I'm trying to cycle a tank that I set up on Dec. 7.*I think the cycle has stalled for some reason.
It seemed like things were happening and I was dosing the tank up to 4ppm with ammonia and that would go down and I would dose it back up. I saw Nitrites and Nitrates start to establish. But the ammonia has been sitting at 4ppm for a few days now. I'm trying to figure out if I'm doing something wrong.
Here's the things I've done and some questions:
I added and removed a piece of driftwood and that seems to have permanently changed the ph of the tank. When I first set it up, the ph was 7.6. Now it's about 6/6.4. I did a 50% water change about a week ago and the ph went from 7.4 after the water change to 6.4 now. Why is this?
I added then removed a plant (moneywort I think) and started then stopped using Excel and Flourish. Could this have affected the cycle?
I'm using the bucket that I put household cleaners in when I do water changes. I always rinse it out really good, but could this be hurting things?
Should I even be doing water changes? I read that I should if the ph goes down but with my ph situation, I don't know if its helping or hurting or just doing unnecessary work.
I'm using API Tap Water Conditioner according to the instructions on the bottle. Anything I should know? I bought some Prime and am thinking about using it. Should i be using it just like it says on the bottle even if there are no fish? Why does it say to use enough for the whole tank even if I just did a partial change? This doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. Will I hurt the cycle if I use too much prime? Doesn't Prime neutralize Ammonia which I need for the cycle?
I'm using two Aquaclear 30 filters. I'm just using the foam sponge and biomax, no activated charcoal. Do I need to add an additional sponge to each unit to get the correct "height" of the biomax or fill the filter cavity appropriately?
Here are my current parameters:
20gal tank
pH - 6.4
HR pH - 7.4
Ammo - 4
Nitrite - 1
Nitrate - 5
kH - 1 (17.9)
gH - 4 (76.1)
TDS - 178
Temp (F) - 82.5
It seemed like things were happening and I was dosing the tank up to 4ppm with ammonia and that would go down and I would dose it back up. I saw Nitrites and Nitrates start to establish. But the ammonia has been sitting at 4ppm for a few days now. I'm trying to figure out if I'm doing something wrong.
Here's the things I've done and some questions:
I added and removed a piece of driftwood and that seems to have permanently changed the ph of the tank. When I first set it up, the ph was 7.6. Now it's about 6/6.4. I did a 50% water change about a week ago and the ph went from 7.4 after the water change to 6.4 now. Why is this?
I added then removed a plant (moneywort I think) and started then stopped using Excel and Flourish. Could this have affected the cycle?
I'm using the bucket that I put household cleaners in when I do water changes. I always rinse it out really good, but could this be hurting things?
Should I even be doing water changes? I read that I should if the ph goes down but with my ph situation, I don't know if its helping or hurting or just doing unnecessary work.
I'm using API Tap Water Conditioner according to the instructions on the bottle. Anything I should know? I bought some Prime and am thinking about using it. Should i be using it just like it says on the bottle even if there are no fish? Why does it say to use enough for the whole tank even if I just did a partial change? This doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. Will I hurt the cycle if I use too much prime? Doesn't Prime neutralize Ammonia which I need for the cycle?
I'm using two Aquaclear 30 filters. I'm just using the foam sponge and biomax, no activated charcoal. Do I need to add an additional sponge to each unit to get the correct "height" of the biomax or fill the filter cavity appropriately?
Here are my current parameters:
20gal tank
pH - 6.4
HR pH - 7.4
Ammo - 4
Nitrite - 1
Nitrate - 5
kH - 1 (17.9)
gH - 4 (76.1)
TDS - 178
Temp (F) - 82.5