Hi everyone!
A bit of history on me and my tank:
In April I started with a 5 gal hex tank. PetSmart said to let it "sit" for a week and then bring water in to test. I did this and they said water was "perfect." I purchased 3 Danios. I then did some research and learned about cycling with fish. I bought the API master test kit and tested every day. I did water changes 1-2x a day to keep ammonia under 0.25. After a couple of weeks I learned my tank was too small for them so I upgraded to a 12 gal bowfront. The water levels stayed the same. I never saw a drop in ammo and I never saw nitrates or nitrites during this time. After 3 weeks in the new tank, I did a large 70% pwc to get ammonia down from 0.25. Not sure what happened but all fish died overnight. My best guess is that it was stress and/or gasses from replacing water too quickly, other than that I have no idea. I use Prime as my dechlorinator.
That was about a month ago. I've been fishless cycling with pure ammonia since then (ACE Hardware janitorial strength ammonia). I turned up the heater to about 85 degress F, turned up my 4" air stone. For three weeks, my levels did not move (no drop in ammo, no nitrates, no nitrites). My PH has mostly stayed at around 7.6 or more (usually it's a deeper blue than 7.6 on the API test) and my high range PH has been about 7.4-ish, but the last couple of days it seems to be at about 7.8. I have also tested untreated and treated tap water at 1 hour, 18 hour, and 24 hour intervals; I can post those results if needed. Some unusual results there (tap water ammo rises to 0.5 from 0 after a day, PH tends to go up and down, etc). At day 3 I added one ground up flake of fish food. The next day my water was a milky cloudy color and has stayed that way since. It got worse after a week and now seems to be slowly clearing a bit, but I did a pwc the other night for a foam/suds issue (more on that below) so that could have cleared some fo the cloudiness too.
At approaching week 3 I began to get impatient and heard good things about active seeded sponge filters being sold from a company online. I bought one and installed it last Saturday (3" cube sponge filter attached to airline tubing and air pump); the 3" cube takes up quite a bit of room in my tank, but I figure if it helps then I don't care.
Within 20 hours of installing the filter, my ammonia dropped from about 2-3 ppm to 0.5 ppm and I saw nitrAtes for the first time, which were about 2.5 ppm. No nitrItes (first weird thing). I then dosed the ammo back up to about 4 . That was almost a week ago; since then, no drop in ammo at all (other than from a pwc which brought ammo down to about 2-3). NitrAtes have climbed a bit to about 5, but still no nitrItes.
48 hours after installing the sponge filter I noticed the top of my tank filled with foam, mostly on the right side where the tank's water pours back into the tank from the filter (pic below, the one with all the suds lol; the other two are from last night). I know I'm using the right ammonia (no surfectants, etc), and I didn't add or clean anything in the tank, I hadn't even put my hands in there lately, so I did not (and still do not) know where the foam came from. After waiting a day and the foam/suds persisting, I did a 5 gal water change; this brought the ammo back down to about 2-3 which is where it still is now. Most of the suds/foam has dissipated but stil some larger bubbles on top of the tank and smaller white frothy ones on the sides (pics below from last night). I also turned off the 4" air stone since the seeded sponge filter will probably provide enough oxygen and I wanted to see if turning off the air stone would reduce the bubbles.
I also emailed the company where I purchased the seeded filter thinking/hoping it was somehow causing the foam (proteins in the filter maybe, etc) but they replied saying they had never seen that before (I emailed them the pic below), the tank where the sponge came from didn't have suds in it.
Last night when I tested the water (levels the same: ammo 2, no nitrites, nitrates at 5) I noticed the new sponge filter came unattached from its airline hose and the air hose was pumping oxygen right into the water. I'm guessing it was probably like that for at least a few days. Not sure if this would have contributed to the foam/suds, and not sure if it somehow would have impeded the seeded filter which is why ammo hasn't dropped since last Saturday, but I'm mentioning it just in case it's relevant. I put the air tube back into the sponge filter last night when I noticed it came out. The other two pics below are from last night.
I also tested my tap and aquarium water for GH/KH as well (not sure whether this is needed or relevant and not whether this would be accurate while the tank is cycling, but I tested anyway) and for aquarium water my GH is 5 and KH is 4, for untreated tap water my GH is 3, KH is 2.
So, to summarize my questions:
-Any idea on the foam/suds/bubbles? Should I be worried?
-Why am I not seeing nitrItes?
-Why isn't my ammonia going down nor my nitrates going up? If my ammo dropped after 1 day of adding the filter, shouldn't it be continuing to drop?
-Would the sponge filter work better if I cut it up and put it in with the tank's filter? It really does take up a good amount of space and if I can get it out of the tank and still have it work OK I think I'd prefer that.
I'm starting to fear this tank will never cycle. Thank you for any amount of help or insights you can give!
