Hi there...
My family is new to "proper" fish keeping. (We've kept bettas in bowls pretty successfully for many years but never anything with a filter or fancy stuff...)
We recently purchased the 27 gal Marineland "cube" setup from Petsmart. We're running an Eheim Classic 250 canister filter with a Hydor inline heater. Got a simple bubble stone, some basic substrate, and a few plastic decorations and that's it for now. We're planning on a simple, beginners freshwater tank for my kids to enjoy. But first, we need to get the darned water cycled.
(For the record, I am following the fishless cycling recommendations I found here: The (almost) Complete Guide and FAQ to Fishless Cycling - Aquarium Advice )
So, we added our conditioned water on March 24th. Got all the mechanical bits working and cranked up the bubbles and the temp to 80 degrees. Straight out of the tap, our water pH is around 7.6/7.8 (we're on the border between the two API pH test kits but let's just say we have seriously hard water here and leave it at that). I dosed up the ammonia to 4 ppm with Dr Tim's ammonia and let 'er go. Kept tabs on the ammonia every few days for about a week, recalibrating to 4 ppm as needed. Once the nitrite started to appear, I started testing everything daily. I haven't been keeping a log of my results but my memory is pretty decent. By the third week, our ammonia was dropping to 0 within 24 hours and nitrites were holding steady at around 2. A week later, nitrate started to appear and I thought we were golden. According to the instructions, we would soon see a day when the ammonia and nitrite both disappeared. So I waited patiently and kept testing the water and adding ammonia (sometimes more than once a day). But the nitrates are still hanging around.
As I mentioned in a different thread, I have some issues with reading the nitrate test results. Once they exceed 1 ppm, I can't really see much difference in the color in the test tube. Also, I notice that the results vary widely within only a minute or two of making a reading. For example, this morning my nitrite test looked *sorta* like 1 ppm at the five minute mark but, two minutes later, it looked like 0.25. I wonder whether this test is really so accurate and sensitive that two minutes can make such an enormous difference???
Be that as it may....
I'm beginning to wonder whether we have messed this up somewhere along the line and if our cycle has stalled. I asked the guys at the local fish store for help and they looked at me like I was crazy and told me to just buy some hardy fish and throw 'em in the tank. Gee, thanks for the help, fish dudes.
So, I've done a ridiculous amount of reading, trying to get some answers. Of course, I get conflicting advice and can't seem to find anyone who has the exact same situation that we do. So now I'm turning to you folks for some words of wisdom. What should I do now?
Here are this morning's API test results:
pH 8.4
Ammo - 0.25
Nitrite - 1 (I think?)
Nitrate - 20
We haven't done any PWC, although I have been topping off the tank with about half a gallon of conditioned water every few days. Is a PWC our next logical step? If so, how much do we change? I'm really starting to feel helpless at this point. Six weeks seems like a really long time to wait...especially when you see people walking out of Petsmart with a brand new 10-gallon setup and bags full of fish (that are probably doomed...but still).
Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts....
My family is new to "proper" fish keeping. (We've kept bettas in bowls pretty successfully for many years but never anything with a filter or fancy stuff...)
We recently purchased the 27 gal Marineland "cube" setup from Petsmart. We're running an Eheim Classic 250 canister filter with a Hydor inline heater. Got a simple bubble stone, some basic substrate, and a few plastic decorations and that's it for now. We're planning on a simple, beginners freshwater tank for my kids to enjoy. But first, we need to get the darned water cycled.
(For the record, I am following the fishless cycling recommendations I found here: The (almost) Complete Guide and FAQ to Fishless Cycling - Aquarium Advice )
So, we added our conditioned water on March 24th. Got all the mechanical bits working and cranked up the bubbles and the temp to 80 degrees. Straight out of the tap, our water pH is around 7.6/7.8 (we're on the border between the two API pH test kits but let's just say we have seriously hard water here and leave it at that). I dosed up the ammonia to 4 ppm with Dr Tim's ammonia and let 'er go. Kept tabs on the ammonia every few days for about a week, recalibrating to 4 ppm as needed. Once the nitrite started to appear, I started testing everything daily. I haven't been keeping a log of my results but my memory is pretty decent. By the third week, our ammonia was dropping to 0 within 24 hours and nitrites were holding steady at around 2. A week later, nitrate started to appear and I thought we were golden. According to the instructions, we would soon see a day when the ammonia and nitrite both disappeared. So I waited patiently and kept testing the water and adding ammonia (sometimes more than once a day). But the nitrates are still hanging around.
As I mentioned in a different thread, I have some issues with reading the nitrate test results. Once they exceed 1 ppm, I can't really see much difference in the color in the test tube. Also, I notice that the results vary widely within only a minute or two of making a reading. For example, this morning my nitrite test looked *sorta* like 1 ppm at the five minute mark but, two minutes later, it looked like 0.25. I wonder whether this test is really so accurate and sensitive that two minutes can make such an enormous difference???
Be that as it may....
I'm beginning to wonder whether we have messed this up somewhere along the line and if our cycle has stalled. I asked the guys at the local fish store for help and they looked at me like I was crazy and told me to just buy some hardy fish and throw 'em in the tank. Gee, thanks for the help, fish dudes.
So, I've done a ridiculous amount of reading, trying to get some answers. Of course, I get conflicting advice and can't seem to find anyone who has the exact same situation that we do. So now I'm turning to you folks for some words of wisdom. What should I do now?
Here are this morning's API test results:
pH 8.4
Ammo - 0.25
Nitrite - 1 (I think?)
Nitrate - 20
We haven't done any PWC, although I have been topping off the tank with about half a gallon of conditioned water every few days. Is a PWC our next logical step? If so, how much do we change? I'm really starting to feel helpless at this point. Six weeks seems like a really long time to wait...especially when you see people walking out of Petsmart with a brand new 10-gallon setup and bags full of fish (that are probably doomed...but still).
Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts....