Need help with setting up Glo Fish tank

[djozwiak]

Hi everyone!! I am looking for some help with my son's 10 gallon Glo Fish tank which he got for his birthday back in August.


Here's what has happened so far: we set the tank up a couple days after his birthday and being newbies at all this we took a sample of the water to the local pet store. They said our pH was high and sent us home with some Stability to fix it. Went back the next day and was informed it looked good and we should try 3 fish. Got the fish home and added them as explained to us (not drip acclimation but gradually emptying the water from the bag. The fish promptly died in about 30 minutes.


So....I started doing my research on here and decided to try fishless cycling as per the thread I found on here. I bought new filter material (the one you cut up yourself) and I have ammonium chloride because I couldn't get hold of the liquid ammonia. I also bought the API testing kit. We started the process on August 28th.


Since then we have dosed ammonia back up to 4ppm 3 times. The ammonia levels are dropping a lot faster now - only 6 days between doses last time. We started nitrite testing on 9/17 and have never got a reading above 0. For fits and giggles I tested the nitrates on 9/30 but they were also 0.


My understanding is that this means the cycle has not completed. What should my next step be? I haven't changed out any water during this process but I have topped it up and used Prime to dechlorinate it. The heat is around 82.


Thank you for any tips you can give me! I really want to avoid killing more fish and having an upset kid but this seems to be taking forever

 

[rlederer]

My suggestion, and I know this might be a bit frustrating as you want to get the fish tank going asap, but take things slowly. Set up the tank and either add two small fish, or better, none at all, and wait a month or six weeks. The tank will eventually cycle. You can speed it up by getting part of a filter or sponge from an established tank.
One thing you do not want to do is keep adding chemicals of various sorts to adjust the pH, hardness, ammonia levels, etc. All you will be doing is chasing the water parameters. Patience is all it takes.

 

[djozwiak]

My suggestion, and I know this might be a bit frustrating as you want to get the fish tank going asap, but take things slowly. Set up the tank and either add two small fish, or better, none at all, and wait a month or six weeks. The tank will eventually cycle. You can speed it up by getting part of a filter or sponge from an established tank.
One thing you do not want to do is keep adding chemicals of various sorts to adjust the pH, hardness, ammonia levels, etc. All you will be doing is chasing the water parameters. Patience is all it takes.

Ok. So don’t add any more ammonia now and just wait? We have been doing this a month already you see. I don’t know anyone with a fish tank unfortunately although I could probably ask on my neighborhood page

 

[rlederer]

Yes, just waiting is the safest and easiest way to go. Test your water every few days . The appropriate bacteria will find their way into the tank.

 

[djozwiak]

Yes, just waiting is the safest and easiest way to go. Test your water every few days . The appropriate bacteria will find their way into the tank.

Cool, thanks. And I should test pH, ammonia, nitrites and nitrates as I am doing now?

 

[rlederer]

Yes. And go to https://aquariuminfo.org/cycling.html or another website for a complete explanation of cycling.

 

[djozwiak]

Yes. And go to https://aquariuminfo.org/cycling.html or another website for a complete explanation of cycling.

Thank you!