Hi,
I have a 20 gallon tall tank.
I've had it running for a little over one month now with some snails and one small goldfish. I also have anubias, hornwort, anacharis, and java moss in the tank. I have about ten stems of pothos hanging over the side as I heard the roots will suck up nitrAte. I didn't know about cycling until after I got them.
For three weeks I was doing daily water changes of about 40% to keep my ammonia down. I was also using the Python hose to get rid of debris on top of the sand. The tank has always remained at 0.50 ppm ammonia or below -- I have never let it get above that. However, at the same time, my tank was never showing nitrite and very, very small amounts of nitrAte. 24 hours ago I was given filter floss that was seeded with bacteria. I thought once I used this it might help speed it along and help get that ammonia down to 0.
However, 24 hours later, my tank is still showing 0.50 ppm Ammonia. There is a slight change in the NitrIte and NitrAte. The nitrite is now at 0.25 ppm (up from 0), and the nitrAte is at 10 ppm (up from 5.0).
Why hasn't the ammonia gone down? What should I do? I want to make sure my goldfish stays healthy as do the snails. So far in one month my Rabbit snails have had 3 babies between them!
I have a 20 gallon tall tank.
I've had it running for a little over one month now with some snails and one small goldfish. I also have anubias, hornwort, anacharis, and java moss in the tank. I have about ten stems of pothos hanging over the side as I heard the roots will suck up nitrAte. I didn't know about cycling until after I got them.
For three weeks I was doing daily water changes of about 40% to keep my ammonia down. I was also using the Python hose to get rid of debris on top of the sand. The tank has always remained at 0.50 ppm ammonia or below -- I have never let it get above that. However, at the same time, my tank was never showing nitrite and very, very small amounts of nitrAte. 24 hours ago I was given filter floss that was seeded with bacteria. I thought once I used this it might help speed it along and help get that ammonia down to 0.
However, 24 hours later, my tank is still showing 0.50 ppm Ammonia. There is a slight change in the NitrIte and NitrAte. The nitrite is now at 0.25 ppm (up from 0), and the nitrAte is at 10 ppm (up from 5.0).
Why hasn't the ammonia gone down? What should I do? I want to make sure my goldfish stays healthy as do the snails. So far in one month my Rabbit snails have had 3 babies between them!