Wierd water readings

[beglely]

Alright my 55 gallon tank has been cycling for over a week now, but my water parameters are whack. When the tank started my ammonia was around 4-8ppm, nitrites .25ppm, and nitrates about 10ppm after a few days. Today its at ammonia 4-8ppm, 1ppm, and nitrates =>40ppm. I only took a small sample of filter media and rocks from my established tanks but would it result in these weird/high readings?? Also my green myriophyllum was a poor batch that has a lot of rot in it but ive got several new sprouts. Will this rotting spread to my new sprouts as well? And could this rotting be attributed to the massive amounts of ammonia in the tank? (I know its responsible for the huge snail population that has appeared in the last week).

 

[djrusselljoseph]

Sounds like you moved a water condition from an 'established' tank to your 55g.

 

[beglely]

how so?

 

[CaptainAhab]

I confused. You started at 4-8 ppm and now have 4-8 ppm plus nitrites and nitrates. Sounds like a normal cycle to me. Remember you could have started with 8ppm and be at 4ppm now given the large range of 4-8ppm.

Not using a liquid test kit I presume?

 

[djrusselljoseph]

I think he said after a few days it went to 10ppm. Right.

My take on this, and from experience.

I am sure those readings will read higher as days pass.
This happened to me once. I would guess if the water conditions are not good from tank A, and you transfer that condition to tank B, tank B will be contaminated. So to speak.

Why not empty, fill with fresh water, go to your LFS and throw in 1-2 fish.

 

[CaptainAhab]

That's not what the post says, please re-read. You both might want to read one of the articles on the biological cycle.

Somehow you started at 4-8ppm, how did that happen? Certainly not from some substrate and a small amount of filter media

Why do you believe a rotting plant increase your snail population?

Please don't encourage cycling w/ fish.

 

[fisch]

I assume you are doing a fishless cycle with the help of media from your old tank. If so you are on the right track. You already have some good bacteria to have nitrate values that high.
A rotting plant will contribute some to ammonia, but I would expect the amount to be minimal. Also snails contribute waste just as fish do, but once again pretty minimal.
Keep up with the cycle, you are on the right track.
If you don't have liquid test kits I suggest investing in some.

 

[djrusselljoseph]

That's not what the post says, please re-read. You both might want to read one of the articles on the biological cycle.

Somehow you started at 4-8ppm, how did that happen? Certainly not from some substrate and a small amount of filter media

Why do you believe a rotting plant increase your snail population?

Please don't encourage cycling w/ fish.

May I ask why?

I had an experience with cycling with fish, it worked for me. I held on to the fish until I took apart the tank and then gave all the fish away.

 

[neil_04]

i think you should wait a few more days. If you are only a week in its no big deal i know waiting sucks but if everything is becoming present in your tank then things are probably going well, it just takes time for all the different things to happen.

On the fishless cycle thing, some people do and some dont, its very dangerous to the fish so i wouldnt recomend it, unless u have no feelings for the fish. i think its all a personal oppinion befor i new about this website thats how i made my tanks 24 hours and add fish, now that i have read about fishless its the method i use

 

[fisch]

May I ask why?

I had an experience with cycling with fish, it worked for me. I held on to the fish until I took apart the tank and then gave all the fish away.

There's no question on whether cycling with fish works or not. I think we all agree it works quite fine. Some people have ethical reason for not doing it. Many fish cannot handle the stress of such poor water conditions and will not make it through the cycle.

 

[beglely]

I am doing a fishless cycle. Not a big fan of zebra danios or making them suffer lol. I am actually using liquid test kits and my other tanks read perfect conditions so the idea that the test kit is wrong or the other tanks have problems is incorrect. Patience isnt a problem here as this is the 4th time ive fishless cycled and im currently entertained with growing out my plants right now. I was just surprised at how high my readings were--with my previous cycles I never saw levels this high, and simultaneously either. I seeded my last tank but didnt see levels shoot this high nor at the same time either. They tended to follow the normal pattern of a cycle, just at an accelerated rate. Im not even dosing with ammonia or fish food either--all my ammonia must be coming from either the snails or dead plants. And I only said between 4-8ppm because i really couldnt tell the difference in the shade of green in the test tube, but yes the tank did start at this level of ammonia (didnt run my first test until 2 days after the tank was setup).

 

[djrusselljoseph]

Fair enough. Interesting.

For the life of me, I can't remember what type they were.
I know they were cichlids, very tough as they survived until I had to give them away.

 

[fisch]

You'd have to have an awful lot of snails or decaying plants to produce 4-8 ppm ammonia. I suspect the ammonia is from a different source.
What substrate did you use? Some soil substrates can leach ammonia into the water.
The plants should help lower the ammonia levels as they take up ammonium and nitrate as nutrients.

 

[beglely]

Im currently using PFS as a substrate and thats it. Plants include anachris, green myriophyllum, water sprite, cabomba, and italian vallisneria i think. My myriophyllum is the one that is rotting at the moment, although its really not bad. And I estimate I have about 20 snails at the moment, unknown species. They have been eating the dead myriophyllum. I plan on purging the dead stuff tomorrow from the tank. Thats one of the reasons im suprised at the high readings because I figured the plants would soak up enough of the nitrates and ammonia to make reading water tests difficult. Instead it looks like they are doing anything to them. And djrusselljoseph if you ever think of that cichlid let me know. I wont do a fish cycle but more of curiosity.

 

[kangster]

i had a bunch of myriophyllum that made a big mess as they were shedding
when i didnt know anything about them and i just bought them from a LFS because they looked cool, i just stuck the clump of them (they were tied with a piece of metal to keep them bundled) into the substrate...
when i realized that i can propagate them by cutting and planting, i cut all the dead and rotting parts and cut the stems into small pieces and planted them giving each one enough space...
now with a DIY CO2, Flourish, Flourish Excel, and roottabs the growth is visible when i do the morning quick check...i wonder what will happen once i change my bulb to this FloraSun that is on its way

 

[kangster]

i also cycled my 10 gallon tank with 12 baby neon tetras...
its been about 6 months and they are so fat and healthy...all of them
i just had to do a PWC everyday for a month and a half till i had 0 ammo and nitrite...
i dont think it is unethical to cycle with fish as long as you do a PWC to keep the level low enough...it just takes longer to cycle

 

[beglely]

yeah thats all mine has done for me so far--make a mess. The new stuff I have growing looks great. Its all the old junk from the lfs that seems to be the source of a lot of problems for my tank right now. I researched it and thought it would work well but all its done is cause problems. If it werent for all the new sprouts I have I would be tossing this stuff tomorrow. But if it works out then it will look great in my tank. And yeah hopefully you learned to take the metal bands off your plants...it just rots them over time like that.