kmlong
Aquarium Advice Activist
I've posted here many times and always get professional help from great people. Its 7 weeks today since i set up my tank and still no cycle. Ammonia is always at about 1 even, ph is good, alkaline good, everything else is safe. I've had constant ammonia readings since i set the tank up. I do 25% water changes about every two weeks and have not replaces the filter. I do rinse it in old water though. My water is crystal clear and the fish are healthy and seem stress free and very relaxed with huge appetites. I messed up a little while ago and rinsed the filter with tap and probly rinsed all my bacteria out too, thats before i knew about all this stuff. So maybe thats why its taking so long to cycle but that was like 4 weeks ago. The only other thing i can think of is in hopes of keeping the life of my filter longer, i take the cartridge out during feeding and put it back in when no traces of food are present, its not out more than 15 min. tops. I feed in the evenings, two feeding a day were proving to be too messy and clouding up my water. There is 9 fish in the tank which is a 20gal FW. 3 tetra's, 4 danio's, 1 guaramis, 1 Beta. I'm guessing i cant put too many more in for the size of the tank, maybe one or two more yet but till i get the ammonia down its probly not a good idea. Also, i had put carbon in my filter when i set up the tank. Does the original carbon have to stay in there until the tank cycles since it probly has bacteria on it? Should i change the carbon? thanks for everyones help.