cycling biorb

[Amandap79]

hello all. I'm hoping you can help. im a newbie who has ended up halfway through a cycle with three platys & six neons. made all the starter mistakes (thanks to the help in the pet shop & biorb instuctions). im so gutted I didn't know about fishless cycling.

im currently showing trace ammonia & very high nitrite (around 2} and was wondering how long before I can expect to see nitrate. I'm helping these poor fish with daily water changes (between 20 to 30%), limited feeding & water testing. is there anything else I can do? the tank is a 30 litre biorb life & has been running for three weeks with the fish.

which leads me to my next question. it states you should change the filter after six weeks. if I take this out (the sponge) will this take away some of the good bacteria? and if I don't change it, does the carbon / filter become affected. any biorb cycling advice would be greatly appreciated.

thank you so much.

 

[zparticle]

This should help for starters.

 

[librarygirl]

Welcome to AA!

First, DON"T CHANGE THE FILTER lol. I hate that they put this on the packages (of course they want to make more money); if you throw away your filter media you throw away your bacteria and have to start all over. You shouldn't have to change filter media unless it's literally falling apart, and even then only change out some at a time.

Your tank is about 8 US gallons, but since it's a biorob that adds some additional issues since it limits the fish's swimming room. Platys have a pretty high bioload and are active fish, 10 gals is the minumum for them and I'm not sure a Biorb is giving them the swimming room they need. Same with the Neons (if they are Neon tetras they need a lot of horizontal swim space so really the Biorb is not good for them at all). If you can return the fish, or at least the Neons, or rehome them, that would be best for the fish in the longrun.

Nitrate should be showing up soon if you have nitrites. Nitries at 2 though are dangerous for the fish and a 30% water change won't bring them low enough. You'd have to do at least an 80% water change; or two back-to-back 50% changes. Remember you want to keep nitrites as close to 0 as you can (same with ammonia).

What test kit are you using?

Just keep up with the water changes and do larger ones than your doing to keep nitrites lower. Also consider returning or rehoming the fish and research more suitable options for the biorb (which are pretty limited given its shape). Or consider upgrading to a larger rectangular tank in the near future. Good luck!

 

[Amandap79]

Hi,

Thanks for replying. I have done two water changes today and I think (fingers crossed) I'm getting a very small amount of nitrates (not yellow, a dark yellow). I'm testing with the API liquid, it seems pretty accurate. I hope.

The tank isn't the normal round biorb, but a square shaped (about 50cm depth and width). The platys are energetic - just out of interest are Guppies the same?

Sorry I'm slightly confused about the filter. The maitanence kit includes a new sponge and new carbon. Am I right in saying that the good bacteria is within the (old) sponge and all I need to do is wash it in aquarium water until it falls apart? Also what are the effects of the carbon not working, if any?

Sorry for all the questions.

 

[librarygirl]

Hi,

Thanks for replying. I have done two water changes today and I think (fingers crossed) I'm getting a very small amount of nitrates (not yellow, a dark yellow). I'm testing with the API liquid, it seems pretty accurate. I hope.

The tank isn't the normal round biorb, but a square shaped (about 50cm depth and width). The platys are energetic - just out of interest are Guppies the same?

Sorry I'm slightly confused about the filter. The maitanence kit includes a new sponge and new carbon. Am I right in saying that the good bacteria is within the (old) sponge and all I need to do is wash it in aquarium water until it falls apart? Also what are the effects of the carbon not working, if any?

Sorry for all the questions.

No problem, I like questions (it's a librarian thing lol).

From what I've seen of guppies yes they are very energetic like Platys.

Do you have another established tank? If not, the bacteria will start growing on your biorb filter -- whatever you have in there now; when the bacteria grow enough they'll be able to h andle the toxins your fish are putting out and wil keep ammonia and nitrite at 0; until then, keep up with the water changes. This bacteria multiplies rather slowly (doubles every 24 hours or so) so it can take a bit to get established. Once it does you'll only have to do a water change every week. TO keep the filter clean yes you can just swish it in old tank water during water changes, but while the tank is cycling I"d leave it alone.

I'm not sure about the carbon; I've read different things. That either the carbon will stop working and release toxins back into the tank or it will just go dormant and not do anything either way. Most aquarists don't use carbon unless it's needed to get rid of medications from treating illness. You can leave it or take it out, it's up to you. I don't know how the BIorb filters work but if you can pull out the carbon pad and put another filter pad in there so yo'ull have two pads that would be best i think.

I hope this helps.