A bit of history on me and my tank:
In April I started with a 5 gal hex tank. PetSmart said to let it "sit" for a week and then bring water in to test. I did this and they said water was "perfect." I purchased 3 Danios. I then did some research and learned about cycling with fish. I bought the API master test kit and tested every day. I did water changes 1-2x a day to keep ammonia under 0.25. After a couple of weeks I learned my tank was too small for them so I upgraded to a 12 gal bowfront. The water levels stayed the same. I never saw a drop in ammo and I never saw nitrates or nitrites during this time. After 3 weeks in the new tank, I did a large 70% pwc to get ammonia down from 0.25. Not sure what happened but all fish died overnight. My best guess is that it was stress and/or gasses from replacing water too quickly, other than that I have no idea. I use Prime as my dechlorinator.
That was about a month ago. I've been fishless cycling with pure ammonia since then (ACE Hardware janitorial strength ammonia). I turned up the heater to about 85 degress F, turned up my 4" air stone. For three weeks, my levels did not move (no drop in ammo, no nitrates, no nitrites). My PH has mostly stayed at around 7.6 or more (usually it's a deeper blue than 7.6 on the API test) and my high range PH has been about 7.4-ish, but the last couple of days it seems to be at about 7.8. I have also tested untreated and treated tap water at 1 hour, 18 hour, and 24 hour intervals; I can post those results if needed. Some unusual results there (tap water ammo rises to 0.5 from 0 after a day, PH tends to go up and down, etc). At day 3 I added one ground up flake of fish food. The next day my water was a milky cloudy color and has stayed that way since. It got worse after a week and now seems to be slowly clearing a bit, but I did a pwc the other night for a foam/suds issue (more on that below) so that could have cleared some fo the cloudiness too.
At approaching week 3 I began to get impatient and heard good things about active seeded sponge filters being sold from a company online. I bought one and installed it last Saturday (3" cube sponge filter attached to airline tubing and air pump); the 3" cube takes up quite a bit of room in my tank, but I figure if it helps then I don't care.
Within 20 hours of installing the filter, my ammonia dropped from about 2-3 ppm to 0.5 ppm and I saw nitrAtes for the first time, which were about 2.5 ppm. No nitrItes (first weird thing). I then dosed the ammo back up to about 4 . That was almost a week ago; since then, no drop in ammo at all (other than from a pwc which brought ammo down to about 2-3). NitrAtes have climbed a bit to about 5, but still no nitrItes.
48 hours after installing the sponge filter I noticed the top of my tank filled with foam, mostly on the right side where the tank's water pours back into the tank from the filter (pic below, the one with all the suds lol; the other two are from last night). I know I'm using the right ammonia (no surfectants, etc), and I didn't add or clean anything in the tank, I hadn't even put my hands in there lately, so I did not (and still do not) know where the foam came from. After waiting a day and the foam/suds persisting, I did a 5 gal water change; this brought the ammo back down to about 2-3 which is where it still is now. Most of the suds/foam has dissipated but stil some larger bubbles on top of the tank and smaller white frothy ones on the sides (pics below from last night). I also turned off the 4" air stone since the seeded sponge filter will probably provide enough oxygen and I wanted to see if turning off the air stone would reduce the bubbles.
I also emailed the company where I purchased the seeded filter thinking/hoping it was somehow causing the foam (proteins in the filter maybe, etc) but they replied saying they had never seen that before (I emailed them the pic below), the tank where the sponge came from didn't have suds in it.
Last night when I tested the water (levels the same: ammo 2, no nitrites, nitrates at 5) I noticed the new sponge filter came unattached from its airline hose and the air hose was pumping oxygen right into the water. I'm guessing it was probably like that for at least a few days. Not sure if this would have contributed to the foam/suds, and not sure if it somehow would have impeded the seeded filter which is why ammo hasn't dropped since last Saturday, but I'm mentioning it just in case it's relevant. I put the air tube back into the sponge filter last night when I noticed it came out. The other two pics below are from last night.
I also tested my tap and aquarium water for GH/KH as well (not sure whether this is needed or relevant and not whether this would be accurate while the tank is cycling, but I tested anyway) and for aquarium water my GH is 5 and KH is 4, for untreated tap water my GH is 3, KH is 2.
So, to summarize my questions:
-Any idea on the foam/suds/bubbles? Should I be worried?
-Why am I not seeing nitrItes?
-Why isn't my ammonia going down nor my nitrates going up? If my ammo dropped after 1 day of adding the filter, shouldn't it be continuing to drop?
-Would the sponge filter work better if I cut it up and put it in with the tank's filter? It really does take up a good amount of space and if I can get it out of the tank and still have it work OK I think I'd prefer that.
I'm starting to fear this tank will never cycle. Thank you for any amount of help or insights you can give!