Hello

[Elvis1970]

Hello all I'm new to the forum and have been out of the aquarist trade for 5 or 6 years but getting back into it now . I have set up my dream tank 90 gallon cichlid tank with a DIY 3d ledge background made with styrofoam and dry dock . The tank has a magnum 350 with micron filter and uv sterilizer ( currently unplugged during cycle) , and also a marineland 360-c canister filter . I also have a finnex digital heater and have been running a fishless cycle ( by the way never heard of this and have had tanks all my life ) . Since march 1rst , presently the tank is consuming 2-3ppm of ammonia every 12 hours , my nitrates however are at 10 ppm and my nitrates are at 40 ppm this has been for the last two weeks ? I also am not getting down to 0 with ammonia it goes to .25 which is my tap water reading with API master kit . And my ph is holding steady at 8.2 .. My question is , am I close to cycling in your opinion ? Is a water change necessary to bring the nitrite down with the ph steady ? Will I see that last .25 ammonia go to 0 once the nitrites drop or is that just my zero cause of my tap water ? The tank is crystal clear and growing some brown algae which I assume is normal during cycling without fish ... Sorry to be so winded ....

 

[Kuddos 2 U]

Welcome to the Forum!!!

 

[Scubatom]

Hello all I'm new to the forum and have been out of the aquarist trade for 5 or 6 years but getting back into it now . I have set up my dream tank 90 gallon cichlid tank with a DIY 3d ledge background made with styrofoam and dry dock . The tank has a magnum 350 with micron filter and uv sterilizer ( currently unplugged during cycle) , and also a marineland 360-c canister filter . I also have a finnex digital heater and have been running a fishless cycle ( by the way never heard of this and have had tanks all my life ) . Since march 1rst , presently the tank is consuming 2-3ppm of ammonia every 12 hours , my nitrates however are at 10 ppm and my nitrates are at 40 ppm this has been for the last two weeks ? I also am not getting down to 0 with ammonia it goes to .25 which is my tap water reading with API master kit . And my ph is holding steady at 8.2 .. My question is , am I close to cycling in your opinion ? Is a water change necessary to bring the nitrite down with the ph steady ? Will I see that last .25 ammonia go to 0 once the nitrites drop or is that just my zero cause of my tap water ? The tank is crystal clear and growing some brown algae which I assume is normal during cycling without fish ... Sorry to be so winded ....

Hi I am new to and welcome, I am notsur ehow long tocycle such a large tank and I believe all nitrates should be very minimal if nothing at all. I live in the UK and purchased some Pure aquarium bacterial balls, droping 5 or 6 in per week to keep the tank clear and healthy, this really helped my cycling process and speeded it up, with in 24 hours og putting in these balls all my levels dropped.
Also if you are getting green algee thats normally due to the light, do you keep your lights on or is it exposed to direct sunlight. reducing this well help with the algee and of course fish that eat algee. Hope this helps, I have had 6ft tanks before when I was younger but like you just started up again.

Hope all goes well and hope this either makes sence or is at least right.