question about tank

[Tomlintm]

it just upsets me when i actully do my own research then when i find somthing i ask questions about it i get yelled at and told off yes u guys did help when u gave me the article but the article i found which idk if it is right to go by but i actully understand whats actully going on in the tank if it is accuret and a guide to go by when testing yes i got very hardy fish and they act like there is no ammonia in the tank at all when there is so i ask again can u all look at the article i posted and give me ur opinion on it please thats all i ask bc if its not a right thing to go by i want to no

thank u for the help

 

[SKB]

I read the thread now. But before I give you my thoughts on it, if someone seems to be rude on here, they shouldn't. This forum is for advice not being rude and I am sorry that it happened.

Anyways, if this is the way you want to do it, fine. But first, my opinion about buying the hardy fish, are you going to be keeping the hardy fish if they survive or returning them? They are going to be suffering and I would feel bad doing that, IMO.

Even though the site says not to change the water, I would do a small water change daily if you can. 10-15-20%, small ones. Id suggest test test testing your water like crazy...most likely you will not be ridding all of the ammonia.

The good bacteria builds up mostly in your filter, do not change it unless they are falling apart! Changing out some of the water, wont ruin the bacteria trying to eat it, it just might make the cycle take longer. But your fish will be happier.

Like I said, if you feel like u really want to try cycling from that website, go for it. But you might end up in losses and be ready for it.

I followed the article I gave you earlier on my first time when I didn't know you had to cycle the tank, and it worked for me without losses.

Good luck

 

[ktomminello]

People seem to forget that we all started at some point in time and we all have a horror story about cycling that we actually lived through ourselves or helped out someone else with when we had success on our first cycle.

My honest opinion- leave your tank with fish in, feed them a small amount in the morning and before bed and change a gallon or 2 a day and 25% at the end of the week for the first month, then do a 50% water change and add freshwater aquarium salt and stresszyme plus or another enzyme/ bb supplement/ water stabilizer, plant some plants and add a clump of java moss along with filter medium like chemipure or purigen and continue to build up bb in your biofilter, keep on testing and adjusting and let it balance out. You seem bright and reasonable- everyone has their own methods- don't let the jerks that are high and mighty make you doubt yourself or your reasoning- live learn and experiment it's your tank, and don't take it so personally, it's just human conditioning to want to always think that our own way is better than anyone else's method. Enjoy the hobby ignore the grandstanding. Good luck

 

[Tomlintm]

I read the thread now. But before I give you my thoughts on it, if someone seems to be rude on here, they shouldn't. This forum is for advice not being rude and I am sorry that it happened.

Anyways, if this is the way you want to do it, fine. But first, my opinion about buying the hardy fish, are you going to be keeping the hardy fish if they survive or returning them? They are going to be suffering and I would feel bad doing that, IMO.

Even though the site says not to change the water, I would do a small water change daily if you can. 10-15-20%, small ones. Id suggest test test testing your water like crazy...most likely you will not be ridding all of the ammonia.

The good bacteria builds up mostly in your filter, do not change it unless they are falling apart! Changing out some of the water, wont ruin the bacteria trying to eat it, it just might make the cycle take longer. But your fish will be happier.

Like I said, if you feel like u really want to try cycling from that website, go for it. But you might end up in losses and be ready for it.

I followed the article I gave you earlier on my first time when I didn't know you had to cycle the tank, and it worked for me without losses.

Good luck

thank u for ur support and yes my cories i will be keeping bc i no they will survive bc they survived my overstocking of 15 glow fish that all died in a month so there great fish love them i do plan to follow that guide you showed me if this guide dont work then got to start over again lol and go by the guide u gave me and for my filter i rinse it tap water bc i got a bio wheel that never gets changed out so like a filter imo i will be ready if they do die but i havr faith in them they ate survivers but if pnly my nitrite levels would increase from 0.0ppm at all i will be happy thats why im trying that website

 

[Tomlintm]

People seem to forget that we all started at some point in time and we all have a horror story about cycling that we actually lived through ourselves or helped out someone else with when we had success on our first cycle.

