cycling

[tomoisawatergod]

Hi, my tank has been cycling with fish for the last 2 weeks. I have followed stricked instructions on how to. I have done water tests daily and the results add up, currently the nitrite is peaking. So i conducted a 20% water change (as was stated). This is not my queery. It is that there is debris on the tank floor, when the tank is cycled will the bacteria clean/eat the debris or shall i hoover it up?

 

[librarygirl]

You need to vacuum it up. Waste and uneaten food at the bottom of the tank can contribute to ammonia, and water toxicity so you want to keep it clean and feed sparingly. Bacteria aren't going to eat the waste in your tank.

I am concerned about your fish however. The nitrite spike is very dangerous for fish. How many water changes are you doing daily? What test kit do you have? Any time ammonia and/or nitrite are over .25 (the lowest color aside from 0) on the API test kit, you need to do a water change to get them down. This may mean more than one back-to-back water change. If nitrites are 1, you'd need to do 2-3 50% water changes to get them down under .25 (for example, a 50% water change woud only get nitrites down to .5 which is stil toxic, so you'd need to do another water change of at least 50% to get them down to .25 which is borderline, and another 50% water change woudl be advisable). Don't forget to use dechlorinator as well.

 

[tomoisawatergod]

Im doing 20% water changes daily to keep it down, im using the tetra test kits. So now ill hoover the substrate whilst im doing the water change. I have the tetra water dechlorinator and stresszyme, is it worth still using them??

 

[librarygirl]

Im doing 20% water changes daily to keep it down, im using the tetra test kits. So now ill hoover the substrate whilst im doing the water change. I have the tetra water dechlorinator and stresszyme, is it worth still using them??

I'm not familiar with Stress Zyme but it seems to be another water conditioner, you probably don't need both. What other brand are you using?

20% water changes aren't going to cut it with levels spiking. If nitrite was at .5, for example, even doing a 50% water change would just get it down to .25, which is still borderline toxic, so I'd recommend either doing a larger (70%) water change initially or two 50% water changes about a half-hour apart. Does that make sense? How high were the nitrites? What's the ammonia level?

 

[tomoisawatergod]

The stress zyme is good bacteria and it states to be used during both fishless and fish in cycle. Im using tetra aqua safe for water treatmeant.

This morning my ammonia is 0ppm and nitrite is .25. Which is is after the 70% water change you recomended, shall i carry on as i am? And stress zyem good or bad idea??

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

The stress zyme is good bacteria and it states to be used during both fishless and fish in cycle. Im using tetra aqua safe for water treatmeant.

This morning my ammonia is 0ppm and nitrite is .25. Which is is after the 70% water change you recomended, shall i carry on as i am? And stress zyem good or bad idea??

I've used stress zyme and it didn't work for me at all. Honestly, only two bac in a bottle products have seemed to work and have a good track record (from personal experience and reviews online). Those are Tetra Safe Start and Dr. Tim's Aquatic One & Only.

Your tank will eventually cycle with the fish w/out bacteria additives. However, you'll have to do very frequent PWC 's and siphon out the waste.

What fish species do you have in the tank?

 

[Ausfish]

I use stress Zyme and stress coat with every water change since years and swear by it. It is, however, not meant to speed up your cycle or start it! It's merely a colony of beneficial bacteria that support the ones in your filter and the slime-coating on your fish which is their main defense against disease. The other one removes trace elements out of tap water.

Keep doing regular water changes and tests daily and hopefully your fish will be fine. What kind of fish do you have and how big is your tank? That would also determine how often and how much water you have to change!

 

[Mrc8858]

The BB in a bottle is a bit controversial I personally don't use it(just let nature do its thing) from my understanding theres a difference between the BB in a bottle and natural occurring BB... the bottle is less stable and can cause mini cycles or even a full blown biofilter crash but if Uve been getting good result by all means do wut works for u just thought I'd point that out

 

[tomoisawatergod]

Theres four croys, the bloke at the pet shop recomended them to be 'hardy' fish. I hav

 

[tomoisawatergod]

Theres four croys, the bloke at the pet shop recomended them to be 'hardy' fish. I have been using the zyme for 2 weeks, on the pet shops recomendation. As i live opposite it, i regulary vist. He has visteted me today to see how the tank is going. We did another 50% water change and he have me the thumbs up.

As for the zyme i have been putting 10 ml in every week ( the stated dose) and i havnt been putting in more when i do the water changes.

Since reading up on AA i realise that a fish in cycle is hard work. I dont mind putting in the work as i want a perfect aquarium (if there is such thing) i dont think i would recomend a fish in cycle.