Newb has learned the hard way...any help much appreciated :)

[Lightning88]

Hey everyone - and thank you for the warm welcome. I adopted three 2 inch comets because a friend had a sudden move. I knew the 20 gallon they came in was too small, so I found a 65 gallon for them, & not knowing any better, I droppe them in. Long story short, I am now privy to the nitrogen cycle, (my hospital tank is fishless cycling right
now). Given my ammonia levels and the fact that my tank had not even started to cycle in 2 months, I did a 100% water change, raised temp to 78 degrees & added safestart. It has now been 5 days, with minimal feeding, & no water changes. I have seen no change in my tests at all. ammonia = .50, nitrites = 0.0, nitrates = 0.0. I followed directions perfectly. Is it not working? Did I do something wrong? I mean, I know fish-in cycling is to be avoided in future, but shouldn't I be seeing some results with full dose of safestart by now? Anything else I can do to speed this along and take some stress off my fish? Thank to anyone and everyone with more experience...I won't be making this mistake again

 

[ktomminello]

Sounds like your cycle just started, once your ammonia levels fall (try to get them below .25 your fish will suffer otherwise). Start doing water changes of at least 25% when your ammonia spikes, like now, when your nitrites spike (shouldn't be too long now) and at least a 50% change when your nitrates spike. Try to avoid using anything that kills algae or bacteria at this point in time until you're done your cycle- oh, another tip- don't use ammo lock or products similar to it while you're cycling because it can cause a stall in the cycle, I would stick with products like seachem stability or nutrafin cycle (my 2 favorite beneficial bacteria lifts) until you're done cycling (maintaining stable conditions within parameters for at least 1 week). Good luck- it's a Wonderland under water!

 

[HandyAndy]

Congrats on the 65! Don't be ashamed by the fish in cycle. I've never done a fish less cycle. Unless you have a buddy that you can get some filter media or gravel from, your stuck doing a 25% pwc every day for 8 weeks. Sorry. The good news is the next one will be sooooo much easier.

 

[HandyAndy]

By the way, use Prime for your water conditioner. Everything else just gets foamy on the surface.

 

[shellieca]

Have you checked your PH? If the Ph drops too low it can stall a cycle. Also with ammonia at .5 I would do a 50% water change. When I did fish IN cycling I would do a 50% water change if ammonia or nitrites were >.25. In my tanks it took 5-6 wks for nitrites to show up & with the 46g I used stability & I only saw nitrites in one water test.

 

[librarygirl]

You might want to test your tap water for ammonia first, if you haven't already, to see what you're starting with. If tap is 0, then do a 50% water change to get ammo down a bit. Ideally you want to keep it <.25. Since the fish are still small and the tank is larger, it might take more time to build up the ammonia due to the higher volume of water. Eventually as the comets grow they'll need a pond, though. Most bacteria starters like stability are hit and miss; sometimes they work, often times they don't.

 

[ktomminello]

By the way, use Prime for your water conditioner. Everything else just gets foamy on the surface.

I have never had stability or cycle foam on me, quite the opposite, but I have had foaming issues with melafix, certain chemical (not bacterial) 'quick fixes'. I'm not gonna lie though, I am definitely one to dump half a bottle of stability into a tank that's being difficult, waiting a couple hours and then doing a 30% water change... Stability is made by Seachem, just like prime, but it's a beneficial bacteria booster (not as much as nutrafin cycle or API quick start, but I've found it to be safer and less stressful on my fish) instead of a chemical eliminator. I'd use prime to prep the water for water changes and stability once the water has been changed. Your levels seem pretty normal for a fish in cycle- I haven't done a fishless freshwater cycle since I started independently keeping fish about 10 years ago (before that I just bred and/or raised fry for my moms pond systems), and as long as you keep up with the pwcs and keep an eye on your goldies you should be able to get through this no problem. Just remember to have fun and enjoy your hobby!! Welcome to the club, lol

 

[Hholly]

In case you didn't already know, don't change your filter media/cartridge at all until it's falling apart. The way to clean it is to swish it out in old tank water. But let it get good and gunky before you even do that. If you don't have a Python or water changer you should get one. It will make your life a lot easier.

 

[Nelsontreyjones]

I have used SafeStart on 3 tanks now with perfect results. Did you use Prime to treat your water, if you did you needed to wait 24 hours then add SafeStart. I messed up the first time by doing this. From my understanding Prime binds some of the ammonia, which will make SafeStart useless.