My honest opinion- leave your tank with fish in, feed them a small amount in the morning and before bed and change a gallon or 2 a day and 25% at the end of the week for the first month, then do a 50% water change and add freshwater aquarium salt and stresszyme plus or another enzyme/ bb supplement/ water stabilizer, plant some plants and add a clump of java moss along with filter medium like chemipure or purigen and continue to build up bb in your biofilter, keep on testing and adjusting and let it balance out. You seem bright and reasonable- everyone has their own methods- don't let the jerks that are high and mighty make you doubt yourself or your reasoning- live learn and experiment it's your tank, and don't take it so personally, it's just human conditioning to want to always think that our own way is better than anyone else's method. Enjoy the hobby ignore the grandstanding. Good luck

thank u for ur support also i been oy feeding them one algea wafer aday bc of the stress there indering i might start giving them 2 aday i use prime when i water change

 

[Tomlintm]

my cories posing for the camra lol

 

[SKB]

Sometimes tanks take longer to cycle than others, just really depends. Be patient

 

[Tomlintm]

Sometimes tanks take longer to cycle than others, just really depends. Be patient

ya i no im trying just very hard to take care of a new tank lol

 

[Tomlintm]

update:

I just tested my tank this morning i so happy my nitrites are finlly up to 2.0-5.0ppm and my ammonia is around 2.0-4.0ppm lets hope the nitrites take care of the ammonia soon and my julii and abino corys are swimming like mad across the front of the tank which they havent done in almost a week or so and my pepper cory does what he always does stays in his hidding spot and comes out every once in a while but no idea why he does that but hey its what makes him him lol everyone here you all been a big help thank you

 

[SKB]

No problem if you have anymore questions let us know!

 

[Tomlintm]

oh i will im so happy i finlly got nitrite levels up but on the nitrite reading on the paper the 2.0 and 5.0ppm look the same i cant tell apart on the water test kit

 

[pankelephant]

Hi there -

I don't mean to burst your bubble, but there are some things about the cycle that you're missing. I will try to explain.

First, you NEED to do a water change. Right now. Those levels of ammonia and nitrite are absolutely lethal to your fish. This won't disturb your cycle, trust me.

You have two kinds of bacteria growing in your filter. The first one turns ammonia into nitrite. That's why at first your nitrite was 0 and now it's higher - that bacteria has had a chance to grow and start making that change.

The second kind of bacteria turns nitrite into nitrAte. That bacteria has NOT had a chance to grow - otherwise you'd have nitrate readings and zero nitrite. So your tank is still cycling.

Taking out a bunch of the water right now will keep your fish healthy. You will still have plenty of ammonia to keep the cycle going - the fish are making more of it every minute, lol.

What you want to see at the end is Ammonia - 0, Nitrite - 0, Nitrate - 10-20. That means the fish produce ammonia, bacteria turns ammonia into nitrite, bacteria turns nitrite into nitrate and you remove nitrate by doing partial water changes every week. Does that make sense?

So my suggestion is this - do a 50% water change right away. After about an hour or two, do another test for all three things. Do this every day until your readings are like I said above - then your tank will be cycled.

It's good that you're doing research, but some people have very different ideas about what is ethical and humane. That other site's method will work, but it's cruel to the fish - they're living in a toilet and are likely to die. This way you'll still get the tank cycled and your fish will be much happier and much more likely to live. I think you'll find that most people here are concerned with the well-being of the fish, and if we sometimes come across rudely, it's because some of us find methods like the one advocated on that site to be offensive.

Hope this helps.

 

[Tomlintm]

Hi there -

I don't mean to burst your bubble, but there are some things about the cycle that you're missing. I will try to explain.

First, you NEED to do a water change. Right now. Those levels of ammonia and nitrite are absolutely lethal to your fish. This won't disturb your cycle, trust me.

You have two kinds of bacteria growing in your filter. The first one turns ammonia into nitrite. That's why at first your nitrite was 0 and now it's higher - that bacteria has had a chance to grow and start making that change.

The second kind of bacteria turns nitrite into nitrAte. That bacteria has NOT had a chance to grow - otherwise you'd have nitrate readings and zero nitrite. So your tank is still cycling.

Taking out a bunch of the water right now will keep your fish healthy. You will still have plenty of ammonia to keep the cycle going - the fish are making more of it every minute, lol.

What you want to see at the end is Ammonia - 0, Nitrite - 0, Nitrate - 10-20. That means the fish produce ammonia, bacteria turns ammonia into nitrite, bacteria turns nitrite into nitrate and you remove nitrate by doing partial water changes every week. Does that make sense?

