Brand New To The Hobby...Please Help

[NJNewbie]

ok just tested the water and the ammonia reading is still 4ppm...so I did nothing just left the tank alone and I'll test again tomorrow again around 3:30 or 4pm....

Please let me know if I am doing anything wrong....this Newbie needs all the help he can get...I know this isgoing to take a couple of weeks probably and that is if everything goes correctly....keeping my fingers crossed..thanks again for the help

 

[Silverton]

Good luck on you're new endeavor! I just got through my fishless cycle and added my first group of fish! It seems complicated at first, but the people on here will steer you right! And you seem like you're on the right track. I think once the ammonia starts to drop you'll need to keep an eye on your pH. I heard if it drops too low it can stall your cycle. I can't tell you for certain though, and I ended up doing lots of water changes since my pH was dropping to 6.0. Maybe someone with a little more knowledge can let you know for sure. I wish you luck and cool looking nicely colored fish!

 

[emerald76]

Balas are too big and red tails limit your options a lot
Why not start with some easy fish like-
Platies
Mollies
Guppies
Swordtails
Neon tetras( need school of 6)
Zebra danios(6 or more)
Bristlenose plecos
Peppered cories(6 or more)
Pearl gourami
Dwarf cichlids such as apistos and kribensis
Harlequin rasboras(6 or more)
Marble angelfish

 

[NJNewbie]

ok just tested the water again...tank has had the ammonia for 2 days now and we still have the dark forrest green and a 4ppm reading ....wow...I thought I would start to see a slight drop by now....how long does this first drop usually take???? I know I have to wait until it drops to 1 and then dose it back up to 4 again and it should drop quicker next time...but geez 2 days and no movement what so ever , not even the slightest.....

 

[Silverton]

ok just tested the water again...tank has had the ammonia for 2 days now and we still have the dark forrest green and a 4ppm reading ....wow...I thought I would start to see a slight drop by now....how long does this first drop usually take???? I know I have to wait until it drops to 1 and then dose it back up to 4 again and it should drop quicker next time...but geez 2 days and no movement what so ever , not even the slightest.....

I guess no one told you what a waiting game this is going to be. I didn't see my first drop in ammonia until probably 1-2 weeks in, and then waiting for nitrite to convert to nitrate takes even longer. My whole cycle took about 6 weeks to complete... And all you get to look at is an empty aquarium. Still. It's not too bad. Spend this time researching fish you'd like, that makes it more bearable.

 

[NJNewbie]

ok...just tested the water this morning again and we are still that forrest green and 4ppm for Ammonia....guess I just sit and wait...this really tests your patience...I added the first dose of ammonia on Monday and haven't seen a drop in the reading at all in almost 5 days.... God I wish I knew someone who had a tank already so I could get some media with the bacteria....

 

[librarygirl]

ok...just tested the water this morning again and we are still that forrest green and 4ppm for Ammonia....guess I just sit and wait...this really tests your patience...I added the first dose of ammonia on Monday and haven't seen a drop in the reading at all in almost 5 days.... God I wish I knew someone who had a tank already so I could get some media with the bacteria....

Yeah sorry it's going to take a bit to see the first drop in ammonia, 1-2 weeks on average. You can purchase a seeded sponge filter from Sponge Filters for aquariums. They sell them from their angel fish tanks and have helped many on here with their cycles, myself included. Just make sure you get one that says "active" next to it otherwise you're just buying a plain filter.

 

[NJNewbie]

Excited....

Just found a new fish store in Northern Jersey that is suspossed to be the best in the area, so I decided to take the 50 minute drive to go check it out....well it was worth it, beutiful store, has everything and anything you can imagine and I was able to pick up a "cultured pad" to drop in my filter to help jump start the fishless cycle....so I raced home with my cultured pad opened up one of the extra media cartridges and dropped it in and put it right back in my emperor 400...I also picked up one of those 25 ft pythons everyone seems to brag about as a must to do your water changes.....but I have to admit I am a little confused to how you treat the water if you are refilling the tank right from the faucet????so I will need someone to explain how to get the prime in while I'm filling the tank with the python.......but overall I'm excited cause with this new pad added I think I will see the ammonia drop in a day or so and my cycle may be able to be completed in a very short time instead or the 4-6 weeks I was looking at

 

[Deep Seven]

The directions on the Prime bottle say to treat for the entire volume of the tank when added directly to the tank, which in your case is 65g.

My suggestion would be to put the required dose of Prime in a container, and fill the container over top your aquarium, then pour the water and prime into the tank and finish filling it directly.

 

[librarygirl]

Wow that's great! Most LFS would try to sell you fish instead of giving you a seeded pad LOL As for the Prime, just remove as much water as you want and then add enough Prime to the tank for the whole volume (I think one cap treats 55 gals, so add a cap and a half or something, I don't have the bottle in front of me) and then refill.

