Cycling a 10 gallon tank! Unsure of what to do now!

[animallover09]

Last Thursday I started a ten gallon tank with new sand in it. I took four ornaments from my already cycled 50 gallon tank and put them in my 10 gallon in hopes of cycling it faster. I put tap water into the tank Thursday and let it sit until Sunday to help the sand settle and get the extra particles out.

Now, I know what everyone is going to say "Shame on me" but I started my tank with Tetra's SafeStart. But for my 50 gallon cichlid tank that I started a couple of months ago, the SafeStart worked just fine. So before I went to get my fish on Sunday, I put in the SafeStart. Now I am kinda of wishing I would have just done a fishless cycle. However, it's too late for that, which is why I am asking for advice.

Here is what's in my tank:
Tetra Whisper 10-30 filter
Black Sand
4 ornaments from my already cycled tank
Heater (78 degrees)
Light
Airstone
Japanese Moss Ball
Egeria densa plant

List of fish:
2 male guppies
Longfin Zebra Danio
Longfin Leopard Danio
Longfin Gold Danio
3 White Skirt Tetra's
~7 or 8 baby snails (1 snail died) (I can't find the rest-they stay hid)
2 ghost shrimp (I had 3 but one died)

Levels:
Ammonia 0.50 ppm
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 20 ppm
pH 8.0

Yes, I realize that these levels aren't good for the fish and I am trying to do everything I can to get these levels safe. But everything I have tried isn't working. The ammonia has flutuated between 0.50 and 0.25. The nitrites have always been 0 and the nitrates have fluctuated between 20 and 5.0. The pH has been high and I've tried putting in some pH regulator to get it to 7 but I don't guess it worked.

After seeing that the SafeStart didn't work, I added the rest of the bottle after I bought the fish in hopes that it would work the second time. Wrong. So in order to get the ammonia down, I have been adding Prime (which I've only done about 3 times). Which lowers the levels a little. Should I keep adding more Prime to get the ammonia down? Should I do a water change? Should I rinse the filter media? I'm not sure what to do and I don't want any of the fish dying.

I've put in 2 algae wafers since I got the fish in hopes of keeping the rest of my snails and ghost shrimp alive. I'm not sure if this is hurting or helping the cycle.

The fish seem to be doing just fine. All are eating and swimming around. One white skirt tetra seemed to be stressed yesterday but I noticed another white skirt picking on him so that may have been the cause. He seems fine today.

Please help! I'm stuck on what to do!

 

[jlk]

Welcome to AA!!!

Do you still have your 50g cichlid running and fully cycled? If so, just move some filter media from this tank's filter to the new tank's filter. This will help kickstart your cycle. You will still need to do water changes to keep toxin levels in check and test the tank on a daily basis until its fully cycled. Prime will not remove or lower ammonia levels- it just keep them temporarily detoxed up to 1ppm at a standard dose.

Do you know the ph of your tap water as well as the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels? This will give us a baseline for your tank numbers and what to expect with water changes.

Please read the article below as well and ask any questions!

I just learned about cycling but I already have fish. What now?! - Aquarium Advice

 

[Khuligirl93]

In order to lower toxic levels of ammonia or nitrite you need to do 50% water changes!
Adding prime or any other ammonia detoxifier is just putting a band aid on the problem and not really solving it.
But putting in some filter media from your 50g should do the trick

 

[animallover09]

Tap Water Levels

Welcome to AA!!!

Do you still have your 50g cichlid running and fully cycled? If so, just move some filter media from this tank's filter to the new tank's filter. This will help kickstart your cycle. You will still need to do water changes to keep toxin levels in check and test the tank on a daily basis until its fully cycled. Prime will not remove or lower ammonia levels- it just keep them temporarily detoxed up to 1ppm at a standard dose.

Do you know the ph of your tap water as well as the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels? This will give us a baseline for your tank numbers and what to expect with water changes.

Please read the article below as well and ask any questions!

I just learned about cycling but I already have fish. What now?! - Aquarium Advice

Okay, here are my tap water levels:
Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrate 5.0 ppm (It seems to be more 5.0 than 0-I use the API Master Test
Kit.)
pH 8.2 (wow! no wonder my pH stays high in my tanks-I don't worry about this for my cichlid tank because I've read they like high pH levels, but I'm kinda worried about my community fish.)

About the filter media, can i just put the filter media from my cichlid tank in my 10 gallon without it being in the actual filter because it won't fit. I was thinking about just setting it inside the tank by the filter.

I've noticed all of the green bacteria that was on the ornaments from my other tank has all come off in the 10 gallon. Weird.

So I will do a water change as soon as I hear back from you about the tap water.

 

[jlk]

No ammonia in your tap is a good thing! This means wcs will effectively drop toxin levels. With .50ppm of ammonia, I would do atleast a 50% wc to cut this in half. Just make sure you temperature match and properly condition the new water.

The cichlid media will be most helpful in the filter itself. Is there any way to cram a tiny bit into the filter housing? Do you have a bubbler/airstone in your tank? If so, you can also place the cichlid media on top of this. Just placing it in the tank will be least effective means of helping.

 

[animallover09]

No ammonia in your tap is a good thing! This means wcs will effectively drop toxin levels. With .50ppm of ammonia, I would do atleast a 50% wc to cut this in half. Just make sure you temperature match and properly condition the new water.

The cichlid media will be most helpful in the filter itself. Is there any way to cram a tiny bit into the filter housing? Do you have a bubbler/airstone in your tank? If so, you can also place the cichlid media on top of this. Just placing it in the tank will be least effective means of helping.

