Uncycled tank

[Mikey214]

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated ! :thumbsup:

 

[jlk]

I second Librarygirls advice! A large water change is in order then dose your amm back up to 4ppm. As she suggested, if your tank continues to have ph crashes daily, a bit of crushed coral added to your filter should help to stablize your ph. Place it in a mesh bag or a piece of panythose & place it in your filter & monitor your tanks ph closely. Its best to start with a very small amount & adjust the amount upwards until you get your desired ph (preferably whatever it was before your ph dropped). Let us know how things are going!

 

[Mikey214]

I second Librarygirls advice! A large water change is in order then dose your amm back up to 4ppm. As she suggested, if your tank continues to have ph crashes daily, a bit of crushed coral added to your filter should help to stablize your ph. Place it in a mesh bag or a piece of panythose & place it in your filter & monitor your tanks ph closely. Its best to start with a very small amount & adjust the amount upwards until you get your desired ph (preferably whatever it was before your ph dropped). Let us know how things are going!

The ph is back at 6.0 again . . . Should I do another water change ?!?!

 

[Mikey214]

All test results . . .
Ph- 6.0
Ammonia- 2.0 or 4.0 ppm can't tell
Nitrite- 0 ppm
Nitrate- 40 ppm

So the nitrites are at zero, why did the ammonia not decrease at all since I dosed it back up to 4.0 ppm yesterday after the water change . . . Where an I in the cycle ? Did I start over from the beginning ? :thinking:

 

[Mikey214]

I don't want to do anything until I get some replies so any thoughts on the actions I should take would be much appreciated

 

[librarygirl]

All test results . . .
Ph- 6.0
Ammonia- 2.0 or 4.0 ppm can't tell
Nitrite- 0 ppm
Nitrate- 40 ppm

So the nitrites are at zero, why did the ammonia not decrease at all since I dosed it back up to 4.0 ppm yesterday after the water change . . . Where an I in the cycle ? Did I start over from the beginning ? :thinking:

The constant PH crashes are likely stalling the cycle. At this point do another massive water change and I'd highly suggest getting some crushed coral or argonite as I mentioned above to buffer your water. With daily PH crashes the water needs to be buffered.

 

[librarygirl]

All test results . . .
Ph- 6.0
Ammonia- 2.0 or 4.0 ppm can't tell
Nitrite- 0 ppm
Nitrate- 40 ppm

So the nitrites are at zero, why did the ammonia not decrease at all since I dosed it back up to 4.0 ppm yesterday after the water change . . . Where an I in the cycle ? Did I start over from the beginning ? :thinking:

No, probably not from the beginning. The bacteria is likely stunned from the drop (PH at 6 can severely stall the cycle; anything below 6 could stop it entirely) but will recover in a few days providing you can get the PH to stay stable.

 

[Mikey214]

Doing a massive water change right now !

 

[Mikey214]

Just picked up crushed coral in gravel form that's all I could find . . . How much do I put in the fish tank or the filter ?

 

[jlk]

Its going to be a bit or trial & error over a few days to figure out your exact amount to keep your tank stable. I would start with a tbsp or 2 in a mesh bag or piece of pantyhose in your filter. Check your ph in hr & see if its changed at all. You just did a water change so your ph should be what your average has been (not 6). The object is stability not big jumps (or drops) so you may need to adjust the amount up or down to find a happy median over the next few days.

 

[librarygirl]

Agree with JLK. It's easier to put it in a mesh bag and put it into the filter rather than in the tank, plus the flow going through it from the filter will help it work faster. Add a tsp or two and then test over the next couple of days. If it's rising too high, take some out. If PH is still dropping significantly, put more in and keep testing and adding/removing until the PH is close to what your tap water is and stays that way. It's trial and error as JLK said but it should help a lot.

 

[jetajockey]

Another idea is to lower your dosage of ammonia in the tank. The pH crashes are not the status quo when the tank is stocked and running, it only happens when the tank is being dosed with high amounts of ammonia right? Was the pH stable for a while in the beginning but now that lots of bacterial activity is happening it is crashing like mad?

If so, rather than have to add a buffer that may not be necessary once the tank is up and running, I'd just lower the ammonia dosage. 4ppm is a ton of ammonia for a tank to process daily, and it is way more than a normal full stock load will produce in a daily basis anyway, so it looks like many of these crashes with decently (naturally) buffered tanks are a result of unnecessarily heavy ammonia dosing.

Some might disagree, but it's just my opinion.

 

[Mikey214]

Just added some crushed coral , why does the water seem cloudy now ?!?! :thinking:

 

[ashleynicole]

Another idea is to lower your dosage of ammonia in the tank. The pH crashes are not the status quo when the tank is stocked and running, it only happens when the tank is being dosed with high amounts of ammonia right? Was the pH stable for a while in the beginning but now that lots of bacterial activity is happening it is crashing like mad?

If so, rather than have to add a buffer that may not be necessary once the tank is up and running, I'd just lower the ammonia dosage. 4ppm is a ton of ammonia for a tank to process daily, and it is way more than a normal full stock load will produce in a daily basis anyway, so it looks like many of these crashes with decently (naturally) buffered tanks are a result of unnecessarily heavy ammonia dosing.

Some might disagree, but it's just my opinion.

I agree with you, I guess that's why I don't do fishless cycling. I find fish in cycling with daily testing and daily water changes to be easier. And I've read some articles that suggest 0.5 ppm of daily ammonia is sufficint to fishless cycle.


If I were you I would've added a few fish when you got the angels plus sponge. I'm afraid it looks like you may have killed off all the beneficial bacteria that you bought on that angels plus filter.

I cycled in 3 days with the angels plus sponge with a fish in cycle. and then slowly increased my stock adding a few fish each week. And my bristlenose pleco and Bolivian ram were among the first I added and they are doing great.

 

[Mikey214]

Just for the record it was cloudy before I added the crushed coral !

 

[Cornstar]

Just added some crushed coral , why does the water seem cloudy now ?!?! :thinking:

Did you rinse the coral? I made the mistake of not rinsing mine and the water became super cloudy. In this case, you just need to wait and allow the filter to do the job.

 

[ashleynicole]

Just for the record it was cloudy before I added the crushed coral !

Could be a bacterial bloom.

 

[Mikey214]

Tank results for tonight before adding crushed coral . . .
Ph- 6.0 (once again) did a water change at 12
Ammonia- 4.0 ppm
Nitrite- 0.25 ppm
Nitrate- 40 ppm or 80 ppm (can't tell)

 

[Mikey214]

Could be a bacterial bloom.

What's a bacterial bloom?

 

[ashleynicole]

What's a bacterial bloom?

As the aquarium goes through the cycle, it is not unusual for the water to become cloudy, or at least a little hazy as bacterial colonies establish that are able to clear wastes from the water. Over time that cloudiness will resolve itself.

My guess is that some of your bacteria died off and now the colonies are growing again.