riccinbru
Aquarium Advice Newbie
Hi everyone,
I just wanted to post a quick question about a fishless cycle. Tank parameters: 20 gallons, planted, pH 7.6 or higher (have to go get the higher-level test kit, this one's maxed out), ammonia reading, practically nil, and has been since the beginning.
The tank's been set up for just over four weeks now. We threw a raw shrimp in the first day, and it started decomposing beautifully. No ammonia readings using a Hagan Nutrafin liquid regeant kit. Discovered hitchhiker snails, and let them stay, lay eggs, let the eggs hatch, all the while cringing about the effect on the plants. No ammonia readings. Tried putting some flake food in to decompose every day for a week. Still no readings. Now the shrimp is all gone, so is the flake, we've got tons of little snails snacking on the plants, and we're just barely getting some ammonia readings, but still in the green zone according to the test kit. It certainly isn't a spike.
I'm having trouble finding pure ammonia to put into the tank, but I was wondering if I should keep looking for it, or just keep waiting for the ammonia spike. I don't really want to put starter fish in; I want this to work. Any thoughts?
Thanks!
-Vanessa
I just wanted to post a quick question about a fishless cycle. Tank parameters: 20 gallons, planted, pH 7.6 or higher (have to go get the higher-level test kit, this one's maxed out), ammonia reading, practically nil, and has been since the beginning.
The tank's been set up for just over four weeks now. We threw a raw shrimp in the first day, and it started decomposing beautifully. No ammonia readings using a Hagan Nutrafin liquid regeant kit. Discovered hitchhiker snails, and let them stay, lay eggs, let the eggs hatch, all the while cringing about the effect on the plants. No ammonia readings. Tried putting some flake food in to decompose every day for a week. Still no readings. Now the shrimp is all gone, so is the flake, we've got tons of little snails snacking on the plants, and we're just barely getting some ammonia readings, but still in the green zone according to the test kit. It certainly isn't a spike.
I'm having trouble finding pure ammonia to put into the tank, but I was wondering if I should keep looking for it, or just keep waiting for the ammonia spike. I don't really want to put starter fish in; I want this to work. Any thoughts?
Thanks!
-Vanessa