15 days into cycle, discouraged.

[Jess1ca]

Here I am day 15! I know I have asked this question before but Im starting to get very discouraged! I have used 2 active filters from AngelsPlus and I was told I may never see a spike but the only thing I have goin on in my tank is .25 ammonia.... no trites, no trates no nothing! I just feel like Im doing something wrong I change at least half to 3/4 water everyday, test 2-3 daily. Am I missing something?

 

[Dbouchard]

I feel for ya, im in a similar situation as you, tho I dont have a seeded filter

Hope it gets moving for you soon


Dee

 

[Laser]

I know how you feel believe me... I feel like I must be doing something wrong even though I know that I'm not. I'm day 36 into my cycle and I have seen no progress. I don't know the details of your cycle such as if you have fish or not, although it sounds like you might because you change so much water everyday. If you do have fish I think you are doing fine because you are constantly removing the food source for your nitrogen cycle to keep your fish alive so it's going to take a bit of time to see a conversion from ammonia to nitrites.

 

[Jess1ca]

I feel for ya, im in a similar situation as you, tho I dont have a seeded filter

Hope it gets moving for you soon


Dee

Thank you! I hope it gets better too, I started off strong and confident, but as the days go on my confidence level dwindles... I thought maybe I wasnt shaking my bottles enough so I been shaking so violently my arm muscles ache! Ugh... I have really fallen in love with my little fishies and I just want them in a nice environment!

 

[mozcheez]

Just to confirm, you're doing a fish-in cycle? If so, what size is your tank and how many fish have you added?

 

[Jess1ca]

I know how you feel believe me... I feel like I must be doing something wrong even though I know that I'm not. I'm day 36 into my cycle and I have seen no progress. I don't know the details of your cycle such as if you have fish or not, although it sounds like you might because you change so much water everyday. If you do have fish I think you are doing fine because you are constantly removing the food source for your nitrogen cycle to keep your fish alive so it's going to take a bit of time to see a conversion from ammonia to nitrites.

Yes I have 6, I was surprised with a 20g set up and fish for my birthday. Lots of research proved I needed a much larger tank. Since then I have purchased a 55g, better filtration, better heater, etc. I change out lots of water everyday to keep them in good condition! I just want em to be happy and healthy and have a great place to live! Maybe I am jumping the gun some and getting a little impatient... idk, just thought it was something that I was doing to stall the cycle?!

 

[Jess1ca]

Just to confirm, you're doing a fish-in cycle? If so, what size is your tank and how many fish have you added?

Yes, 55g, 6 fish, 2 filters 1 topfin 60 1 AquaClear 110 both with seeded filters stuffed inside.

 

[KlcoKN]

Do you have carbon or some other type of chem remover in your tank? Or do you have lots of plants? It could be that you just have nitrates in very low amounts because they are being removed through carbon/plants/huge amount of water changes. And have you tested your tap water for ammonia?

And are you making sure to dechlorinate all new water? Rinsing your filters in tank water only? If not you may have killed off any bb and are doing a cycle from scratch now.

And probably the most important, are you banging and shaking the heck out of the #2 nitrate bottle? You could just be getting a false low reading of nitrates, you really got to beat and shake the crap out of the #2 bottle, and make sure to shake the test tube vigorously for the full minute and then wait the full 5 before comparing to the chart

 

[KlcoKN]

lol sorry am a really slow typer, there were no replys when i started typing lol

 

[Jess1ca]

Do you have carbon or some other type of chem remover in your tank? Or do you have lots of plants? It could be that you just have nitrates in very low amounts because they are being removed through carbon/plants/huge amount of water changes. And have you tested your tap water for ammonia?

And are you making sure to dechlorinate all new water? Rinsing your filters in tank water only? If not you may have killed off any bb and are doing a cycle from scratch now.

And probably the most important, are you banging and shaking the heck out of the #2 nitrate bottle? You could just be getting a false low reading of nitrates, you really got to beat and shake the crap out of the #2 bottle, and make sure to shake the test tube vigorously for the full minute and then wait the full 5 before comparing to the chart

I shake so hard it makes my arm hurt lol, I just have what came with the filters in. The topfin has cartridges, the ac has layers starting with sponge, carbon, then bio rings? I think thats what they are called. All artificial plants at the moment, plan on switching out my substrate because I have grown to hate it so I didnt want to get too far into scaping it. What do you suggest? Should I just go ahead and switch out my substrate instead of waiting for the cycle to complete, which I intended on doing. Idk, Im starting to second guess myself!

