I am at it again once again

[AquaCheatah]

Hi Guys and Gals its been a while and in my long absence well i thought the tank
was not for me sooooo i gave my fish to the pet store to sell and well i am back now and thought well why not start over and this time make sure the columnaris dont return (for all who knew my problem)

so with that said what would you guys and ladies think
start my fresh new cycle first how long will that take

so far i had my tank running with no fish dead java moss plant and massive amounts of MTsnails but i hardly see any the water is crystal clear i have to check what the readings are but today i thought i would rid of the dead java moss and clean out the filter

good idea or no?

well its good to be back hopefully i get to stay around
have a great weekend every one

 

[bruinsbro1997]

Hi there,

This should help you out a lot if you were doing a fishless cycle:
The (almost) Complete Guide and FAQ to Fishless Cycling
As for cleaning out the filter, just swish it around in tank water. You can get rid of the java moss. Cloudy water is a sign that bacteria is growing. When you get your ammonia readings, can you tell us? You adding any source of ammonia?

 

[AquaCheatah]

well i am sure the filter has alot of dead plants in it

and the tank has alot of dead moss in it
the water is super clear
like if i have a cycle but i am yet to wait on my test kit
i put in storage

 

[librarygirl]

Welcome back! So the tank is essentially still running, right? If you haven't added an ammonia source to feed the bacteria though it's likely the BB have died off. You won't know until you add some ammonia and see whether the tank can process it (the guide above will walk you through it). Keep us posted.

 

[jlk]

I would not add any ammonia unless you have somewhere else to put the snails!!! They are producing tiny amounts of ammonia daily so you should still have some degree of bacteria left processing whatever ammonia is being produced. Granted, its probably a small amount of ammonia depending on the size of your snail population. How you want to proceed from here will be up to you- rehome the snails elsewhere & do a fishless cycle with ammonia or leave them in & do a fish-in cycle with the fish you want to stock. The amount of dead plants is also contributing to the levels of ammonia, so you actually may have alot more bacteria than you realize! Time to break out the test kit!

 

[librarygirl]

Oops forgot about the snails, thanks Jlk!!

 

[AquaCheatah]

sweet thanks Jik yea well i wanted to make sure of everything first
so i broke out and dusted the old test kit and found out

0ppm NH3/NH4
0ppm No2-
0ppm NO3-

so that leaves to be that the dead moss and the snails aint really doing their thing for my tank to be stable so its safe to say i can empty tank to about 2 inches of water and clean out the dead moss and the filter complete and start over leaving the snails alive with the 2 inches of water right ?

hope i didnt lose anyone with that

 

[jlk]

Are there still any live plants in there? Its odd that you have zero nitrates. I would def clean out any dead plants/junk that be accumulated but id leave the filter be. How do you want to proceed from here? You cant do a fishless cycle unless you move the snails (amm would kill them off)....

 

[AquaCheatah]

no live plants at all

all i got is a 46 cube tank i have pics in my gallery to get an idea of what the tank looked like

cause all thats left is ornies snails witch would be hard to move being they are all over the place and yellow dead java moss that stuck on the intake filter and on an ornie i have

i mean i was thinking of just removing all the water cleaning out all the dead plants just leave enough for the snails clean the tubes of the filter cause they have some build up of some sort and also clean the filter it self put spanking new filter pads leaving one old one in ? maybe idk and then filling the water up leaving for 1 month with out adding anything leaving the snails growing i would add a finger tip of flakes to have the snails eating something besides what grows in the tank

but thats just my idea tho cause i been 4months with out anything in the tank since i left out of the country i gave and gifted all my fish

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Fish food and a few snails aren't going to give off enough ammonia to fishless cycle your tank. You have another option other than fishless. You can fish in cycle your tank with 3-4 fish. It requires a bit more dedication and daily water changes.

 

[AquaCheatah]

^^^

if i go with that routine how much time with in water changes would i have to give if say i go with 4 female and 2 male guppies since its a 46 gal

 

[Mumma.of.two]

^^^

if i go with that routine how much time with in water changes would i have to give if say i go with 4 female and 2 male guppies since its a 46 gal

Well it all depends on the amount of ammonia build up. 6 guppies wont have a huge ammonia output. You'd still be looking at a water change everyday. A cycle takes 4-8 weeks to complete (fish in or fishless), less if you have seeded material from an established tank (filter media is by far the best). You still need to test everyday (like a fishless). If ammonia or nitrite get over .25ppm do a water change. So if ammonia is at .5ppm do a 50% to bring it down to .25ppm. If its at 1.00ppm do a 50% to bring it to .5ppm followed by another 50% to bring it to .25ppm.
Here are some links on fish in cycles:
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/artic...g-but-I-already-have-fish-What-now/Page2.html
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f12/fish-in-cycling-step-over-into-the-dark-side-176446.html

 

[librarygirl]

^^^

if i go with that routine how much time with in water changes would i have to give if say i go with 4 female and 2 male guppies since its a 46 gal

I agree with Mumma. 6 guppies in a 46 gal probably won't give you a massive amount of toxin buildup but you'll still probably have to do some water changes during the cycle. It's up to you.

 

[AquaCheatah]

sweet thanks you ladies i will give this a shot once more start over fresh

since nothing really is established in my tank and the filter is super dirty
might as well just use the new pads i been hoarding in my storage and start fresh wait a while to get fish cause i been working more hrs and i am starting to see if i work from home or if i will be back out on the road

i will be posting updates but so far i will take into effect that 6 wont do much but its a start and i will be printing out the articles so i can read while on the road thank you very much

 

[AquaCheatah]

ok def for the new year i started fresh took out the water and changed the filter pads cleaned out the intake and outtake tubes and now i am all good to go with new water and new pads going to check in a week to see how the water is then make a change and see if i get a few fish by the 2nd or 3rd week of jan