Newfisher
Aquarium Advice Activist
My tank cycled fishless on June 29 following faithfully Eco23 's thread on How to..... The only problem I ever had was an occasional drop in ph. My tap readings are a tad darker than 7.6. My existing first tank reads that way until I do a PWC, then it drops to 7.0. This is consistently the way my first tank is. My newly cycled tank starts that way also but drops steadily in the course of five or so hours to readings of 6.7 or sometimes lower, depending on how much water I remove. I must remove water because I have ammonia showing consistently daily at .25 to .50. My bacteria has obviously crashed. What is going on? I have ten Red-Eyed tetras in a 20 gal. Tank. Apparently I am in the midst of a mini-cycle but have no nitrite readings at all. Just ph drops and ammonia increases. Water looks great, smells "yeasty" for lack of a better word. Fish are happy and active, with great appetites. I have a hint of a reading of NiTRates. I was so excited to do the fishless cycling!!! Where did I mess up. how can I naturally bring up the ph and get the ammonia down. This is not acting like a New Tank syndrome or any such thing, nor is it acting like a cycling situation. I removed a decoration that I thought might be a problem. Could the live plants be the problem. I do not have a low ph problem in my other tank. The readings are always higher than normal unless I bring them down with PWCs. HELP!!! I am frantic. I have ordered fish and more plants for this tank. They will be arriving soon. This tank must be in order!