Messed Up My Cycle

[circulita17]

I have a 25 gallon tank that was cycled and my house has a water softner. What i didnt know was that my water softner broke. So, last week I did my weekly water change and churned the sand and added water that was not cleaned by the water softner. Then my tank got super cloudy and i tested the water and my tank has a reading of ammonia 2, nitrate 5, nitrite 0 and also my pH went down to 6.0. I did another water change and added prime to remove the ammonia and added kordon amquel plus and now my readings are reading of ammonia .5, nitrate 10-20, nitrite 0 and also my pH is still at 6. Could the unsoftened water caused this? What Do i do to bring up the pH? Or could it have been the way i churned the sand? the way i churned it was a got my fish net and scooped sand up and let it sift through the net holes and the debris would stay inside the net. My siphon dont pick up the debris and this is the only way to clean my tank. Is their a better way to pick up the debris?

Thanks Zuleyma

 

[BigJim]

Welcome to AA!

Does your softener remove chlorine? If not, then yes, chlorinated water can cause a cycle crash like yours.

How often do you stir your sand? Sand can go anaerobic and build up hydrogen sulfide gas if it's not stirred often. Stirring anaerobic sand will release this gas and I believe it basically turns to sulfuric acid in the water. That would account for your pH crash. Stir the sand with a wire coat hanger once a week or get some malaysian trumpet snails (MTS) to stir your sand for you.