so here is the deal:
I started cycling the tank on August 9th It was going pretty well I would do about 25% water changes twice a day. And finally after about a month and a half it cycled. but then I moved. ANd I transfered the filter in the water so I thought the cycle would not get destroyed. But then the tap water here has ammonia in it which I was unaware of and it seems to have destroyed my cycle. For the past month I have been trying to cycle it but see it going nowhere. Ammonia stays consistently and .5ppm and Nitrite just rose this week to about 2.0 ppm and I can't bring it down. I constantly do water changes everyday.
Because the water has ammonia in it I switched my dechlore to prime to help reduce the toxics. I also started using stability. That didn't seem to help. I also have java moss, Java fern, and pothos roots in there.
Any suggestions are helpful Im in desperate need of the tank to cycle before November 20th.
Also I do have one axolotl in the tank. He seems fine and doesn't seem bothered by the water quality. But I still would like for everything to read 0 as it should except nitrate of course
There are several factors at work in the nitrification cycle, and aside from this it is possible to have nitrite occur naturally from outside the nitrification issue.
A few more details might help. Temperature, pH and GH.
I would try not adding food for a little while and see if the ammonia/nitrItes drop down.
FWIW prime and other ammonia locka and dechlorinators will lock up the ammonia but normal test kits like the api ammonia test still reads ammonia. The danger is you read ammonia, add more chemicals and read ammonia etc etc etc. All the while that first dose may have totally locked up the ammonia and the following doses were unnecessary.
But one side effect is the chemicals also lock up oxygen and you can actually suffocate the fish which has the same symptoms as ammonia.
so you could try
1) adding some fast growing plants like anacharis. (or perhaps you plants are just fine)
2) stop adding food
3) stop doing water changes
4) stop adding the chemicals.
then see if ammonia and nitrItes drop in 3-4 days.
But that's just my suggestion which is worth at most.
Okay the temperature is 70 degrees and below sometimes. The pH is 7.6. I don't know what gH is or how to test for it. If its the hardness of the water the water is pretty soft.
I tried the no water change thing and that is how this nitrite problem happened. Ever since I didn't change the water for about 4 days the nitrite spiked. I am also no longer using Stability .
I have some bamboo and some water lettuce with gigantic roots but they are in quarantine so I won't be able to add them for a while
No water changes during cycling is fine only if there are no fish in the tank. I've no experience with axolotls, but as they have gills I would assume they will be just as vulnerable as fish to ammonia and nitrite above zero. So water changes should be daily until nitrite is zero.
Yes I have been doing daily water changes and the nitrite just won't go down. I actually didn't feed him last night to see if it would help. And I did notice a small drop in nitrite this morning then last night. I don't how many days I can go without feeding him though. I was thinking of moving him to a small container to feed him but I don't want that to stress him out but I think If i def don't feed it will lower the nitrite
thinking of tearing it down. i bought a new filter that is much better than the tetra whisper. It should be here in about a week!
Also I didn't realize that carbon is bad in a tank with plants. Can I just turn remove the tetra whisper for a week. I would still have the sponge filter in there and add the new HOB filter when it comes in I was just going to use a sponge and biomax
By all means feed him. Once a day is fine, that will not bother him. Watch the numbers, only way to get em down in a cycling tank is through water changes. Do them every day if you have to. Thats not a problem. First is getting them down to a managable level, so do big WC until your at 0 or close, then do maintenance ones, once you know what those levels will be like day to day. For this you will have to test day to day.
Yeah but what I don't get is that I did an 80% water change and even after that the nitrite still read above 3.0 ppm I just don't get it and the tap water reads 0 ppm
Okay so Should I just do 80% water changes for 3 days and see how it goes...
Do you have any advice about the filter question that I had above:i bought a new filter that is much better than the tetra whisper. It should be here in about a week!
Also I didn't realize that carbon is bad in a tank with plants. Can I just turn remove the tetra whisper for a week. I would still have the sponge filter in there and add the new HOB filter when it comes in I was just going to use a sponge and biomax
Yea, as long as you leave the sponge in the system your leaving the good bacteria there to do its job. I'd keep doing 50% water changes until your system numbers come down. Remember though, that your probably going to have to keep this up unitl that cycle is complete.
Yeah I have been doing daily water changes for three months now and I will keep doing them until its ready!
Only thing is I will be leaving in about five weeks I will be out of town for a bout a month. I will be taking him with me but leaving his tank here, so I don't know what will happen to it while Im gone. Without waterchanges and without the temperature being controlled the tank should finish cycling while im gone right?
Yeah I have been doing daily water changes for three months now and I will keep doing them until its ready!
Only thing is I will be leaving in about five weeks I will be out of town for a bout a month. I will be taking him with me but leaving his tank here, so I don't know what will happen to it while Im gone. Without waterchanges and without the temperature being controlled the tank should finish cycling while im gone right?
Yes, that may be advantageous. If there are live plants, keep the lights on/off via a timer. The biological system will continue in slow motion perhaps, but it will remain. Some snails might help if you have any, the small ones like pond snails or Malaysian Livebearing.
I have a 20g tank that is planted with spare plants that I keep running as normal, but it has no fish. I use it for my quarantine for new fish, and I never have problems putting a bunch of new fish in after the tank has been fishless for months.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Tropical Fish Keeping
597.8K posts
83.7K members
Since 2006
forum community dedicated to tropical fish owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about species,breeding, health, behavior, aquariums, adopting, care, classifieds, and more! Open to fish, plants and reptiles living in freshwater or saltwater environments.