Ammonia will not go down

[jenmcgeezy]

Hi! I purchased a 10 gallon tank. Water heated to 80 degrees. I bought a Marina kit. The filter is a Slim 515 filter. The guy at the store told me there were better filter but this one was okay. I did a fishless cycle. We added two long fin glo tetras. They were doing great for a few weeks, then the nitrate and ammonia levels started to rise. I used Ammo lock, Nitra zorb pouches and did partial water changes. The levels never went down. The poor fish ended up dying. I was thinking I over intervened. This time around I want to make sure to protect the fish more. This is a small hobby tank to teach my sons how to care for fish. So I have been cycling the tank for three weeks now. Ammonia levels spiked at 8.0ppm. Nitrate and pH levels were fine. I did a large water change and waited to retest. No real difference. I then changed both filters and noticed a remarkable difference in the water clarity but tested water today and Ammonia is 4.0ppm and pH is 7.6. Is the tank cycling again? Help? Should I get a better filter? I don’t want to harm anymore fish. All other levels are reading perfect. Using API Freshwater Master Test Kit.

 

[Aiken Drum]

When you say you did a fishless cycle, what exactly did you do?

 

[jenmcgeezy]

I set up the tank and used QuickStart. It took about a month, but I tested regularly and the ammonia level spike and then nitrate levels spike. I added fish once all reading were normal.

 

[Aiken Drum]

Did you dose any ammonia during your fishless cycle, or some other ammonia source like fishfood?

 

[jenmcgeezy]

Yes. I did put food in the tank. I have not done it this time because there was an excessive amount of food in the gravel as I have been doing water changes. I suspect my boys were over feeding the fish and it caused the levels to elevate with the first cycle. I changed both filters last week on the 19th due to debris I could visibly see in the water even after a water change. The water is much clearer but the reading today showed a higher pH level and only slightly lower Ammonia reading 4.0ppm.

 

[Aiken Drum]

There are no fish in the tank now?

Are you wanting to learn how to do a fishless cycle properly or how to safely do a fish in cycle?

 

[jenmcgeezy]

There are no fish in the tank. I want to get the tank to cycle properly so I can safely add fish.

 

[Aiken Drum]

You can safely add fish by either cycling before adding fish (fishless cycling) or by cycling with fish in the tank (fish in cycling). Both are perfectly safe if done properly.

Ill assume you want to do a fishless cycle. This will typically take 6 to 8 weeks. You where mostly there on your previous attempt, so i should just need to fill in few gaps.

Firstly i dont like using fishfood as an ammonia source as you really have no idea how much to feed to get to the desired ammonia level. I would recommend getting an aquarium specific ammonium chloride product (eg Dr Tims Ammonium Chloride). Using this you can accurately dose the correct amount of ammonia. You are actually starting out at a good level though. 4ppm is where you want to be to start with. Test everyday for ammonia, when you start to see it drop you can also start to test for nitrite and nitrate. When your ammonia level drops below 1ppm redose back to 2ppm. Keep testing everyday, every time your ammonia drops below 1ppm redose it back to 2ppm. You will be cycled when you are dosing 2ppm and after 24 hours you are seeing 0ppm ammonia and nitrite. At this stage your nitrate should be rising as well. Do a big water change to get nitrate below 10ppm and add fish.

You can speed up your cycle by dosing beneficial bacteria such as quickstart. A better option is to get some filter media from an established filter and put it in your filter. Perhaps you have a friend who keeps fish who could let you have some? A higher temperature will also speed things up, 30c/86f is optimum (don't forget to reset the temperature before you add fish).

I think you was mostly there before, but possibly not redosing ammonia sufficiently and not waiting until it can fully cycle out in 24 hours. As i said, typically 6 to 8 weeks process, often longer, rarely shorter.

With regards to your query about getting a better filter. The filter you have is sufficient for your tanks size. Are there better filters? Yes, of course. Will a better filter make much difference? Probably not, you will be swapping 1 uncycled filter for another uncycled filter.

 

[jenmcgeezy]

Thank you for the info!