iforged
Aquarium Advice Regular
Sooo, I have had some trouble getting my tank cycled even after having it running for 3 months, my Ammonia was above 2.0-4.0ppm daily before PWC and pH gradually dropping from 7.2 all the way down to 6.0.
Today I decided to do a bigger water change and take out my FAKE ornaments, some what large, fake rocks and a fake driftwood. As i picked up the ornaments, i noticed a TON.. i mean A TON of gooey particles, almost like snot, and soooo much uneaten food that was trapped underneath that driftwood a rock. So i took them both out, did a 60% water change and tried to syphone as much of that stuff as possible. I did not put the stuff back in.
So my question is, could this be the cause of my extremely high ammonia levels? also can a FULLY CYCLED tank show signs of ammonia but NO Nitrite and Nitrate levels? (in which case this is what im dealing with) All this time i was waiting for my Ammonia to convert to Nitrite and then to Nitrate.
Also thinking about adding some live plants, do i need special substrate for them to grow? or is there certain type of plants that will grow just fine in my regular gravel?
Thank you guys
Today I decided to do a bigger water change and take out my FAKE ornaments, some what large, fake rocks and a fake driftwood. As i picked up the ornaments, i noticed a TON.. i mean A TON of gooey particles, almost like snot, and soooo much uneaten food that was trapped underneath that driftwood a rock. So i took them both out, did a 60% water change and tried to syphone as much of that stuff as possible. I did not put the stuff back in.
So my question is, could this be the cause of my extremely high ammonia levels? also can a FULLY CYCLED tank show signs of ammonia but NO Nitrite and Nitrate levels? (in which case this is what im dealing with) All this time i was waiting for my Ammonia to convert to Nitrite and then to Nitrate.
Also thinking about adding some live plants, do i need special substrate for them to grow? or is there certain type of plants that will grow just fine in my regular gravel?
Thank you guys