Okay, thank you so much for getting back with me! I will do a 50% water change and put the same temperature water back in with conditioner.

The filter media from the cichlid tank is really big. There would be no way to cram it into the 10 gallon filter unless I cut it up. I do have a new airstone inside the tank and I will put the filter on it after the water change.

 

[Khuligirl93]

Okay, here are my tap water levels: Ammonia 0 ppm Nitrite 0 ppm Nitrate 5.0 ppm (It seems to be more 5.0 than 0-I use the API Master Test Kit.) pH 8.2 (wow! no wonder my pH stays high in my tanks-I don't worry about this for my cichlid tank because I've read they like high pH levels, but I'm kinda worried about my community fish.) About the filter media, can i just put the filter media from my cichlid tank in my 10 gallon without it being in the actual filter because it won't fit. I was thinking about just setting it inside the tank by the filter. I've noticed all of the green bacteria that was on the ornaments from my other tank has all come off in the 10 gallon. Weird. So I will do a water change as soon as I hear back from you about the tap water.

Tap water can come out at a different pH than it actually is, in order to get an accurate pH you need to let a cup of water it out for 24 hours, stirring it periodically or aerating it. But- that pH shouldn't be a problem for your community fish. A stable pH I much more important, and most fish can adjust just fine to whatever your natural pH is (unless you're trying to breed discus or something). If you'd like to gradually naturally lower your pH a bit though, you could add a few oak leaves to your aquarium or some driftwood. These things will both color your water slightly brown because of the tannic acid that lowers the pH.

The green that you saw on the ornaments would not have been bacteria, it would have been algae. Bacteria is not green. It probably died because of less light or less nutrients in the new tank than was in the old tank.

 

[animallover09]

So I did a 50% water change and here are the current levels:
Ammonia 0 (although it looked in between 0 and 0.25)
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10
pH 7.8

The filter from my already cycled tank has been in the 10 gallon for a few hours. When is it okay to take it out? It's kind of unsightly since it's so big.
Is my tank cycled when the nitrites rise and the ammonia and nitrates are 0. This is what I got from the article. I hope I read that right.

 

[monaro_gto]

Is there any media left in your cycled tank? You dont want to start a mini cycle in it as well. If you dont plan on putting this media back in I would cut it up and place it in your filter. This is exactly how I started my 10 gallon.

 

[Masha]

Is my tank cycled when the nitrites rise and the ammonia and nitrates are 0. This is what I got from the article. I hope I read that right.

Not quite

Your tank is cycled when ammonia and nitrite are 0, and nitrate is more than 0.

Or actually, a better way to put it is that your tank is cycled if you can add ammonia to the tank, and in 24 hours ammonia and nitrite are 0, and nitrate is more than 0.

 

[rmiller]

Please put your media back in your other filter. You'll cause problems there too. You just need a little piece of it cut off and placed in the new tanks filter.

Second, you need to return some of your fish. You are grossly overstocked and that little filter will never keep up with that bioload. Which of the fish do you like best?

 

[animallover09]

Please put your media back in your other filter. You'll cause problems there too. You just need a little piece of it cut off and placed in the new tanks filter.

Second, you need to return some of your fish. You are grossly overstocked and that little filter will never keep up with that bioload. Which of the fish do you like best?

I did put the filter back in my cichlid tank last night since I was afraid of starting a mini cycle. I checked my levels this morning:
Ammonia 0.25
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 20
pH 8.0

I'm going to do another water change today in hopes of lowering the ammonia some more and then cutting a piece of my cichlids filter media and putting it in the 10 gallon filter.

Me and my husband are in the process of upgrading to a 55 gallon so the overstock of the tank wont be long term. I didn't think this was too many fish since I routinely do water changes for my tanks.

 

[rmiller]

As long as the 55 is in the works for the near future you should be fine. I am very against zebra danios being kept in 10 gallon tanks. I've never kept the gold or leopard, but I imagine they are active, fast swimmers like the zebras. So I would imagine they need more length to swim as well. The white skirts are my other concern in there, but as long as you plan to move those as well so I'll leave the stocking issue alone for now so we can concentrate on getting your cycle complete.

Just make sure you are keeping that ammonia nitrite at or below .25 and you should be fine.

 

[animallover09]

Frustrating!

So my levels have been staying the same for a while now:
Ammonia 0.25
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10-20

I've done three water changes since November 14th and I've cut some strips of filter media from my cichlid tank to cram in the 10 gallon filter. That media has been in there since I believe the 21st.

Should I be rinsing the filter off? I've done that twice while doing a water change because it looked disgusting.

And should I do another water change in hopes of getting the ammonia to 0?

Also, I'm worried that my ghost shrimp and baby snails aren't getting enough to eat due to the water changes. I've put in some algae wafers but I'm not sure if the wafers are doing what they are supposed to because the expiration date on them is expired. The wafers kinda of just break apart in the water and the shrimp don't really seem to enjoy them.

 

[monaro_gto]

Cycling a tank (fish in or fishless) is going to take time. It requires patience and fish in you will need to do water changes when ever you see ammonia which will most likely be daily.
If no one is eating the algae wafers in a timely matter I would not be adding them at all, they will only help to increase ammonia. Keep feeding to an absolute minimum as well.

The way I cycled my 10g was media from my 29g cycled tank and a bottle of Tetra safe start. Either way this is going to take time.