can someone look at theese pics and tell me what is growing?

[turbovr6]

Hello All,
So my 150gal tank did not cycle though I thought it did. Now it is going through a mini cycle with 4 gourami in there. I was advised by my LFS and people here NOT to vac my sand as I need the ammonia to cycle. Well it has been 2 weeks since I stopped the vac treatment. Now I have this:

Can someone tell me if this is good or bad?? The fish appear to be fine.
Also here is a pic of my water test today:

As allways I thank everyone for their input.

 

[Meredith]

The brown on the sand is probably diatoms. Its common in new tanks.bAnd if you are not cleaning the sand, it could also just be detritus building up. Its hard to tell.
The colors in your test kit pics look distorted. And they also need to be read against a white background. Do you have the color chart cards that came with it?

 

[aquanewbie72]

Yes- I agree with Meredith - are those pretty accurate colors from your tests? Cuz if so, your ammonia is too high (looks to be about 1.0 if I hold up my color chart cards next to the screen) and your nitrite test (middle one) should be light blue. Any kind of purple color means your nitrites are elevated.
If thats really what you've got - a green ammonia test and a purple nitrite, you need to do a PWC ASAP!!!

 

[turbovr6]

Well as far as the water test goes those colors are correct. The ammona has been between .5 and 1ppm for 3 weeks, the nitrites just started getting into the purple .25-.50 for about 4 days. The nitrates have been in the orange 5ppm since I put the fish in the tank.
The LFS(which is a vey good rep. place) told me not to change the water, just add when needed. So what should I do???
Also as far as the "stuff" on the bottom of the tank. Is it bad? Should I remove it?

Thanks again!

 

[flipz]

You should be doing PWC through the whole cycle. 1ppm for ammonia isn't killer, but it is high and is harmful to fish. You should for sure be doing changes. Just leave the stuff at the bottom for now, don't gravel vac.

Good luck!

-brent

 

[aquanewbie72]

aaahhh I can't believe the LFS told you that! Topping off the tank is not going to bring down those levels. You need to drain about 30%-40% of the water and refill it. Thats what a PWC is all about. WHen you're cycling, you're probably going to need to do this every other day or every 3 days or so. Once the tank is established, you'll probably only do it once a week unless theres a problem.

If the stuff is fish poo, you should probably vac it out. Otherwise your ammonia is just going to keep climbing. If the stuff is brown diatom/algae- it is ugly but perfectly harmless. all tanks go through it. You can remove it if you want but it will keep coming back. I've had it in my tank for a couple months now. Every couple of weeks I have to pull everything out and scrub it off.

Old timers please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong....

 

[Lonewolfblue]

aaahhh I can't believe the LFS told you that! Topping off the tank is not going to bring down those levels. You need to drain about 30%-40% of the water and refill it. Thats what a PWC is all about. WHen you're cycling, you're probably going to need to do this every other day or every 3 days or so. Once the tank is established, you'll probably only do it once a week unless theres a problem.

If the stuff is fish poo, you should probably vac it out. Otherwise your ammonia is just going to keep climbing. If the stuff is brown diatom/algae- it is ugly but perfectly harmless. all tanks go through it. You can remove it if you want but it will keep coming back. I've had it in my tank for a couple months now. Every couple of weeks I have to pull everything out and scrub it off.

Old timers please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong....

I agree. You need to do 30-50% PWC's every day or every other day. Just filling it as it evaporates will only compound your problems. You need to bring ammonia and nitrite to under 1ppm, .5ppm if possible, and keep it there.

As for the stuff on the sand, if it looks like algae, just leave it alone. All new tanks get this and will disappear on it's own. Mine was there for maybe a month, then just disappeared. No need for scrubbing it off, unless you really don't like it and want to do the extra work. And yes, it is completely harmless. Once the tank matures, it will go away.

 

[turbovr6]

well I just started a 50-60% WC. It's soooo confusing, my LFS is good, really good. People come from other states just to buy fish there. Why they told me not to do pwc is beyond me. They are allways honest about things. I wanted to buy this huge pleco last week, but they told me no consideing my tank is new. They could have gotten $80 from me, but they just got $6 for dechlor.

 

[rich311k]

That brown algae is called diatoms. It is not algae it is a single celled organism which feeds on silicates. Once your silicates are gone it will go away. I have never seen a new tank that didn't get it.

 

[Jchillin]

well I just started a 50-60% WC. It's soooo confusing, my LFS is good, really good. People come from other states just to buy fish there. Why they told me not to do pwc is beyond me. They are allways honest about things. I wanted to buy this huge pleco last week, but they told me no consideing my tank is new. They could have gotten $80 from me, but they just got $6 for dechlor.

I don't doubt that they are a good LFS. They (or the person who gave the advice) was in error on the PWC's. This is certainly not uncommon, LFS seem to give this advice all the time. I do congratulate you however...this is probably the first time I've seen the actual tests results in living color. Nice job!

 

[turbovr6]

my camera should get the credit, but thanks!!!!! Any clue on about how long until the cycle is finished. I want to get my cats and clown loaches!!

 

[Lonewolfblue]

If you've been cycling now for 2 weeks, then probably another 3-5 weeks, unless you jump-started the cycle with media from another tank.

 

[turbovr6]

If you've been cycling now for 2 weeks, then probably another 3-5 weeks, unless you jump-started the cycle with media from another tank.

I added "fresh" biospira 2 weeks ago.

 

[rich311k]

If you added biospira you should be done. Maybe it was a bad batch?

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Sometimes Bio Spira taks a bit to kick in. If your levels keep going up, may either need to resort to PWC's or another batch of Bio Spira.

 

[Andos99]

Just wait it out....do PWC every few days and test periodically until your levels stabilize.....every tank is different and an exact time frame is never easy to predict. When I added sand to my tank, I had diatoms for a few months. They grow back pretty fast after a gravel vac, but like already mentioned, it is harmless and will go away over time. The key to this hobby is time and not trying to rush things, believe me, I've learned this the hard way.