Cycling with ammonia out of tap

[WhiteWolf]

I have been cycling a 42 gallon tank for a while and I have some questions. The tank has two filters on it, a Fluval U4 and an Aqueon QuietFlow 30. I took the carbon insert out of the HOB filter and stuffed a lot of pieces of cut up filter pad in it.

I have 1 ppm ammonia out of my tap. I use Amquel Plus as the water conditioner for my two established ten gallons, and they now have no problem dealing with the ammonia within 24 hours. The ammonia being in the tap water is a relatively new thing. I have been using Aqueon water conditioner for the 42 gallon.

Here are the readings for the 42 gallon towards the end of the cycling process:

[FONT=&quot]10/03/11[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] Ammonia: .25[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] Nitrite: 5[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] Nitrate: 40[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]50% WC[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]10/06/11[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] Ammonia: .25[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] Nitrite: 3[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] Nitrate: 30[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]10/19/11[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] Ammonia: 0[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] Nitrite: 0[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] Nitrate: 50[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]90% WC[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]10/22/11[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] Ammonia: .25[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] Nitrite: .5[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] Nitrate: 30[/FONT]


[FONT=&quot]Once the ammonia and nitrites go back down to zero, should I not do such a large water change again? Or, does this just prove that the cycle is not strong enough yet to add fish?
[/FONT]

 

[Flossie]

I also have ammonia in my tap. I believe it is at 1ppm. I use prime to make sure I'm not adding any extra ammo to my tanks (that isnt neutralized) or aqueon also makes a ammonia neutralizer that neutralizes the ammo. For your tanks that are already stocked

No1 and no2 should hold at zero for over 24 hours even if you are adding some ammo but you probably still don't have enough BB

Had to think about what I said and edit out the nonsense! Lol

 

[librarygirl]

No need to do a pwc unless nitrites have been off-chart for a while or your PH crashes. I'd keep dosing ammonia and see what happens. You want ammonia and nitrite to be at 0 24 hours after dosing. If they stay that way for at least 3 consecutive days, then it should be safe to add fish (after a final large pwc to get nitrates down).

 

[Flossie]

No need to do a pwc unless nitrites have been off-chart for a while or your PH crashes. I'd keep dosing ammonia and see what happens. You want ammonia and nitrite to be at 0 24 hours after dosing. If they stay that way for at least 3 consecutive days, then it should be safe to add fish (after a final large pwc to get nitrates down).

Well said!!! Lol