LeoSpaceman
Aquarium Advice Newbie
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2020
- Messages
- 5
Hi everyone, I've been working to get a 20 gallon tank to cycle with no luck for about 3 months now.
Quick backstory, I started with a 3 gallon betta tank for my youngest. This has gone somewhat well after starting out almost completely clueless. I've lost a snail along the way and almost certainly hastened our first betta's demise that happened this week from the tank getting up to 8 ppm ammonia early on. After the early issues I got a test kit, some Seachem Prime and that 3 gallon tank has been cycling for a couple weeks now. Mysterio 2 (the snail) and Bluefin 2 (the betta) seem to be doing well and my son hasn't figured out that they are replacements for the originals.
To the 20 gallon tank. Shortly after getting the betta tank it became apparent my son wasn't going to be satisfied with only being able to have one fish. So we got the Aqueon 20 gallon kit, filled it up, added the bottled stuff that came with it that was supposed to make the tank ready in 1-2 days. We added 4 neon tetra later that weekend who all promptly died within 2-3 hours. It was at that point that I dug into the research, got the test kit ordered that allowed me to save the small tank, and decided to get the 20 gallon tank cycled before adding any more fish.
I added ammonia up to 2 ppm and waited. After about 4 weeks of nothing I read some more and took the top off the tank thinking it needed more surface area exposed to help get it started. After another 4 weeks of nothing I changed out the filter cartridge in the small tank and moved it into the filter case of the big tank. This was after the small tank appeared cycle so I assumed the filter would be loaded up with bacteria that would kick start the process in the big tank. It's been about another 2 weeks since then I am still seeing no movement. The ammonia looks like it may have dropped some, but I'm chalking that up more to probably dilution from adding top off water since I've got no sign of nitrites or nitrates.
Anything else I may be missing? When I'm doing water changes on the small tank I make up some extra that is dosed with Prime to add to the large tank as well to top it off. I'm not sure what else would be preventing the bacteria from taking hold. It's a 6 year old boy's room so not exactly a hospital environment.
Quick backstory, I started with a 3 gallon betta tank for my youngest. This has gone somewhat well after starting out almost completely clueless. I've lost a snail along the way and almost certainly hastened our first betta's demise that happened this week from the tank getting up to 8 ppm ammonia early on. After the early issues I got a test kit, some Seachem Prime and that 3 gallon tank has been cycling for a couple weeks now. Mysterio 2 (the snail) and Bluefin 2 (the betta) seem to be doing well and my son hasn't figured out that they are replacements for the originals.
To the 20 gallon tank. Shortly after getting the betta tank it became apparent my son wasn't going to be satisfied with only being able to have one fish. So we got the Aqueon 20 gallon kit, filled it up, added the bottled stuff that came with it that was supposed to make the tank ready in 1-2 days. We added 4 neon tetra later that weekend who all promptly died within 2-3 hours. It was at that point that I dug into the research, got the test kit ordered that allowed me to save the small tank, and decided to get the 20 gallon tank cycled before adding any more fish.
I added ammonia up to 2 ppm and waited. After about 4 weeks of nothing I read some more and took the top off the tank thinking it needed more surface area exposed to help get it started. After another 4 weeks of nothing I changed out the filter cartridge in the small tank and moved it into the filter case of the big tank. This was after the small tank appeared cycle so I assumed the filter would be loaded up with bacteria that would kick start the process in the big tank. It's been about another 2 weeks since then I am still seeing no movement. The ammonia looks like it may have dropped some, but I'm chalking that up more to probably dilution from adding top off water since I've got no sign of nitrites or nitrates.
Anything else I may be missing? When I'm doing water changes on the small tank I make up some extra that is dosed with Prime to add to the large tank as well to top it off. I'm not sure what else would be preventing the bacteria from taking hold. It's a 6 year old boy's room so not exactly a hospital environment.