New 20 g aquarium

[rosinx]

I don't know whether they're readily available in your area, but you could have a nice school of celestial pearl danios and your betta. You could always go with kuhli loaches or small cories. If you go with those platies I bet they would be happy to breed.


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I've heard that stocking slowly provides more time for the fish to adapt to a new tank, so I will maybe start with some platies first. I want to add the betta in last just so it doesn't claim any territory and becomes too aggressive.

Right now my main concern is from my current cycling process. As mentioned before, I am using fish food as my source of ammonia, however it has been exactly one week and my ammonia levels are still at 0.25 ppm. (Using API test kit). I have been consistently adding a few flakes daily, and the temperature has been between 80 and 90 Fh. I have a Marina aeration system running constantly along with the TopFin 20 Power filter that came with the starter kit. I would have thought that the food would have rotted in a couple days, producing significant levels in ammonia. My questions is: If I were to discontinue "cycling" my tank through the fish food process, can I safely switch to using pure ammonia? What do you guys suggest?

I've been contemplating using bottles bacteria as an agent to speed up the process, any thoughts?

my filter media is pretty disgusting from all the fish food now, but the tank is pretty much clear. Want to build the strongest filter possible to handle a heavy bio-load.

Thanks~

 

[icydeath]

You will have no problem if you switch over to pure ammonia. Make sure you get the stuff that is only ammonia hydroxide and water. Or ammonia chloride if you can get your hands on it. No surfactants or other stuff like that. Ace Hardware usually has the right stuff.

Most don't work, or don't work very well. I have used one, but it was fairly weak. I won't point any names though. XD For the price, I would invest in something else. Like a sponge filter to use with your air pump.

 

[Fresh2o]

Kind of late with the fish food thing, but if you place it in a nylon bag, it will be easier to clean up later.
An alternative to fish food is a cocktail shrimp. It may smell but will provide a source of ammonia. Again, place it in a nylon bag.
If you can get a hold of pure ammonia, great. Do a Google search for "Dr Tim's". Dr Tim's supplies ammonium chloride as well as a bacteria in a bottle. Actually, there is some positive feedback on that product on this site. Bad news, not sure if they ship to Canada. You may have to contact them regarding that.

 

[rosinx]

Thanks for the replies guys. Sorry for the late response.

Anyways after much deliberation, I went out and finally got my hands on some pure ammonium hydroxide solution from Safeway! Yay~

Did a complete water change and got rid of all the gunk from the rotting fish food, and even cleaned out the filter. It took 12 ml of ammonia to raise the levels to around 5-6 ppm.

I'm going to wait another couple days before the next test for ammonia, since it takes a while for the bacteria to feed on it.

All in all, things are off to a good start. Delayed? Yes, but I'm happily on the better path!

Keep you guys updated, and thanks again for the help

JA

 

[rosinx]

Okay so I've been following the "fishless cycling" thread, but it looks like I have some issues. Since my ammonia started dropping I was dosing to 4-5 ppm every 24 hours
After a week or so the ammonia was dropping so fast that I started adding about 10 ml of ammonia every 12 hours because of it going to zero. I heard that you shouldn't let the bacteria go below 1 ppm so I started dosing about 15 ml of ammonia every day. My nitrites were like 180 ppm and same as nitrates according to my strip tests. I know that's way to high so I started doing 25 pwc daily since Twp days ago, and I quit feeding it any more ammonia. It would be great if you guys could help me out.. Thanks

 

[Fresh2o]

Yeah, I'd cut back on the ammonia. High nitrites will supposedly stall a cycle. High as in 5-10 ppm. Do some water changes to bring the nitrite and nitrate down.
You can keep the ammonia around 1 ppm.


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[rosinx]

Thanks for the reply but my nitrites are literally like 100+ ppm and it makes sense because of how much I've been feeding it ammonia..

 

[Fresh2o]

The fact that you are seeing nitrates means that nitrites are being processed. The high level of nitrites indicates the BB cannot process them as fast as they are being produced. I would perform water changes to bring the nitrites down.


