maybe a start of a problem

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cashmoney0596

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Feb 18, 2010
Messages
12
Location
MD
the stats..

i started my tank on 2/20. when i started i added the filter sponge of my 20gal tank and a plant to help cycle along with the some ammonia (no3:0 no2:0 ph6.5)

2/21 again(no3:0 no2:0 ph6.5) i added 6giant danos to also help speed up the process also.

nothing changed untill 3/6 i added 4 more fish but before i added them my readings were still (no3:0 no2:0 ph6.0). the ph droped .5 from 2/26 to 3/6.

on 3/11 (no3:0 no2:0 ph6.0).

i havnt checked for a week and today is the first major change ive had, on the 15th i added 6rocks for a cave and 2 plants and my readings jumped up to (no3:40 ppm no2:0 ph6.5).

its a 110gallon tank i changed about 15gallons sunday when i vacumed the sand. it could just be a fluke i will check again in the morning and if its the same readings what would be next? a large water change and clean the filter? or would i want to leave the filter alone for the bacteria
 
One thing you don't want to do right now is vacuum the sand. The good bacteria need to build up in it. They live mainly in the substrate, filter and on the decor, not so much in the water column. Vacuuming the substrate will only make it take longer to cycle. If you get a build up, just skim over it but not clean it. Also don't clean the filter, for the reason stated above. If you get gunky build up, rinse it in a bucket of tank water and re-use.

Now, I have to say this so don't get bent out of shape. Remove the fish. It's much safer to do a fishless cycle. If you insist on keeping the fish in there, you need to do constant water changes to keep the ammonia down to .25. Anything higher and the fish suffer.


What kind of rock did you add?
 
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