fish in cycle, cloudy water?

[ZombiesAteMyDog]

I went and picked up a digital thermometer for my tank, I was using a junky stick to the glass type.

I was reading in another thread that my heater should be located centrally in the tank? Currently my heater is at the far right and the thermometer probe is on the far left, should I move my heater to to in between my 2 filters since that would be Center of the tank? You can see how the filter is set up in the pic I posted.

Also, once I detect high levels in the water how quickly should i do water change? Should it be done immediately?

 

[ZombiesAteMyDog]

Just did a 1/3 water change and did a water test afterwards and it showed ammonia at. 0.50 so tomorrow I am going to do a 50 percent pwc and see how it goes from there

 

[Convict2161]

Just did a 1/3 water change and did a water test afterwards and it showed ammonia at. 0.50 so tomorrow I am going to do a 50 percent pwc and see how it goes from there

Sounds like a plan. Good luck

 

[ZombiesAteMyDog]

so I just did a 50% PWC, and took my ammonia reading, it is somewhere between .25 and .50 PPM AFTER the PWC... on a hunch I did an ammonia test on my tap water and the results show my tap water is somewhre around .25 ppm ammonia in it perhaps slightly less, is this going to be a problem? at this point since there is ammonia in the tap water would it be easier to return my fish to the LFS and go fishless since the ammonia levels dont matter as much?

here is a picture of the results of the test on the tap water.

 

[Convict2161]

On my STRONG opinion you CAN do a fish in cycle and be very successful. You just have to be diligent with water changes and test very often lol.

When I did fish in cycle I went through a test kit in about 3 weeks haha

You can do it. Just use your conditioner like Prime. I know you can do it. It's hard work but very rewarding.

 

[Rare]

I went and picked up a digital thermometer for my tank, I was using a junky stick to the glass type.

I was reading in another thread that my heater should be located centrally in the tank?

That's what I did so I wouldnt have one hot spot per say. With both filters running and the heater in the middle it should keep the water in the same temp as it flows in each direction

 

[ZombiesAteMyDog]

I just looked at prime,,, I have been using the tetra aquasafe which takes out the chlorine but prime looks A LOT better, also nuetralizing ammonia that may be in the water... I am definitely going to be picking up a bottle of prime tomorrow.

 

[Convict2161]

I just looked at prime,,, I have been using the tetra aquasafe which takes out the chlorine but prime looks A LOT better, also nuetralizing ammonia that may be in the water... I am definitely going to be picking up a bottle of prime tomorrow.

Prime is very very good. I by it 2 liters at a time lol.

 

[ZombiesAteMyDog]

today it has been a full week since I added my fish ( actually a week last night) just did a water test, and ammonia still running about .50 ppm with no traces of nitrites what so ever, will keep doing my PWC and keeping an eye on things, would like to see trites appear though just so I know things are actually moving a long.

 

[librarygirl]

today it has been a full week since I added my fish ( actually a week last night) just did a water test, and ammonia still running about .50 ppm with no traces of nitrites what so ever, will keep doing my PWC and keeping an eye on things, would like to see trites appear though just so I know things are actually moving a long.

It can take a while. Nitrites typically show up in week 3-4 on average; every tank is different. Once you notice ammonia dropping on its own nitrites aren't usually far behind. Hang in there.

 

[ZombiesAteMyDog]

so, I did a water test, about .50 ppm ammonia, so ok, time to do a 50% PWC, after I did the PWC I did another test. .50 ppm ammonia.

is that even possible? it should have dropped some shouldnt it have?

 

[Rare]

Have you tested your tap water yet?

 

[ZombiesAteMyDog]

yes, there is some ammonia in there, slightly under .25 ppm, but it seems like it would still lower it down some doing a 50% PWC.

 

[ZombiesAteMyDog]

my ammonia is still hanging out at around .50 ppm even after water changes.

is this an OK number while cycling and using price which detoxifies the ammonia?

I am really not sure what to do from here, been doing 50% PWCs daily and its still just staying at 50%

any advice or guidance would be hugely appreciated.

 

[Convict2161]

my ammonia is still hanging out at around .50 ppm even after water changes.

is this an OK number while cycling and using price which detoxifies the ammonia?

I am really not sure what to do from here, been doing 50% PWCs daily and its still just staying at 50%

any advice or guidance would be hugely appreciated.

Try doing back to back water changes and dosing Prime for entire tank. You may need to do some big back to back water changes to bring your ammonia down to a manageable level.

 

[ZombiesAteMyDog]

when you say back to back, you talking do like a 60% PWC, then soon as thats done another 60% ?

 

[Convict2161]

when you say back to back, you talking do like a 60% PWC, then soon as thats done another 60% ?

Yes... Do a 60% then wait about an hour then hit it again... That should bring the levels down

 

[ZombiesAteMyDog]

ok, Ill do that tonight, I have been dosing the whole tank volume with prime , I have a 29G, and it says 5 ml of prime for 50 gal, so ive been using 3 ML, pretty much putting 1 ml in each bucket of water I add.

 

[Coz]

Most of the ammonia you are measuring is likely ionized ammonia which is not toxic. The only way you will know for sure is to use seachem's ammonia test kit which measures free ammonia. Or better yet get their ammonia alert that goes in your tank and gives you a constant real time indication of free ammonia which is the toxic kind. I am 4 weeks into a fish-in cycle and my api test always shows at least .25 ammonia but my seachem alert has never gone over .05. At a ph of 8.2. toxic ammonia is only about 10% of total ammonia.

 

[Sharpchick]

You do know the prime isn't going to take the ammonia out, don't you? It detoxifies ammonia, up to 1 ppm.

But any ammonia present will still be read in your tests.