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[rosinx]

Well I am using test strips so it probabl isn't very accurate right? Because the test strips only measure up to 10 ppm. But the relative colour proves to be over 100 ppm...

Should I completely stop feeding ammonia, because of my excessive nitrite levels? I've been cycling for a month now exactly, so I don't know how much longer to expect?

Thanks man.

 

[dragon14]

Check out this amazing guide too!
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...guide-and-faq-to-fishless-cycling-148283.html

Good luck -- I am new to it myself, but our 10 gallon cycling has been going well and we are almost done and it's only been 20 days as of tomorrow! We had a period of high nitrites for a while and no ammonia, and I gave it a little squirt of ammonia here and there and some ground up fish flakes and then didn't check it for three days (oops) but then the nitrites had dropped to 0! That was super exciting.

 

[Fresh2o]

If you really wanted to get the true value of the nitrite you could dilute it with DI water. But if it is over 10 ppm then it is too high. Just perform water changes to to bring it down. You can still add ammonia but cut back on it. As the other poster mentioned, when nitrite conversion is complete, the nitrites will practically disappear over night.


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[dragon14]

Also, if you haven't gotten real ammonia yet, I found some at a Family Dollar, I found a tip online when I was researching where to get some pure ammonia. We read online to "test" it by shaking it up a lot, and if it didnt' make bubbles/foam, that it was pure We had a few bubbles inside from shaking, but that is different than foaming bubbles, which is what you DON'T want. Also the ingredients are listed on it and it just says that it has ammonia. and no phosphates.
Here is a link on the topic too:
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...to-use-avoid-for-fishless-cycling-156038.html

We did a half-hearted cycle for almost as long as our real cycle has been going, with fish food, and it was a disaster and disgusting and messy. There's no good way to really control the amount of ammonia doing it that way. We started over (drained the tank, cleaned everything with hot water, and we switched form gravel to sand so we can have pygmy cory cat fish) and did it right with real ammonia. Our 10 gallon has only been cycling for 20 days as of tomorrow and I think we can put our betta back in tomorrow I wish we'd done it right from the start, but, we had trouble figuring where to get pure ammonia.

Also I think you said you use test strips... before I got our betta and a tank I had read online from multiple sources that those aren't the best to use, so we use API liquid test kits. Welcome to API Fishcare: FRESHWATER MASTER TEST KIT

 

[rosinx]

Thanks guys but I have a major problem. I finished cycling the tank and put 3 mollies and 3 platies in. I noticed one yellow molly suddenly started hiding under a rock. I tested ammonia and it was at 0.50-0.75! I'm really desperate as to what to do next. I really thought my tank was cycled. Need advice asap! :/

 

[rosinx]

The yellow Mollie is still motionless under the rock

 

[keegster803]

Do you have any other cycled tanks?


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[dragon14]

In the meantime water changes!!! I'd do a 60-75% change and keep daily tabs on the ammonia until you find an actual solution.

Poor fish

 

[rosinx]

This is my only cycled tank. I did a 25 PWC this morning and the fish are now active again. I will check ammonia levels later this day. My tank was completely cycled, so I assume the ammonia strike is because I added 6 fish in and my filter is catching up.. What do you guys think?

 

[dragon14]

Oh good glad they're doing a bit better.

You may have added too many at once; let's wait for someone else to chime in though.

 

[rosinx]

Is there any chance that I am experiencing a mini cycle? How is that the case? I followed the "almost complete guide to fishless cycling" and was successfully able to convert 4 ppm of ammonia into 0 amm and trites in 24 hours. That's the reason I added the fish, and according to the information from the post, I would "technically be able to add my entire load in because my filter is so strong"

 

[rosinx]

Is there any chance that I am experiencing a mini cycle? How is that the case? I followed the "almost complete guide to fishless cycling" and was successfully able to convert 4 ppm of ammonia into 0 amm and trites in 24 hours. That's the reason I added the fish, and according to the information from the post, I would "technically be able to add my entire load in because my filter is so strong" I only added half of my stock so I don't know why I am experiencing this, seems weird to me...