cycling 20 gl - nitrate problems in 75 gl, 10 gl

[LeAnne]

Have a few things going on - need advice!

Started fishless cycling a 20 gl on 07/27 - checking and dosing to 4. daily. Started getting action:
8/3 - in a.m. - amm 2 - nitrites .50 - dosed back up to 4.
8/3 - in p.m. appx 12 hrs later - amm .05 - nitrites 1. - didn't check nitrates thought nitrites would go higher. but excited to see action!
8/4 - amm .50 - nitrites 0 - nitrates 160 - dosed back to 4.
Shouldn't the nitrites be way high also?

75 gl - this poor tank got neglected this past week due to what happened below with other tank:
8/2 amm .50 - nitrites 0 - nitrates 160 - water cloudy -
8/3 did appx 40% water change
8/4 - amm .25 - nitrites 0 - nitrates 160 - water better but still not clear - this tank has a big driftwood in it
Why are the nitrates so high and what can I do about them?

Ah, then my new beautiful 90 gl! Back Story - got woke up 2:30 a.m. Sat. - 55 gl (used) tank sprung a leak and was going down fast! - I got a big tote and salvaged all the water that would fit, the filter, decor, gravel, and fish and set up an emergency tank - then went shopping! Got a 90 gl and had it set up and ready by Sun afternoon. Added everything back and seems to be going ok. Lost 1 fish but believe me - it could of been worse with all the shuffling (had done a PWC the night before).
90 gl readings:
8/1 - pH 7.4 - amm 150 - nitrites 0 - used ammonia clear tablets cause was out of Prime due to filling the big boy! Had it ordered - got it 8/3.
8/2 - pH 8 - amm. 150 - nitrites 0 - nitrates 40 - added cap of Prime
8/3 - amm. .50 - nitrites 0 - nitrates 40 - added cap of Prime
8/4 - amm .50 - nitrites 0 - nitrates 40 (really expecting this to go up like the others some day)
Should I be adding Prime every day? Am I getting amm readings due to it just locking it up until the filter can do its thing with it? And what kind of schedule for PWC on this big of tank should I expect?

Now - for daughter's 10 gl - this little thing has been doing great - it has been totally negected through all of the above. I need it for a hospital tank to treat my angel who ended up with velvet - so its readings are below:
8/4 - amm .50 - nitrites 0 - nitrates 160 - grrrr! This tank has 1 sm, 1 md, 1 lg goldfish in it with 3 little cory cats, 2 sm plecos. They seem happy. I moved the angel in it to treat 10 gl versus 90 gl for 7 days! Would go broke medicating the big one!
Again, what to do about nitrates?

I have been told to add live plants but not experienced with them at all - tried one a while back and something stripped its leaves and next day it was a nub!
I plan on adding Purigen to both Fluval filters (75 gl has Fluval FX5 - 90 gl has Fluval 405 rated for 10 gl but LFS said they are overrated so may need backup on the 90 gl some day). I used Purigen in the 10 gl and it seemed to help so thought I would try on the big ones.

To ECO23 - am doing your fishless cycle - like it way better than sacrificing fish - just not sure about the small showing of nitrites and then high nitrates ? Any help with the above problems is greatly appreciated -

To everyone - so glad I found this forum - you have helped me tremendously and one of these days I WILL be sitting in my bathrobe, sipping my tea and relaxing - while watching my happy and healthy fish!

 

[librarygirl]

Woah you have a lot going on! I'll do my best to help, but I might not be able to address all of your issues. I may also have questions of my own to clarify things. My answers below are in blue:

Have a few things going on - need advice!

Started fishless cycling a 20 gl on 07/27 - checking and dosing to 4. daily. Started getting action:
8/3 - in a.m. - amm 2 - nitrites .50 - dosed back up to 4.
8/3 - in p.m. appx 12 hrs later - amm .05 - nitrites 1. - didn't check nitrates thought nitrites would go higher. but excited to see action!
8/4 - amm .50 - nitrites 0 - nitrates 160 - dosed back to 4.
Shouldn't the nitrites be way high also?
I think it can take a while, but I'm not sure why they went from 1 to 0. They're being processed quickly maybe, b/c your nitirates are very high. Keep testing and dosing and let's see what happens in the next couple of days. Your ammonia is processing nicely so I'd say things are moving along well for having only started this cycle a week ago!

75 gl - this poor tank got neglected this past week due to what happened below with other tank:
8/2 amm .50 - nitrites 0 - nitrates 160 - water cloudy -
8/3 did appx 40% water change
8/4 - amm .25 - nitrites 0 - nitrates 160 - water better but still not clear - this tank has a big driftwood in it
Why are the nitrates so high and what can I do about them?
Are there fish in this tank, or is this a fishless cycle also? If there's fish in there, I'd be concerned. The tank isn't cycled and nitrates that high can be harmful to the fish. Nitrates only leave the tank through water changes, and usually weekly water changes are what keeps the nitrates low in a properly cycled tank, but you have some ammonia, so that leads me to believe it isn't fully cycled yet, althogh maybe close. If there are fish in there, do a few very large water changes back-to-back ASAP to get the nitrates down to 40 at most. Also if there are fish in there, when is the last time you did a pwc? Please clarify whether this is a fish-in or fishless cycle situation.

