Typical noob stuck with fishIN cycle

[Ghostriderphoto]

Here are my current parameters...

 

[Ghostriderphoto]

Will the high nitrites and nitrates stall my cycle?

 

[mozcheez]

I've seen other people post that having high NO2 and NO3 for a lengthy period of time could stall.

 

[HeatherW]

I think you are ok for now. that pic is 24 hours or so after dosing? once you get your ammonia to 0 within a 24 hr period then you need to start looking at the nitrites. but... PM member jlk and she should have a much better answer for you. walked me through my fishless...

good luck!

 

[Ghostriderphoto]

My tank is taking less than 24hrs to go through 4ppm of ammonia. The last pic showing ammo is about 2 hours or less after dosing. The nitrites and nitrates have been off the charts for a week or so now... My ph just started crashing yesterday. I am getting ready to test the tank now to see how the ph is.

 

[librarygirl]

PH fluctuations are common during cycling, but if they fall too far they can stall things so that's why we monitor them and do water changes as needed. Your nitrites are still pretty high. You can keep dosing for now though; if this weekend they are still that high you might want to do more water changes and try to get them down to something you can read on the chart (this could mean a couple of total water changes, sorry about that ). If Ph starts falling again before that though do another water change. You can also dose to 2 for the next few days if you want to try to give the nitrite conversion bacteria time to catch up, but only dose to 2 for a few days then go back to 4; you don't want the bacteria to get lazy

 

[Ghostriderphoto]

PH fluctuations are common during cycling, but if they fall too far they can stall things so that's why we monitor them and do water changes as needed. Your nitrites are still pretty high. You can keep dosing for now though; if this weekend they are still that high you might want to do more water changes and try to get them down to something you can read on the chart (this could mean a couple of total water changes, sorry about that ). If Ph starts falling again before that though do another water change. You can also dose to 2 for the next few days if you want to try to give the nitrite conversion bacteria time to catch up, but only dose to 2 for a few days then go back to 4; you don't want the bacteria to get lazy

Definitely don't want lazy bacteria... I am off work tomorrow and can test a couple times if needed. I have attached a pic of my parameters from just now. Think I will dose back to 4ppm tonight and see what happens, if anything, to my ph tomorrow. My ph stayed through the last 24hr feed. Maybe I should do a big water change tomorrow while I have the time to restore buffers and lower nitrites/nitrates to a more readable level? I love this science stuff!

If you give up on a tough fish less cycle... Then you would probably give up on the fish anyway in a short period of time... My philosophy.

 

[mozcheez]

Looking good If you think you'll be pretty busy later this weekend and wouldn't have time for a big water change (or 3 :lol), then I'd go ahead and get one in tomorrow if I were you. Like we've said, the water changes won't hurt Crazy that the 90% change yesterday didn't seem to make the NO2 or NO3 budge at all. I'm curious as to whether the next change will bring them into a readable range.

 

[Ghostriderphoto]

The levels are probably so high that the one big change didn't quite bring them into a readable range... My guess. I think I will do a couple big changes tomorrow and get things back under control... See what happens from there.

 

[Ghostriderphoto]

So I just did a test on my parameters an I have posted results below. Does it look like nitrites are falling? I haven't done a water change yet...

 

[Ghostriderphoto]

So I just did a test on my parameters an I have posted results below. Does it look like nitrites are falling? I haven't done a water change yet...

I compared my nitrites test from both tanks... Pic below. Looks like they are falling in the ten gallon! They were both off the charts last night and now an obvious color difference... The ten gallon test is on the right and the fifty gallon test is on the left... Let me know what you think!

 

[mozcheez]

Yes! Obvious difference A great sign for your 10g. I know you hadn't done a WC as of the earlier post, but did you end up doing one on the 55?

 

[mozcheez]

Oops, I meant 50. Was that first test you posted from the 50? Either way, if you jut dosed up to 4ppm last night and around noon today it was already down to 0, that's another great sign!

