Fishless cycle, unexplained ammonia

[Sarx]

Hello,

I haven't had the chance to introduce myself yet. I've kept fish tanks in the past (5, 10, and 20 gallon), but it's been a few years.

I am setting up a 10 gallon tank, wanting to do a fishless cylce for the first time. I've set everything up in terms of heater, filter, gravel, and deco. I have a couple of live plants in addition to the fakes.

I have not started adding any ammonia to the tank, but I have levels sitting around 1.5 ppm for several days. I think it's because of the live plants, one in particular is not doing so well, a couple of leaves are starting to decay. I have tested my tap water and it's clean.

Would it be wise to remove the live plants and/or perform a heavy water change and start from scratch? Regardless what I do with the plants, what would be the best method of cycling? I've read about using fish food, a raw shrimp, or bottled ammonia. Or if I leave the plants in, should I just let the decaying leaves produce the ammonia? Or am I missing something else entirely?

Thanks

 

[phishfriend]

Ok, first what are your lvl's. I know you have ammonia. What about everything else? What's your temp on the tank? Etc.

You want to keep ammonia around 4 ppm in a fish-less. It better to use straight ammonia to be more accurate during cycle.

 

[Sarx]

Temp is 77%, Ammonia is at about 1.5ppm (darker than 1, lighter than 2 on an API liquid test kit), pH is about 7.2, Nitrate and Nitrite are 0, hardness is about 50 ppm , buffering capacity looks low, a bit less than the 80 ppm minimum on the chart (I only have strips for testing the pH and others).

 

[phishfriend]

Ok so I would dose ammonia to 4or 5 ppm. I also suggest getting the API freshwater master test kit. You can get it online a lot cheaper then in the LFS. Strips are very iffy on accuracy. And when cycling you want to know what's happening with your cycle

 

[Sarx]

I appreciate the advice, will pick up the kit soon. What should I do about the live plants? I read one bit of advice to get rid of them as soon as there is any sign of decay, but I'm not sure if that's necessary here.

 

[phishfriend]

I would just remove the decaying leaves. Give them a rinse and stick them back in. I cycling a 40g breeder and its been planted from day one. You just can't crank the heat way up. Keep it around 79 or 80.

 

[librarygirl]

I guess you could leave the decaying leaves in there for now to produce some ammonia. I don't see the harm in it. For the long-run I'd get some pure ammonia though; it's easier to dose and cleaner than using raw shrimp (the smell I've heard from using shrimp is pretty bad). Fish food is very hard to dose and causes a mess.

What kind of plants are they? What light do you have on the tank and how long do you keep it on?

If your heater is adjustable you can bump it up to about 86.

Here's a guide if you haven't seen it yet: http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...guide-and-faq-to-fishless-cycling-148283.html