newb cycle question

[chazeman2]

Hi there this is my first post to the forum. Name is chase from minneapolis.

I'm starting a mbuna cichlid tank. I got marine sand, rocks from lake superior and river rocks from a landscaping place. All rocks passed the vinegar test. I have a 36 gallon bowfront with two filters rated for 200gph each. I filled the tank with the substrate(aragonite) and rocks and ran it for 2 or 3 days without adding anything besides a little bit of flake food(at the time i thought i was doing the right thing, but now i realize that was maybe dumb).In the midst of adding the rocks and such i have probably done a 70%-80% water change total. today i got my test kits in the mail and bought some ammonia that i Know is safe to put in the tank(ace hardware janitorial strength). I tested ph for fun and it is at about 8.2. I added ammonia(to start a fishless cycle) and the level in the tank reads about 3ppm-4ppm. I went to work for 7 hours and came home and tested nitrites for fun and BOOM off the charts or at least 5ppm. I also tested nitrate for fun and that even looked to be about 5ppm. How the .... is this possible? Where have i gone wrong if I did?
Thanks!


Also now it looks as tho there are nitrites in my tap water(between .5 and1)

i also tested the tap water for ammonia and it read zero so then i dechlorinated a glass full and tested the ammonia in that and it tested positive but low(cant remember how much). i'm thinking the dechlorinater threw it off because i tested that sample five minutes after dechlorinating it.

I now have some established gravel i can get from a neighbor i was thinking i would get a bio bag and fill it and throw that in one of my filters.good idea?

 

[tamtam]

I suggest testing your water right from the tap for everything to get a base line and then let some sit out for 24 hours giving it a stir to let it gas out and test it again. This will give you your baseline on what is coming from your tap.

For the gravel you don't even have to put it in the filter, just a media bag in the tank is fine since I'm sure you plan to remove it at some point. I'd opt to use all filter space for media at this point.

adding the fish food isn't really dumb, it won't do any harm. People have cycled tanks this way it's just hard to because it takes so much to get those high ammo reading and it's pretty messy.

If you have some test results for your tap and tank water it would be a lot easier to see what is going on. It sounds like you are off to a good start but some actual numbers would be helpful.

 

[chazeman2]

sounds good. I put a bucket of water aside to test later.

Any one else have any input?

 

[librarygirl]

Established gravel can only help; if you put it in the tank put it inside a mesh media bag or clean (never washed with detergents) nylon stocking and put it right under or near the filter intake tube.

What sand did you use exactly? What does it say on the package? If it's for marine tanks I'm wondering if there's something in the sand that's giving off nitrite. Is it argonite shells or another type of sand? Argonite raises PH; you might want to test your tap water (test it out of the tap and let it sit for 24 hours then test again to let it dissipate gasses, etc) and see what it is. If it's vastly different than the tank there may be some issues when you do water changes as fish tend to not like PH fluctuations.

 

[chazeman2]

this is the sand i used..... Aragonite Sand - #0 - 20 lb

it was suggested to my by my cousin who keeps african cichlids.