Sarah E
Aquarium Advice Activist
Hello!
i have a 60 Gallon tank that's been up since December 6th 2011. The tank has a substrate that was pre-seeded (a brand where they sell the gravel wet, with all the beneficial bacteria in it already.) multiple plants, and even some fish in there. For the first two weeks, I ran it without any fish, but with that, and a bacteria supplement.
I have a Canister filter from Fluval with a carbon and those little white circle type things you put inside the filter. It, again was running for 2 weeks, before I added 10 Feeder guppies. These guppies, have since (within 2 months) reproduced.... quite a bit. I also have a Butterfly Pleco, an Emerald Corydoras catfish, to SAEs and a Apple snail, with a few other bladder/pond snails. These have been added over time within the 2 months I've had my tank up.
Again, everyone seems happy and healthy, even the plants are. They're continuing to grow, and are amazing. There's some algae growth on the tank.
I've added a bacteria supplement almost every day for the past week, then stopped. The Nitrite is at 0, and the nitrate is just above 0. So I'm really confused why my Ammonia is way up there.
My LFS says that it should be cycled by now (he's been doing this for 11 years) and he's baffled as well. He uses the same substrate for the people's tanks he sets up, and it's usually cycled within a week-a month.
I'm really wanting to add my angelfish... but I can't with the ammonia like this. (The feeders will be gone when they arrive, they're babies so they're eating size. )
Any suggestions, opinions ideas?
Thank you in advance!
i have a 60 Gallon tank that's been up since December 6th 2011. The tank has a substrate that was pre-seeded (a brand where they sell the gravel wet, with all the beneficial bacteria in it already.) multiple plants, and even some fish in there. For the first two weeks, I ran it without any fish, but with that, and a bacteria supplement.
I have a Canister filter from Fluval with a carbon and those little white circle type things you put inside the filter. It, again was running for 2 weeks, before I added 10 Feeder guppies. These guppies, have since (within 2 months) reproduced.... quite a bit. I also have a Butterfly Pleco, an Emerald Corydoras catfish, to SAEs and a Apple snail, with a few other bladder/pond snails. These have been added over time within the 2 months I've had my tank up.
Again, everyone seems happy and healthy, even the plants are. They're continuing to grow, and are amazing. There's some algae growth on the tank.
I've added a bacteria supplement almost every day for the past week, then stopped. The Nitrite is at 0, and the nitrate is just above 0. So I'm really confused why my Ammonia is way up there.
My LFS says that it should be cycled by now (he's been doing this for 11 years) and he's baffled as well. He uses the same substrate for the people's tanks he sets up, and it's usually cycled within a week-a month.
I'm really wanting to add my angelfish... but I can't with the ammonia like this. (The feeders will be gone when they arrive, they're babies so they're eating size. )
Any suggestions, opinions ideas?
Thank you in advance!