Very Strange Fish-in "cycle"- 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrite, 0 Nitrates- heavily planted
Having a very weird time cycling my 55 gallon planted tank at my office. Its very densely planted, and I have 8 full grown male adult Fathead Minnows (Pimephales promelas) as a fish cycle and feeding heavily twice daily. The strange thing is- I'm a week into it, and ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates are a 0. Testing correctly (in fact- I work at a toxicology lab and have access to actual machine run testing via EPA/ASTM methods).
My Red Flame Sword is having a little Melting due to the transplant I believe, and the fatheads are a little nippy with my Vals (and the vals have a little yellowing on some stems)- other than that, all the other plants look good.
My question is- are my plants soaking up the Ammonia so fast it doesn't even have the chance to break down into Nitrite/Nitrates yet?
My fear is that with no nitrates- are my plants going to suffer? Or are they getting enough from the potting soil?
I'm considering waiting until next Monday- and if all is 0/0/0 again- I will just start adding fish (maybe my 8 young hatchets, 8 cories, 5 otos, and take out the 8 full grown minnows). Help me plant experts.
Tank setup is as follows:
-55 gallons
-7.6 pH, moderate hardness
-77-78 Degrees
-substrate is 1.5" potting soil (put in unwashed), 1.5-2.5" sloped black beauty (washed)
-no C02 or ferts
-low light 64 watts (~1.1 watts/gallon)
-Canister Filter (Bioballs, filters, activated carbon)
-driftwood (leaching tannins w/ Peat in soil), rocks
-plants are:
2 Pigmy Chain Sword
2 Narrow Leaf Micro Swords
2 Crypt Wendtii "Red"
3 Java Ferns
2 small Tropica swords
1 Anubias nana
12 Italian vallisneria
4 Jungle Vallisneria
1 Anubias Frazeri
1 Red flame sword
1 Uruguayensis sword
1 Day:
1 Day Fish:
7 Days:
Having a very weird time cycling my 55 gallon planted tank at my office. Its very densely planted, and I have 8 full grown male adult Fathead Minnows (Pimephales promelas) as a fish cycle and feeding heavily twice daily. The strange thing is- I'm a week into it, and ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates are a 0. Testing correctly (in fact- I work at a toxicology lab and have access to actual machine run testing via EPA/ASTM methods).
My Red Flame Sword is having a little Melting due to the transplant I believe, and the fatheads are a little nippy with my Vals (and the vals have a little yellowing on some stems)- other than that, all the other plants look good.
My question is- are my plants soaking up the Ammonia so fast it doesn't even have the chance to break down into Nitrite/Nitrates yet?
My fear is that with no nitrates- are my plants going to suffer? Or are they getting enough from the potting soil?
I'm considering waiting until next Monday- and if all is 0/0/0 again- I will just start adding fish (maybe my 8 young hatchets, 8 cories, 5 otos, and take out the 8 full grown minnows). Help me plant experts.
Tank setup is as follows:
-55 gallons
-7.6 pH, moderate hardness
-77-78 Degrees
-substrate is 1.5" potting soil (put in unwashed), 1.5-2.5" sloped black beauty (washed)
-no C02 or ferts
-low light 64 watts (~1.1 watts/gallon)
-Canister Filter (Bioballs, filters, activated carbon)
-driftwood (leaching tannins w/ Peat in soil), rocks
-plants are:
2 Pigmy Chain Sword
2 Narrow Leaf Micro Swords
2 Crypt Wendtii "Red"
3 Java Ferns
2 small Tropica swords
1 Anubias nana
12 Italian vallisneria
4 Jungle Vallisneria
1 Anubias Frazeri
1 Red flame sword
1 Uruguayensis sword
1 Day:
1 Day Fish:
7 Days: