55G Tank wont cycle

JCell

I recently upgraded from a 20G tank to a 55G. i build a stand and set it up with a AquaClear 70G Filter, a small heater to maintain 79 degrees, and an air pump. basically a replica of my previous setup, just much bigger. I also installed two 15 watt lights just for looks sake.

here it is





couple of days ago once it was ready to go so i put in 6 danios to start the cycling, within a day the water was cloudy and the fish dead. i took a sample to the store and the guy told me the water was fine. i have never had a water problem before so i never invested in a test kit. I had 7 fish in my old tank and all were healthy, 2 even breed.

my questions are what could have caused it? how do i prevent it so i can cycle it? and whats a good affordable testing kit?

any help would be really appreciated

kitten_penang

impossible the water was fine. in the first 2 weeks there will always be an amonia spike when a new tank is involved.it's called new tank syndrome.cloudy water and high ammonia killed the fish

fish1983

use a liquid test kit and i would suggest not using fish to cycle your aquarium. use the food method where you add a little food each day or you can but beneficial bacteria in a bottle even. ive had good experiences with that as well. its a seachem product. it takes anywhere from one to three weeks before the aquarium starts to become stable then you can start adding fish one at a time. lease aggressive fish first most agressive fish last. hope this helps

JCell

agreed, definitely felt by his attitude that he just told everyone "its fine" and send them to pick up some chemicals. this is why im now looking for a good, reliable testing kit


ive heard of this method but i need to read up more on it. can i use any kind of food or is it specific?

fish1983

Any kind of food works. I use things like blood worms or brine shrimp. Beings that its more "organic" it has a higher ammonia output when it decomposes. Another method is adding actual ammonia to the tank but I've never used it.
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dfbiggs

I had cycling problems like this. I recommend buying an API Master test kit..but I would buy it online ebay or something it is way cheaper than petco or petsmart. The thing is you are eventually going to need to buy all it comes with and it is cheaper to buy it all together..gets expensive when you buy piece by piece.

As far as cycling I used Safe Start. It will cycle your tank in 48hrs. You will NEED to do a 100% water change then add it, and (I used to be against this..still kind of am..unless I have the same problem again) cycle with fish. I had problems without the fish. It is now my discus tank. Been working great ever since.

Hope this helps...Good luck!

Inga

I know that Dr. Foster's and Smith had the API kits on sale for like $20.00. Petsmart and Petco are almost twice that. Might be worth a look.

Also, the one piece of information that I have learned here and found more valuable then anything else is the value of live plants in your aquarium. If you plant your tank with real live plants ( a lot of them) you can add a few hardy fish right away. The plants help with the cycle process by sort of sucking the Ammonia, Nitrites out of the water. Note I said l LOT of plants and a FEW hardy fish.

Your tank looks awesome by the way. I think all of us beginners who were told by the pet store to cycle with fish should gang up and strike against the abuse of the fish. Stores need to educate their employees and at least tell people the "right way" to do things. They can't force them to, but they could provide correct info.

burnsbabe

I would agree with the others. A test kit is going to help you keep things straight and a water change every few days is going to keep your ammonia spike down.

Live plants will be a big help because the buffer a lot of the chemical issues involved with a cycle. Finally, this.

Cycling bacteria in a bottle are fine. They work. Use them or don't. But don't just trust that they'll cycle your tank in a given, short, period of time. Make sure you use your test kit. They SHOULD knock a few days to a week of off how long it would take to otherwise cycle.

OscarLoverJim

If I may also suggest even if you were to use fish to cycle your tank 6 would be too many. Just one or two to start out with adding fish as the parameters stabilize.

You said you had an established 20 gallon? You can use filter media from your old tank to jump start the cycling, that's what I did with my wife's new 20 gallon, I cannibalized one of my prefilter sponges from my long established 55 gallon canister and put it in the filter for the new tank. I also moved some old plastic plants over to the new tank and I am using Prime to treat the water which made the one fish we had in the new tank a lot safer through the cycling.

Inga

I just wanted to add that your tank looks nice. I love the whole black and white thing. :) Would personally love to see a bunch of plants in there, though. Hope you can get your tank cycled soon so you can get some fish in there. Then the fun begins.