 

[NJNewbie]

We have some movement...

Hey guy so just a quick recap...on Monday 5/28 I started my fishless cycle...have tank set up with 2 air stones, 2 emperor 400's, and a water temperature of 82 degrees. My readings to start befor adding ammonia were as follows:

Ammonia - 0
NitrIte - 0
NitrAte - 0
pH - was 7.6

So I dose in 9ML of ammonia waited 20 minutes and got a 4.0ppm reading.

Then Tues 5/29, Wed 5/30, Thurs 5/31, Fri 6/1, and Sat 6/2 we continued to get 4.0ppm ammonia readings. I visited a LFS and puchased a cultured pad and threw it in my filter Saturday 6/2 at 6pm.

Today, Sunday 6/3 i tested my water at 4pm and got the following readings:

Ammonia - 2.0
NitrIte - 0.50
NitrAte - 0
pH - 8.0-8.2

Ok I think this is a good start and now I wait until tomorrow until the Ammonia hopefully drops down to 1.0 and then I will redose back up to 4.0. Am I correct??? Is there anything I should be worried about with these readings??? Could my pH be elevated from the cultured pad??? Help keep me on the right track.....

 

[New]

looks like the cycle is going well! congrats!

 

[librarygirl]

You have it covered! Seems like the pad is already helping, that's great! Don't worry about the PH; fluctuations are normal during cycling. If it starts to drop below 7 then let us know, otherwise don't worry about it.

 

[NJNewbie]

Ok today's readings.....

So I just tested my tank water and got the following:

Ammonia - Somewhere between 1.0 and 2.0 too dark a green to be considered 1.0 but definately lighter than 2.0


NitrIte - 1.0 ppm

NitrAte - 0.0

pH - 7.8 - 8.0 Slightly orange brownish color

Ok so my question is now this, do I redose the ammonia back up to 4ppm or wait one more day and let it go all the way down to 1ppm???? Please help I don't know what is right.....

 

[NJNewbie]

ok since no one has responded...I have to leave for work at 6:30pm until 4am...so I'm just going to leave the ammonia the way it is and give it one more day to drop down to completely 1.0 or below...then i'll redose it up again tomorrow back to 4.0ppm. I hope I'm doing the right thing Worse case scenerio I can dose the ammonia back up tonight when I get home around 4:30am or 5am....or if someone responds before 6:30 pm eastern time I can then dose up then....

 

[NJNewbie]

Actually just changed my mind...after re-reading the guide it seems the ammonia is food for the bacteria ans since I only have NitrItes thus far and no NitrAtes yet...I want to keep the bacteria fed...so i'm going to dose it back up to 4ppm instead of taking the chance it goes to 0 in the next 24 hrs

 

[NJNewbie]

Ok so the first time I needed 9Ml of ammonia and since we are getting a reading of between 1 and 2 currently...I'm going to add have that ammount....so just added 5ml Ammonia waited 20 minutes and tested and we are back to 4ppm for ammonia....let's see what tomorrow's readings bring

please let me know if I'm doing everything correctly or wrongly....Thanks again for the help

 

[Deep Seven]

So far everything looks good. I'd say you're doing it correctly.

Two things to watch for, 1) if your pH drops too low it can cause problems, 2) and if your nitrites get too high I've heard it can cause problems as well. A big water change and then re-dose ammonia can solve both those problems if they arise.

 

[librarygirl]

Either way would have been fine; the ammonia won't starve if ammonai falls to 0 for a day or two, it can take a week or so before anything drastic would happen. During my fishless cycle I always redosed if it fell under 2. Your nitrites are rising so that's a good sign.

 

[NJNewbie]

Confused......

Ok today's readings Tuesday 6/5 @ 4:45pm

Ammonia - 4.0 (slightly lighter green than on the card but definately darker green than the 2.0)

NitrIte - 5.0 (almost...not an exact match color wise but close and definately darker purple than a 2.0)

NitrAte - 0 (but starting to get darker not that bright yellow has a darker tinge to it)

pH - 7.4 -7.6 (when I use regular pH test get a dark deep blue darker than the 7.6 on the card and when I use the high pH test I get that light brown color of a 7.4 reading)

So I'm a little confused and disappointed..... I was happy to see my NitItes rising but yet my Ammonia dropped very little in 24 HR . I thought I would have seen a bigger and quicker drop. Still no NitrAte as of yet but with the darker yellow reading I'm hoping it will turn to orange in the next day or so. I hope all is going right and the readings will get better tomorrow....any suggestions or feedback??? I'm not going to do anything tonight and just wait until 4:30 or 5:00 tomorrow to test again....


Once again for all the help, encouragement, suggestions and guidance