Have you read this guide? It is fantastic, and it is what I followed when doing a fishless cycle in my 10g tank.
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...guide-and-faq-to-fishless-cycling-148283.html

 

[Angela1108]

I would take out all the water and start over with cycling. They the previous posted mentioned 8is super high and 4 tends to be best/advised for cycling.

You might be sort of close to done but stalled it. Or have you always kept it at 8?


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[Calvin and Kyle]

It's been at 8 basically the whole time.


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[dragon14]

Oo that's not good. I'd drain all the water, add new water, test it about a half hour later, just to see what it says, and then dose it to around 4ppm. See how that gets you going again. I found that with my 10g, about 1 to 1 1/4 tsp of ammonia got me to around 4ppm... so not sure if double that would do it in a 20g. You'll have to experiment until you get it right.

But yeah, 8ppm the whole time, that is most likely your problem.

 

[Calvin and Kyle]

Awesome lol thanks guys


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[dragon14]

You're welcome! Good luck!

Are you using pure ammonia for this?

 

[Calvin and Kyle]

Yeah, the only place I could get it without additives or anything that would be harmful to the bacteria was ace hardware.


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[dragon14]

We got ours at a Family Dollar. But we could have gotten it at ACE. I just didn't like how they didn't have the ingredients on the label. But. It is janitorial strength, so, I doubt it had anything else in it.

Good luck! Keep us posted!

 

[azmodan]

Do you have any seeded material you can give her to speed up/instant cycle?

 

[Calvin and Kyle]

Well I'm not Sure what I could give her. All the tanks have sand substrate, turtle tank has a canister filter, community tank is pretty new still.

I could maybe give her some from my 5 gallon beta tank, but that wouldn't help much.


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[Coursair]

Try some easy live plants. They'll help cycle the tank and give her something to look at. Java Ferns will grow under almost any light. Just tie to wood or rock.


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[dragon14]

How are things going with the 20g?

 

[Calvin and Kyle]

Well I told her to go ahead and change out the water and I'll redo the ammonia.

Still haven't. Lol school and work has me very tied up, but I should have time sometime this week to help her get the ammonia right.


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[dragon14]

Aww. It's ok. No fish in yet right?

It's definitely best to wait till you have time to do it right

Do you have any fish in mind yet for when it's ready? I forget.

 

[Calvin and Kyle]

Lol yeah no fish.

I think she was looking at shrimp or maybe a crayfish. (She's not sure about a crayfish because it changes everything else she wants lol)

She is pretty sure on shrimp and then some very peaceful community fish to go with possibly.

She loves guppies, and I think one of my female guppies is preggers right now. So maybe those.

Nothing for sure.


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[dragon14]

Very nice! Well let us know how it goes and who you two decide on to get

Good luck!

 

[trennamw]

I keep finding that even a small amount of seeded media helps a ton. I'm fairly new here too but if she has a HOB filter there may be room for some of your gravel or canister media in a sock. Or pull out any filter floss you have and squeeze it onto her filter cartridge. Sometimes I stick the new tanks filter cartridge into the filter on my big tank for a few days, laying it in somewhere.


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[Calvin and Kyle]

Alright! Finally had time to set it back up and get the ammonia right.

Got it to 4ish ppm.

Went ahead and two days later pulled a full filter pad from one of my established tanks that has a couple of filters but truly only needs one. Put the whole pad in her filter.

Waited two days.

Ammonia 2-4 ppm

Nitrites straight up to 2ppm

Tested it the next day

Ammonia 2 ppm.


So definitely gave her a good start with that pad.


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[dragon14]

Thanks for the update!

Yay for head starts

Continue to keep us posted,