Stuck at Ammonia

[digibob63]

New to this hobby and forum. I have been trying to cycle my 17 gallon aquarium for the last 3 weeks now. I have Amazonia substrate and live plants and rocks with driftwood. I have been doing 1/3 water changes every other day as per instructions from the shop I bought the aquarium. I haven't added any fish yet. They have me adding ADA Brighty K for the plants and AmQuel for the water treatment. Also had me add Fluval Cycle Biological Enhancer.

Now the Problem. My ammonia reads have remained at 2.0ppm with Nitrite and Nitrate at 0ppm. I went to another fish store yesterday and was told the Ammonia was 6.0ppm and to empty the water twice in the next 3 days then bring back for another test. At this point I am a little confused at what to do. I did the water change once so far and cleaned the filter and hoses. Any suggestions on how to get the cycle going?

 

[Delapool]

Just checking as not familiar with these products - were you dosing ammonia and testing?

Ammonia less than 10ppm will be fine. Pretty sure I’ve seen treatment plant readings with much higher ammonia readings in test papers.

 

[digibob63]

No dosing ammonia. Going by the instructions from the shop I bought the tank. Aqua Forest Aquarium in San Francisco. They use fertilizer with live plants to start the cycle process.

Now that I emptied it once the ammonia is at .75ppm and 0ppm nitrite and Nitrate. Will do another water change tonight and take to other shop that suggested to do this then put a couple of fish in to start the cycling process.

I didn't know this was such a complicated process. Back when I was young I just filled a tank, let it set over night and put fish in the next day. A few died but most of them did fine.

 

[Delapool]

No dosing ammonia. Going by the instructions from the shop I bought the tank. Aqua Forest Aquarium in San Francisco. They use fertilizer with live plants to start the cycle process.



Now that I emptied it once the ammonia is at .75ppm and 0ppm nitrite and Nitrate. Will do another water change tonight and take to other shop that suggested to do this then put a couple of fish in to start the cycling process.



I didn't know this was such a complicated process. Back when I was young I just filled a tank, let it set over night and put fish in the next day. A few died but most of them did fine.

It sounds a bit complex with plants and ferts. The ferts I think might make it hard to track the cycling.

Normally easier (if boring) to do fishless cycle (add ammonia bought from aquarium shop) or fish-in (water changes when ammonia recorded). Can have plants with either method.

I know people do heavily planted tanks and fish in straight away. Depends how well you can get plants to grow perhaps.

 

[digibob63]

After one month with no fish and lots of live plants Ammonia at 0ppm Nitrite at 0ppm and Nitrate at 0ppm. I put 2 Golden Algae eaters and 2 Albino Cherry Barbs in today. All four of them went to the top of the water and stayed there. One of the Cherry barbs are now swimming around the whole aquarium. Is this normal when introducing new fish to an aquarium? I do have co2 injection and one bubble per second.

 

[Delapool]

Do they stay at surface when CO2 is off? I’ve found they will either go to surface or get very sluggish / off food if CO2 is too much.

CO2 drop checker if you don’t already have one.

 

[digibob63]

Thanks Delapool for responding so fast. Yes the co2 was off when I put them in. Now they are all down and swimming around the whole aquarium. I do have a co2 checker and it is greenish yellow. So I shut it off for now during today’s lighting cycle.

 

[Delapool]

Sounds good - they settled in now?

 

[digibob63]

They are all still alive this morning. The Cherry Barbs are now exploring the whole aquarium and the Algae Eaters are hang out top and bottom. ??
.