 

[Ghostriderphoto]

The ten has been cycling ammo out way before 24hrs for awhile now. I have just been waiting to see a drop in nitrites. I will need to do a water change tonight as I noticed in a test around 2pm that my ph was starting to drop again.

The fifty is doing ok... Takes 2 days to get ammo to .25 and nitrites are through the roof. Ph is holding steady and nitrates are around 40 ppm.

 

[librarygirl]

The ten has been cycling ammo out way before 24hrs for awhile now. I have just been waiting to see a drop in nitrites. I will need to do a water change tonight as I noticed in a test around 2pm that my ph was starting to drop again.

The fifty is doing ok... Takes 2 days to get ammo to .25 and nitrites are through the roof. Ph is holding steady and nitrates are around 40 ppm.

If you can manage some water changes on the larger tank this weekend I'd do so. I'm wondering if things are stalling if it's taking ammonia two days to go to 0 with nitrite that high. Try to do some 100% water changes and get the nitrite down to something you can measure on the chart then dose ammonia to 2 for a couple of days and we'll see what happens.

 

[mozcheez]

^ librarygirl is great

 

[Ghostriderphoto]

If you can manage some water changes on the larger tank this weekend I'd do so. I'm wondering if things are stalling if it's taking ammonia two days to go to 0 with nitrite that high. Try to do some 100% water changes and get the nitrite down to something you can measure on the chart then dose ammonia to 2 for a couple of days and we'll see what happens.

The big tank just started eating ammo this week. I had to take my angelsplus active filter from the ten gallon tank to get the big tank to start cycling. I just did two 90% water changes on the ten gallon to get nitrites and nitrates lower and to get my ph back up to 8.2. I think the nitrites are starting to fall in the ten gallon though. I posted a pic of my current parameters in the ten gallon from after the water changes.

My big tank is holding its ph at 8.2 and slowly eating ammo. I'm hoping in a few days I will see the ammo zeroing in that tank. I know I am close to water changes in the big tank and dreading the inevitable bucket brigade to do so. I think I may need to up the filtration on the big tank also. I have a penguin 200 on it right now and the 4" sponge filter. I will be stocking small tilapia in the big tank ( future breeders).

 

[librarygirl]

Oh, sorry, didn't realize you just moved seeded media from the smaller tank to the larger one. Still, nitrites are pretty high in the large tank so yeah whenever you can do some water changes to get those down it might be beneficial. Have you thought about investing in a water changer (or was this already mentioned? lol).

Increasing filtration would be good. You could either get a second filter to run alongside the Penguin (something like an Aquaclear 200-300 would be good) or upgrade totally to a larger filter (an Aquaclear 500) and move the media from the Penguin. Since the tank is larger too you could consider a canister, something like a Fluval 406 maybe.

 

[Ghostriderphoto]

Oh, sorry, didn't realize you just moved seeded media from the smaller tank to the larger one. Still, nitrites are pretty high in the large tank so yeah whenever you can do some water changes to get those down it might be beneficial. Have you thought about investing in a water changer (or was this already mentioned? lol).

Increasing filtration would be good. You could either get a second filter to run alongside the Penguin (something like an Aquaclear 200-300 would be good) or upgrade totally to a larger filter (an Aquaclear 500) and move the media from the Penguin. Since the tank is larger too you could consider a canister, something like a Fluval 406 maybe.

I will look into the filters. The canister sounds nice as it will give more room in the tank for the fish. Don't they also hold more bio media than the hob filters? I don't want to get too much circulation in the tank as it is going to hold breeders.

My tanks are in the garage which is separated from the house. I can't run a water changer that far... Wish I could. I will do some water changes on the big tank tonight and get the levels down some to see of it helps. Here is a pic of my basic setup. I will run tests and post results as soon as I get home this evening. Thanks for the help!

 

[Ghostriderphoto]

Ok... My parameters on the ten gallon tonight are...
Ph: 8.2
Ammo: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 40

On the big tank...
Ph: 8.2
Ammo: 0
Nitrite: 5+
Nitrate: 40 (I think)