Cycling Stalled Freshwater Tank

[P00lshark95]

Hi Everyone,

I had my 36 gallon tank running a fish in cycle(7 tetras) for about a month and had Ammonia, Nitrites, and Nitrates present and was dosing with Dr. Tims beneficial bacteria.

The ammonia level were at about 1.5 ppm the nitrites are at 2.0 ppm and the nitrates are at about 10 ppm.

I told the salesperson at my local fish store my levels and he advised that I do a 50% water change.

After the water change my levels went down temporarily, but then my ammonia spiked and was at almost 8.0 ppm and the nitrites and nitrates were gone.

I have since done another water change and my ammonia is down to about 4.00 ppm, but I am not seeing any nitrites forming yet and if there are any it they are very very faint.

It has been about a month where I have only ammonia in my tank and I am feeding it BB nearly everyday.

My pH is about 6-6.5 and I am feeding the fish once every other day.

Am I back on the right track? If not any suggestions?

 

[Aiken Drum]

You havent done a water change in a month and your ammonia isnt rising or lowering and you arent seeing any nitrite or nitrate?

How many fish do you have in the tank?

I would check you are doing your tests correctly, in particular your nitrate test. Presuming you are using API master test you have to really shake the heck out of bottle #2.

Alternatively could your fish store double check your test results.

Your pH is very low and this will slow down your beneficial bacteria growth. Could explain why nothing seems to be progressing.

 

[P00lshark95]

Hi thanks for the response. No I have done water changes and the ammonia will go down temporarily and then back up. It currently is sitting at 4.o ppm after a 50% water change last week.

I have 7 Black skirt tetras in the tank.
My fish store double checked my results and they are right.
If it is the pH, what is a good way to increase the pH while the tank is cycling?

 

[Aiken Drum]

Your target should be to keep ammonia + nitrite combined below 0.5ppm. 4ppm is way to high and your low pH may be all that's keeping your fish safe. If you arent already doing so, i would be doing daily 50% water changes until your ammonia is much, much lower.

I wouldnt do anything with pH until your ammonia is under control. In case you dont know ammonia toxicity increases with increasing pH. Longer term if you want to increase pH a good way is some crushed coral in a media bag in your filter.

Edit, ammonia toxicity at 4ppm. Green is good, yellow take measures, red immediately dangerous levels.

 

[Aiken Drum]

Attachment added

 

[P00lshark95]

Thank you. So I did a 25% water change Wednesday, a 25% Thursday and a 50% Saturday. Should I do another 50% in the next day or so?

 

[Aiken Drum]

I would do them daily until your ammonia is around 0.5ppm. Or 30% changes a few hours apart if you don't like big water changes.

 

[P00lshark95]

Ok thanks. So once the ammonia is down to 0.5 ppm am I basically starting the cycling process all over again?

 

[Aiken Drum]

No. Your cycle will be progressing as long as there is ammonia in the water. You wont be losing any beneficial bacteria that you have built up by doing water changes.

 

[P00lshark95]

Awesome thank you so much Aiken!

 

[WildFish99]

Make sure you are leaving the media in you filter in place. When doing water changes make sure to be treating any water that could have chlorine as well.
Usually cleaned and boiled sea shells will help stabilize the pH a little and are decent decor.
You cant really be doing too many water changes with that high of Ammonia, so daily water changes and such are really important.
Have you gotten a biobag or somewhere in the filter for bacteria to latch onto?

 

[P00lshark95]

No. Your cycle will be progressing as long as there is ammonia in the water. You wont be losing any beneficial bacteria that you have built up by doing water changes.

Hi,


So I did water changes and the ammonia is now down between .50 and 1.0
I then added more beneficial bacteria.

Is it just a waiting game now?

 

[P00lshark95]

Make sure you are leaving the media in you filter in place. When doing water changes make sure to be treating any water that could have chlorine as well.
Usually cleaned and boiled sea shells will help stabilize the pH a little and are decent decor.
You cant really be doing too many water changes with that high of Ammonia, so daily water changes and such are really important.
Have you gotten a biobag or somewhere in the filter for bacteria to latch onto?

I do not have a biobag. Would that help?

 

[Aiken Drum]

Hi,


So I did water changes and the ammonia is now down between .50 and 1.0
I then added more beneficial bacteria.

Is it just a waiting game now?

As previous post, your target should be to keep ammonia + nitrite combined below 0.5ppm. Test everyday, if your parameters are over that threshold do water changes to bring it down. Eventually your cycle will establish and will keep those parameters at 0ppm without your intervention. This could take several weeks. When you are cycled you can cut back on water changes to control nitrate only, typically keeping it below 40ppm.

 

[Aiken Drum]

Make sure you are leaving the media in you filter in place. When doing water changes make sure to be treating any water that could have chlorine as well.
Usually cleaned and boiled sea shells will help stabilize the pH a little and are decent decor.
You cant really be doing too many water changes with that high of Ammonia, so daily water changes and such are really important.
Have you gotten a biobag or somewhere in the filter for bacteria to latch onto?

Could you explain what you mean by a biobag. Are you meaning the filter cartridges made by Tetra called biobag that go in their whisper filters? Or are you meaning a media bag filled with generic media?

 

[WildFish99]

Any biological media that would support and keep bacteria. In essence a bag for biotics like bacteria to live in the filter.
I forgot that was a specific filters name for their media.