Can't get cycle under control.....

[hydra70]

For those who haven't seen my post from early January, here's quick overview -

I am newbie, followed the TetraCare instructions that came with an aquarium kit (AquaCulture brand). Did not do a fishless cycle - had never heard of one.

Fish added, mass deaths started. Ammonia, I learned. Following much very appreciated advice from folks here, I have given away some of the fish, become an expert at the PWC, obtained a snip of filter material from a healthy tank and have not lost anyone in three weeks, BUT all is not happy, here are the particulars:

20 gal tank
whisper 20 power filter
gravel (approx one inch deep)
assorted plastic plants
temperature: 78F

2 dwarf plecos
4 corys
3 dwarf sucker catfish
1 spiny eel (three spot type)
2 guppies
1 albino tiger barb
2 african frogs

this population being fed once every other day for the last three weeks

Water test approx 12 hours after most recent 40% water change:
pH: 7 - 7.1
Hardness: 110
Ammonia: 0.5
Nitrite: 0.75 - 1.0
Nitrate: 20

Recommendations were to not gravel vac until it started producing nitrate. As soon as nitrate started, I waited a day and started serious gravel vacuuming, and got lots of gunk out of there. The gravel has now been vacuumed once a day - during one of the two 40% water changes being done daily - and is not completely clean, but it's as clean as a Python can make it.

So, here's the quesion: to me it appears that all the bacterial players for a full cycle are present, so why are they not getting rid of the ammonia, and the resulting nitrite for me?

Someone throw me a bone on this one? Pretty please?

 

[neilanh]

You're tank is still cycling. By doing it this way, it's not unreasonable for it to take 6-8 weeks. Your cycle is going, however, which is evident by the nitrIte going up. I'd wager that you're about half way through, give or take a little depending on if your nitrIte is going up or down. Similiar to the ammonia spike that you saw, the nitrIte will do the same, then eventually convert all the way out to nitrAte.

Until you read 0 ammonia and 0 nitrItes, your cycle is still underway. You're going good by keeping up with the water changes, you're just going to have to keep it up a while longer.

I'd cut back on vacuuming to about once a week, maybe twice. You shouldn't need to do it every day. Any extra aeration you can provide (low water level, airstone, etc) may help to speed it along.

As far as your questions, you don't have an adequate colony yet of bacteria for a "full cycle" as you put it. The bacteria need to build up more to handle the bio-load that you have, and it's just a matter of time.

Again, good job on keeping up with things. Keep at it and you should be good to go in just a few more weeks, maybe less.

 

[7Enigma]

neilanh made some good points to your question so I won't rehash that.

My concern is your stocking level and more importantly the incompatibility of your tank. You have several incompatible species, and/or inproper numbers of each species to keep their aggressiveness in check.

Tiger barbs are very aggressive and normally recommended to be kept in numbers at LEAST 6-8. This allows them to fight amongst themselves and not go after other members. They actively attack fancy fins, so depending on your guppies they might go after them. Guppies also are active livebearers which if there is any good protection in the tank will increase in numbers (otherwise the offspring is eaten). My tigers also harrassed my cory's until they were given adequate hiding spots.

The eel will grow to 8-14" depending on care. Too big for your tank and probably incompatible with the other species though I'm not sure.

The dwarf frogs usually are kept in a terrarium setup with a low water level. I don't know how they will interact in a large tank (I would assume they at least need a place to get out of the water).

Make sure your dwarf pleco's are in fact a dwarf species, otherwise they can each get to 2 feet.

Some or all of these should be returned to the LFS. This will help alleviate the cycle you're going through, and will allow you to get a compatible tank.