 

[Jess1ca]

lol sorry am a really slow typer, there were no replys when i started typing lol

Lol, perfectly fine

 

[mozcheez]

What's your current pH in the tank? Also, if you're considering switching out the substrate, I'd probably go ahead and do it now while the tank is still not cycled. That way you don't risk messing up anything later down the road (which probably wouldn't really happen, but you never know!).

 

[Laser]

I shake so hard it makes my arm hurt lol, I just have what came with the filters in. The topfin has cartridges, the ac has layers starting with sponge, carbon, then bio rings? I think thats what they are called. All artificial plants at the moment, plan on switching out my substrate because I have grown to hate it so I didnt want to get too far into scaping it. What do you suggest? Should I just go ahead and switch out my substrate instead of waiting for the cycle to complete, which I intended on doing. Idk, Im starting to second guess myself!

I would really have to hate my substrate to remove it. You'll lose any beneficial bacteria growing on the current substrate but you may not even lose enough to create a noticeable impact on your cycle.

 

[Jess1ca]

What's your current pH in the tank? Also, if you're considering switching out the substrate, I'd probably go ahead and do it now while the tank is still not cycled. That way you don't risk messing up anything later down the road (which probably wouldn't really happen, but you never know!).

I struggled with that when I bought the sand, I didnt know if I should do it now or wait and possibly suffer a mini cycle, but I think I will just go ahead and do it My ph is running between 8.2 and 8.4.

 

[Jess1ca]

I would really have to hate my substrate to remove it. You'll lose any beneficial bacteria growing on the current substrate but you may not even lose enough to create a noticeable impact on your cycle.

I really, really do! I fell in love with sand

 

[KlcoKN]

I would wait, there could already be bb starting to grow in your existing substrate, no point in throwing them out till you're all established. Or you could buy a crapton of kneehigh pantyhose and bag up your current substrate and just lay it ontop of or bury it in your new substrate to help seed the new stuff maybe? That is, assuming your current substrate has any bb in it yet, 15 days in it might not, takes 4-6 weeks to seed a filter...
I'd probably go ahead and make the switch now, before its fully seeded

 

[KlcoKN]

Lol just realized I changed my advise half way through...

 

[Jess1ca]

I would wait, there could already be bb starting to grow in your existing substrate, no point in throwing them out till you're all established. Or you could buy a crapton of kneehigh pantyhose and bag up your current substrate and just lay it ontop of or bury it in your new substrate to help seed the new stuff maybe? That is, assuming your current substrate has any bb in it yet, 15 days in it might not, takes 4-6 weeks to seed a filter...
I'd probably go ahead and make the switch now, before its fully seeded

Right on, thank you so much

 

[mozcheez]

I struggled with that when I bought the sand, I didnt know if I should do it now or wait and possibly suffer a mini cycle, but I think I will just go ahead and do it My ph is running between 8.2 and 8.4.

There was research done that showed ammonia toxicity based on temperature/pH of a tank. For example, .5ppm ammonia in a tank at 79 degrees and with 7.8pH is actually considered still "safe" for the fish. So I was curious as to whether you could allow your ammonia to build up a bit more before reducing, in essence giving the bb more to eat. Here's the page with the info:

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f12/your-guide-to-ammonia-toxicity-159994.html

Looking at the charts, though, the pH levels don't go above 8.0 - although you could probably tell whether 8.2 to 8.4 is safe or not. This might turn out to be a horrible idea. Just a thought that ran through my mind. My only fish-in experiences have been without any seeded material.

 

[Jess1ca]

There was research done that showed ammonia toxicity based on temperature/pH of a tank. For example, .5ppm ammonia in a tank at 79 degrees and with 7.8pH is actually considered still "safe" for the fish. So I was curious as to whether you could allow your ammonia to build up a bit more before reducing, in essence giving the bb more to eat. Here's the page with the info:

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f12/your-guide-to-ammonia-toxicity-159994.html

Looking at the charts, though, the pH levels don't go above 8.0 - although you could probably tell whether 8.2 to 8.4 is safe or not. This might turn out to be a horrible idea. Just a thought that ran through my mind. My only fish-in experiences have been without any seeded material.

Very interesting... The thought of skipping water changes have ran thru my mind lots, but then I feel bad for the fishes and just do it!