Hi, I have set up my 29 gallon freshwater tank after not usuing it for years. I have a emperor 280 filter, a 100 watt heater. I added my substrate which was thoroughly rinsed before put in and I added a bubbler and turned the heat up to 84F. On june 17th I added 4 ppm of ace hardware ammonia and I have been checking my water properties through out and here we are on day 20 with no ammonia drop and no nitirites yet. pH is 7.6. I checked my KH and GH and the KH is 5 and GH is 3 degrees. Is this sufficient? I feel like something is stalling my cycle. Any suggestions?
Cycle problems...
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FishontheRock
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Was your water treated to remove chlorine and if so what did you use?
librarygirl
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Is the filter new? Was the tank cleaned thoroughly and if so with what (bleach, etc)?
A month is a long time for no ammonia drop. If there's a chance anything you cleaned the tank with could still be in there (like bleach)? If so, I'd break it down and give it a good clean. If not, do a 100% water change, add the dechlorinator to the water prior to putting it into the tank, and then wait an hour and test ammonia. What test it are you using? it's possible you might have overdosed ammonia (very easy to do) and that would have caused the stall in the cycle. After the 100% water change if you still have ammonia then it's likely you overdosed. If you don't have ammonia, only dose to 2 and see what happens.
A month is a long time for no ammonia drop. If there's a chance anything you cleaned the tank with could still be in there (like bleach)? If so, I'd break it down and give it a good clean. If not, do a 100% water change, add the dechlorinator to the water prior to putting it into the tank, and then wait an hour and test ammonia. What test it are you using? it's possible you might have overdosed ammonia (very easy to do) and that would have caused the stall in the cycle. After the 100% water change if you still have ammonia then it's likely you overdosed. If you don't have ammonia, only dose to 2 and see what happens.
I did not use anything to clean the tank but warm water and a razer blade to get off old allege. I cleaned everything in the tank with warm water and thats it. I Put in about 3.5 ml of ammonia. The filter is the filter I used back when it was up and running few years ago. With a brand new bio wheel and filter insert. EDIT: also I am usuing an API Master freshwater kit
FishontheRock
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What is throng of the tank and therapy water?
librarygirl
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Your PH is fine; my KH and GH are lower than yours so that isn't affecting anything.
It's possible your water municipality uses higher amounts of chlorine or chloramine than the dechlorinator can handle. You might want to contact them or see if you can get a report to see how much is in there. YOu could do the water change as I suggested and double-dose the dechlorinator (you might want to switch to Prime if you can get it; it's superior to most brands and it's more concentrated so you'll use less in the long run). Doing the water change will restore buffers and minerals in the water too since it's been sitting there for a month. So, try the larger water change, double-dose dechlor, test ammonia before you add more (just to double-check) and redose to 2 and let's see what happens.
It's possible your water municipality uses higher amounts of chlorine or chloramine than the dechlorinator can handle. You might want to contact them or see if you can get a report to see how much is in there. YOu could do the water change as I suggested and double-dose the dechlorinator (you might want to switch to Prime if you can get it; it's superior to most brands and it's more concentrated so you'll use less in the long run). Doing the water change will restore buffers and minerals in the water too since it's been sitting there for a month. So, try the larger water change, double-dose dechlor, test ammonia before you add more (just to double-check) and redose to 2 and let's see what happens.
I live in upstate NY, and I know my water comes from the hudson river through a water treatment plant. They had originally switched to a different source because of dredging the river would raise PCB levels, I am not sure where the water is currently coming from. We have a water softener installed though, If that means anything. Also, I thought prime was not good to use for fishless cycling because it will neutralize the ammonia.
FishontheRock
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If you contact your municipality they can give you the water parameters on your tap water.
tamtam
Aquarium Advice Addict
Prime just makes the ammonia not harmful to your fish for 24-48 hours. It doesn't remove it or anything like that, so it won't effect your cycle.
Ok, so I am gonna go to the store and try to find some seachem prime and do a big water change. If I double dose it, can it cause any problems? Also I found a semi recent water quality test here: http://www.townofhalfmoon.org/pdf/halfmoonccr2011.pdf
The second chart in the pdf is my water.
The second chart in the pdf is my water.
Alright I went to petco, got some prime, filled up my new 5 gallon pales and added 1 ml of prime per 5 gallons. I changed all the water, rechecked ammonia, none present. Added 2 ml's of ammonia, Ill check it again later and we'll see if we can get a cycle going this time. Also I added 2 live plants, so Ill have the light on for about 6 hours max every day to keep them going, hope I dont get an algae bloom.
librarygirl
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No, double-dosing won't hurt anything. I think your tap levels look well within the limits but I'm not an expert lol Everything else looks good (temp, aeration, type of ammonia, PH) so not sure why things aren't progressing but hopefully the water change will kick-start things. Let us know how it goes!
Ok, I just added 2 angels plus activated sponge filters today, hoping these things help it along a bit... They were mailed tuesday and I put them in at 2:30 pm today. I hope they still got their bacteria alive in them. I have one air bubbler hooked up right now, going to petco to get another aerator, this old one cant make both filter.
librarygirl
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Looks good, I think one would have been plenty but hey two can't hurt LOL I've used these filters to help cycle my tank, it worked well. Hopefully you'll have the same luck. Keep us posted!
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