Help!! Trying to cycle my tank, may have ruined it!

[Seth]

Hello
I'm relatively new to the aquatic life, and frankly... i am so ashamed of myself for making possibly a terrible, terrible decision.
I may have used an eco-friendly cleaner i bought from Home Depot on my fish tank...

I've been trying to cycle my tank for 3 weeks now. The first week i put in the "quick start" stuff by API my Amonia was at about .25 and didn't change all week.
I added some ammonia, got it to about 2ppm (which i read is pretty good to try to get nitrates)
A week later, nothing... No drop.

I 100% changed my water because i realized i put the tank accessories in the eco-friendly cleaner i got from Home Depot and residue might be left over and killing the good bacteria. Took those out, soaked them for a really long time (probably about 6 hours) in water hoping to get the rest of the cleaner-product off.

I put about 2/4 of the items back into the tank, and the bigger items decided to scrap since it was getting too crowded anyway.

Put in the Quick Start again.
A week later the ammonia level raised to .25 again. No nitrates a week later. No going down in Ammonia..

I now realized i ALSO cleaned the tank (because i got it used from craigslist, and i don't know how the previous owner's fish had died and was afraid my new aqauatic life would get whatever disease his fish may have had) with the same eco-friendly home depot cleaner.....

What do i do!?
Is the ammonia not dropping because the nitrates can't be created because of the cleaner-residue?!
How do i fix this ;_;
I am very stressed out about this, i want my aquatic life to be in their tank and happy.....

 

[chykityta]

First off, please tell us what product is it that you used exactly.


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[Seth]

First off, please tell us what product is it that you used exactly.


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Seventh Generation - disinfecting bathroom cleaner (pictured here http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Sj2aLZwiL._SL1000_.jpg )

 

[ScotJudd]

Hi Seth, I'm not familiar with the cleaner so googled the contents. Although you should not really use any commercial cleaners with fish tank materials I suspect that a good rinse will have diluted the cleaner to very low levels and I would be supposed if this is your cycling problem. You really hasn't been cycling for long enough to expect a drop in ammonia and a rise in nitrates. It can take a month or two. Patience is key!
The 100% water change should have removed any residue left of the glass, I am also assuming that although the product is called 'no rinse' that you did rinse the tank and ornaments after cleaning it.
In my experience using and type of bottled bacteria or quick start are pretty hit and miss. The bacteria levels can be affected by storage, shelf life etc. A much better bet is to ask a friend or your local fish shop for a piece of filter media, nice and dirty, and by placing this in your filter you will seed it. This really is a quick start to cycling, but you may still be talking quite a few weeks. Did I say, patience is key!
Good luck with the tank and don't beat yourself up, you were only trying to do what you thought would be right for your fish. If you have any doubts about future products, food, medication etc, then post on here. It's quicker than asking at the local fish shop and no one on here has a financial interest about your purchases.



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[lksdrinker]

be patient. Keep the ammonia level up and just hurry up and wait! I wouldn't worry too much about the cleanser since there was no livestock. Something like that could potentially wipe out the beneficial bacteria in an established setup; but yours was not yet established and chances are any lingering cleanser has been diluted quite a bit by now and/or evaporated/gassed off.