So my suggestion is this - do a 50% water change right away. After about an hour or two, do another test for all three things. Do this every day until your readings are like I said above - then your tank will be cycled.

It's good that you're doing research, but some people have very different ideas about what is ethical and humane. That other site's method will work, but it's cruel to the fish - they're living in a toilet and are likely to die. This way you'll still get the tank cycled and your fish will be much happier and much more likely to live. I think you'll find that most people here are concerned with the well-being of the fish, and if we sometimes come across rudely, it's because some of us find methods like the one advocated on that site to be offensive.

Hope this helps.

ok did th 50 % water change and added 2 ml of prime and now i got a cory trying his hardest to stay to the bottom of the tank but flats right back to the top on his side and breaths heavly i hope its nothing serious but nexted time worn me if i could lose a fish doing it this way but for now on im doing less the 20% water change im not going to lose a fish if i do los a fish over this information i will be very upset and wont b afraid to make u hate me and yes im already upset as is over whats going on with my cory now

 

[Tomlintm]

skb im sorry i didnt listen to u and only did a 10%-15%-20% small water changes im so stupid

 

[pankelephant]

Dude, you might want to chill. Plenty of people do large water changes. I do 50% weekly and if your water is toxic, that's the only way to save your fish. Did you use a de-chlorinator? Was the temperature right? Maybe your fish is just suffering because the ammonia and nitrites in your tank are so toxic.

You can't just come on a forum and do whatever someone tells you to do and then be mad because it didn't work out the way you planned. It's up to you to do research. Google deadly levels of ammonia in an aquarium and you'll get page after page telling you to do large water changes. Fish normally live in environments where the water CHANGES. They can and do survive with large water changes. In fact, some fish want constant clean water. People who keep discus, for example, do multiple water changes, sometimes even daily. But don't take my word for it. Do research, don't just rely on what a few people in a single forum have to say. This is not the only source of information on the Internet.

I don't care if you like me or not. I don't care if you take my advice - it's just my opinion. But this is now the second time in this thread that you've gotten upset with someone trying to help you. As soon as you start paying for advice, you have every right to act that way. But people here are part of a community of folks trying to help each other. If all you want is someone to tell you what to do, instead of doing your own research, if all you want to do is blame other people rather than taking responsibility for your own issues, then why bother?

 

[NYgiantsRP]

Stop acting childish tomlintm. Relax, research, and understand when you buy living things you are responsible for what happens to them. I would say...do 20% water changes every other day and test on the day you don't do the water change. That will give you the best readings for being sure the cycling in over.

 

[SKB]

I have done large water changes and its been fine, your just still cycling, so it's hard on the fish and either way, small amount of water changes or large, they can get stressed until your cycled.

Some fish just don't make it through the cycle process. Throughout your learning experience you'll have some losses probably, I'm sure everyone has. I have. You just learn and figure it out.

The most important thing is testing your water and trying to get it normal. Ammonia and nitrite 0 and nitrate 10-20. If your readings are off, you change the water until its at decent levels.

We're here for you to offer advice my dear, try to not get so worked up please.

 

[gravereaper0]

Lol @ this guy. People trying to help and he getting mad at them. With a fish in cycle you do LARGE water changes, and do not rinse your filter under tap water, you're killing the beneficial bacteria in it.

 

[Tomlintm]

I have done large water changes and its been fine, your just still cycling, so it's hard on the fish and either way, small amount of water changes or large, they can get stressed until your cycled.

Some fish just don't make it through the cycle process. Throughout your learning experience you'll have some losses probably, I'm sure everyone has. I have. You just learn and figure it out.

The most important thing is testing your water and trying to get it normal. Ammonia and nitrite 0 and nitrate 10-20. If your readings are off, you change the water until its at decent levels.

We're here for you to offer advice my dear, try to not get so worked up please.

im sorry i dont mean to go at anyone just th though of losing a family member its hard i grown attached to my corys all 3 of them ya no im sorry everyone dont tke it personal ok

 

[SKB]

It's fine. Ik it's hard. Just saying sometimes others aren't as strong as others. But that's why people say to fish less cycle tanks, because some fish can't survive it and even if the fish do they'll be under rough conditions.

Just try to keep your water in check, depending on how high ammonia nitrite or nitrates are will depend on how much water to change or how often to.

If you have any other questions let us know. Keep us updated about the Cory. He might pull through just keep on top of your water and good luck