Ah, then my new beautiful 90 gl! Back Story - got woke up 2:30 a.m. Sat. - 55 gl (used) tank sprung a leak and was going down fast! - I got a big tote and salvaged all the water that would fit, the filter, decor, gravel, and fish and set up an emergency tank - then went shopping! Got a 90 gl and had it set up and ready by Sun afternoon. Added everything back and seems to be going ok. Lost 1 fish but believe me - it could of been worse with all the shuffling (had done a PWC the night before).
90 gl readings:
8/1 - pH 7.4 - amm 150 - nitrites 0 - used ammonia clear tablets cause was out of Prime due to filling the big boy! Had it ordered - got it 8/3.
8/2 - pH 8 - amm. 150 - nitrites 0 - nitrates 40 - added cap of Prime
8/3 - amm. .50 - nitrites 0 - nitrates 40 - added cap of Prime
8/4 - amm .50 - nitrites 0 - nitrates 40 (really expecting this to go up like the others some day)
Should I be adding Prime every day? Am I getting amm readings due to it just locking it up until the filter can do its thing with it? And what kind of schedule for PWC on this big of tank should I expect?
Do you do weekly water changes to keep the tank maintained? That's the way to keep nitrates down, and you need to keep them down for the fish. 40 is really the highest you should let them go with fish in there. You should do a 50%+ water change ASAP (use the Prime). I'm also concerned that there is ammonia in there; even if the tank is new and you used all the same decor and filters from the one that leaked, you shouldn't have ammonia? Was this tank cycled? How long has it been running with fish? Again, with the ammonia at .5 and nitrates at 40 I'd do at least a 50% water change (larger if you can do it). You shouldn't need to add Prime every day, only with water changes. But with ammonia readings you may need to do water changes every day or so.

Now - for daughter's 10 gl - this little thing has been doing great - it has been totally negected through all of the above. I need it for a hospital tank to treat my angel who ended up with velvet - so its readings are below:
8/4 - amm .50 - nitrites 0 - nitrates 160 - grrrr! This tank has 1 sm, 1 md, 1 lg goldfish in it with 3 little cory cats, 2 sm plecos. They seem happy. I moved the angel in it to treat 10 gl versus 90 gl for 7 days! Would go broke medicating the big one!
Again, what to do about nitrates?
First, that tank is way overstocked for a 10 gal. Goldfish typically need 20 gals for the first fish and 10 gals for each additional, if you have 3 goldfish in there you'd need a 40 gal tank minimum. If you can rehome them that would be the best, either that or upgrade your tank.
NItrates only leave the tank through water changes. Also with ammonia in it, it concerns me that it isn't cycled. Trying to maintain 1 uncycled tank with fish in it can be a lot of work, but trying to maintain 2-3 is going to be rough. With ammonia at .5 and nitrates that high, I'd again do very large pwc back-to-back ASAP (you may need to do a 80% pwc and refill, and then maybe even another one after that, etc), to get ammonia as close to 0 as possible and nitrAtes <40. Again you'll probably need to do daily water changes on this tank for a while.

You also said you've moved the angel into the 10 gal?! Um, I think that might be problematic. Also if you're treating the angel for velvet in the 10 gal, you're treating the other fish in there too (the goldfish, etc), did they have velvet also? Plus goldfish are coldwater fish, the angel is tropical (not to mention the plecos and other things you have in the 10, which might also be tropical and not coldwater, dont know much about them offhand though).

For the short term you need to do large, daily water changes on all of the tanks with fish in them. You might have to rehome some of those fish or get more tanks (the goldfish alone need a 40 gal just for them), the angel should be in its own hospital tank if it's being treated.


I have been told to add live plants but not experienced with them at all - tried one a while back and something stripped its leaves and next day it was a nub!
I plan on adding Purigen to both Fluval filters (75 gl has Fluval FX5 - 90 gl has Fluval 405 rated for 10 gl but LFS said they are overrated so may need backup on the 90 gl some day). I used Purigen in the 10 gl and it seemed to help so thought I would try on the big ones.

To ECO23 - am doing your fishless cycle - like it way better than sacrificing fish - just not sure about the small showing of nitrites and then high nitrates ? Any help with the above problems is greatly appreciated -

To everyone - so glad I found this forum - you have helped me tremendously and one of these days I WILL be sitting in my bathrobe, sipping my tea and relaxing - while watching my happy and healthy fish!