I have 36gal bow front that I started cycling 8 days ago. It has 6 zebra danios in it. I just started seeing ammonia - 0.25ppm yesterday and .50ppm this morning. My question is when do I PWC? I don't want to do it and then have the cycle stall because I took out the ammonia but I also don't want to cause my fish a ton of stress (don't learn about the fish less cycle until after I put in the danios :-( ). Do I try something like ammo-lock to de-tox it so it can stay there for the bacteria to feed and grow? I haven't really cycled a tank before - the 10gal I had when I was younger probably didn't get cycled and the 55 gal saltwater tank I had with my dad was cycled by live rock.
Question about cycling
- Thread starter Killian
- Start date
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TotallyCoral
Aquarium Advice Freak
Since you're doing a fish-in cycle, I would stay away from any additives and just roll with PWC. I know you really don't want to, but it's the best option for the fish at this point. Just keep the ammonia levels down as best you can. You might want to check out the fish-in cycling link on "getting started" for more info about the bacteria and such.
shellieca
Aquarium Advice Addict
Killian said:
You're not alone in the fish in cycling, test daily, water changes & add Prime (a water conditioner) with each water change for the total volume of the aquarium. PWC's (partial water change) may have to be done daily depending on your levels. If you're seeing Ammonia at .50 ppm, do a PWC, keep it as low as you possibly can. Mine seems to be hovering .25 - .50, my 46g has been cycling for 2 weeks. I've been doing about 50% water changes for the last 3 or 4 days, I didn't do one yesterday so I'm pretty sure it'll be a necessity this evening after work. Good luck & stay consistent.
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