So we are in the 5th week of fish-in cycling. We have a 29 gallon tank with 2 fancy tail guppies, 2 swordtails and a small cory catfish. We are now at the point of getting 1ppm and above ammonia levels every few days. We do a 50% PWC change but the level is still almost .5ppm after that. Is it safe to do larger changes and if so how much should we do? The tank temp drops from 78 to 72 when we do a 50% PWC so we are a bit concerned about larger changes. We still have no trace of nitrites or nitrates. Also how often should we be cleaning the gravel? We have been doing it every other week but the water has started to cloud a bit. We have a python to do the PWC and we also use that to clean the gravel. Finally, how often should we be changing the filter? We have an Aqueon Quiet Flow 30. Thanks in advance for the help
New some advice
- Thread starter hyperman
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Mrs.h2012
Aquarium Advice Addict
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You shouldn't change the filter media at all unless they are falling apart. And even then when you buy the new filter media you need to run it with the old filter media for a couple/few
weeks so your BB (beneficial bacteria) can seed to the new filter media. If filter media gets to looking what I call gunky or nasty looking get out about a bucketful of OLD tank water and swish it around in that to clean it out. NEVER CLEAN FILTER MEDIA IN TAP WATER, it will kill all your BB. It's safe to do back to back WC's too lower ammonia/nitrite levels. You can do larger WC's if you prefer, just be sure to keep your filter media wet so the BB doesn't die, you can do this by keeping enough water to cover the filter intake or just unplug the filter and add OLD tank water to the filter to keep the media wet.
weeks so your BB (beneficial bacteria) can seed to the new filter media. If filter media gets to looking what I call gunky or nasty looking get out about a bucketful of OLD tank water and swish it around in that to clean it out. NEVER CLEAN FILTER MEDIA IN TAP WATER, it will kill all your BB. It's safe to do back to back WC's too lower ammonia/nitrite levels. You can do larger WC's if you prefer, just be sure to keep your filter media wet so the BB doesn't die, you can do this by keeping enough water to cover the filter intake or just unplug the filter and add OLD tank water to the filter to keep the media wet.
Pipedreamer86
Aquarium Advice Freak
+1 to this. I vaccum .once a week also and do 50-75% water changes weekly on small tanks and 25-50% weekly in large tanks. Filter media being rinsed in tank water only if causing a reduced flow in water which I only run into on my hob filters. I hope to go to all canister soon.Mrs.h2012 said:
BBradbury
Aquarium Advice Addict
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- 5,011
Fish In Cycling
Hello hyper...
Cycling a tank using hardy fish is fine. You simply put in the fish and test daily for ammonia and nitrites. When a test shows a trace of either of these toxins, you change a minimum of 25 percent of the water and replace it with pure, treated tap water of the same temperature. I liked to use water that was a bit warmer.
You don't vacuum anything. You just replace the water. When several daily tests show no ammonia or nitrites, then you can add a few small fish and resume your testing and remove the water when needed.
You just follow these steps until the tank is fully stocked.
B
Hello hyper...
Cycling a tank using hardy fish is fine. You simply put in the fish and test daily for ammonia and nitrites. When a test shows a trace of either of these toxins, you change a minimum of 25 percent of the water and replace it with pure, treated tap water of the same temperature. I liked to use water that was a bit warmer.
You don't vacuum anything. You just replace the water. When several daily tests show no ammonia or nitrites, then you can add a few small fish and resume your testing and remove the water when needed.
You just follow these steps until the tank is fully stocked.
B
librarygirl
Look It Up
No need to change the filter media unless it's literally falling part; the bacteria you want to grow are living on the filter so if you change it out it'll keep the cycle from happening.
You can do back-to-back changes (e.g. do a water change, if ammonia is still high wait a couple of hours and then do another). What source water are you using (tap, well, etc)? Can you mix hot and cold to get it closer to the tank temp?
Clean the grave once or twice a week at least to suck up any waste and uneaten food which, if left to decay, can contribute to the ammonia levels.
You can do back-to-back changes (e.g. do a water change, if ammonia is still high wait a couple of hours and then do another). What source water are you using (tap, well, etc)? Can you mix hot and cold to get it closer to the tank temp?
Clean the grave once or twice a week at least to suck up any waste and uneaten food which, if left to decay, can contribute to the ammonia levels.
Thanks for the replies. Our water source is very hard so we have softened water. The only faucet in the house not softened is cold water only. I could put some in a pot and heat it up to about 80 degress and put that in first. We use a python to do water changes and clean the gravel because the faucet is on the first floor and the tank on the second floor. The ammonia is spiking to 2+ ppm every other day now. Still no nitrites or nitrates. Does this mean that we are getting closer to being cycled now that the spiking has started? We also seem to be getting slightly cloudy water now, something we never had before. We will do a 75% PWC tomorrow to see if we can get the ammonia levels down and clear up the water. Any concerns about us doing a 75% PWC on a 29 galllon tank?
