Four Months On

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MisterG

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Hi All.
 
Like many others I've been a lurker for quite a while, but now it's my turn to seek some advice.
 
As the title hints at, I set up a new tank FOUR months ago and it still isn't cycled!
 
The tank in question is a Jewel Rio 180 Litre. The standard kit that comes with it is installed, i.e. filter has 2 blue fine sponges, one green [cirax] sponge, one green coarse sponge, on black charcoal sponge and a fine 'polypad' sponge on the top.  All the sponges have been in the tank since day one.  The 'polypad' has been swapped out a number of times - don't worry, my local fish shop stocks large 'blakets' of fine media, so I bought one and cut up lots of replacements [cost £6 for circa 150 replacements!].
 
The tank is currently home to three Gouramis - it wasn't my intention to house any fish until it had been cycled, but these guys were not playing nicely in the other tank!  I have another tank, which is 60 litres and has been running for a couple of years now.  
 
There is around 16kg of fine gravel substrate in the tank.
 
There are no real plants, but currently five plastic plants in the tank.
 
The tank has been dosed with API Stress Coat and Stress Zyme on an [almost] weekly basis.
 
The only other treatment put into the tank is an anti algae treatment to get rid of some red/brown algae. This happened with the smaller tank as well, but hasn't affected the water quality in there.
 
The tank started cycling after about three weeks of being set up.  The water is tested with an API Master Test Kit.  Initially the Ammonia level rose to about 2ppm.  At this time I was doing regular water changes - about 33% of the water on a weekly basis - which was then redosed with stress coat and zyme. This held the Ammonia at 2ppm for several weeks, however there was NEVER any nitrites - didn't bother testing for nitrates since no nitrites!!
 
I had read mixed information on several sites with regards to cycling, some advocating water changes, some saying no water changes, so about six weeks ago I stopped changing the water.  The only thing I have done in the last six weeks is to dose weekly with stress coat and zyme, and I have removed all the plastic plants and cleaned them to remove algae - cleaning done in warm water using a sponge that is only used for the fish, no detergents used.
 
I have been testing every week and the ammonia has slowly risen through 4ppm to 8ppm yesterday when tested - the Gouramis are showing no sign of distress which I am amazed at!  There is still zero on the nitrite levels!
 
I know it isn't the test kit giving false results as it is used on both of the tanks.
 
So, some advice needed!
 
1. I have a spare slot in my filter casing - should I add some activated carbon?  Will it help?  What does it do?
2. Should I go back to changing the water?  I guess this will reduce the ammonia, however I'm concerned about the nitrite levels being zero and my hope so far has been that once the ammonia reaches a certain level then the nitrites will kick in!
3. Should I add any 'real' plants to the tank, if so, what should I add - I've been considering throwing a moss ball in there....
 
Thanks in advance for any advice offered.
 
Test your nitrate, just in case. What's your pH and water hardness? Cycles don't happen as well in soft water as they do in hard water.
 
1. Why would you want to add activated carbon? I would probably recommend that you remove all of it as it adsorbs ammonia, but only if you are willing to do water changes to get it down to 1 ppm and leave it there (depending on the water hardness question).
2. What are your tap water ammonia and nitrite? I would probably recommend keeping up the water changes (depending on your tap water).
3. Yes, your fish will appreciate it. I recommend getting a few submersed grown ones such as Cabomba and Vallis and seeing how they do for you. For a plant beginner, it's safe to assume that not all plants will take to your tank, which is why you're best off getting a selection. Undemanding Hygrophilas are also good, but only if you if you can get them grown submersed (from a hobbyist, not a shop).
 
Why not just heavily seed the filter from your established filter and be done with it?
 
Why your fish are not reacting to the ammonia is possibly down to the water, but no reaction does not mean no harm is being done.
 
Thanks Kitty.
 
Some answers to your Qs.
 
Water from the cold tap :
 
High range PH test didn't budge in colour.
Low range PH went straight up to 7.6
Conclusion : the water from my supplier is a steady 7.6ph - not too bad to be fair.
 
Ammonia test did not budge in colour.
Nitrites test also did not budge in colour.
Conclusion : the water from my supplier has no ammonia or nitrites in it.
 
The water quality in my area is officially 'hard' - full details in the table [nice to see the PH level is as per my test!]
 
My plans for today - once I get shot of the unwanted visitors who have decided they are coming round later! - is to change circa 80 litres of water [8 buckets], remove one of the plants which is collecting algae again, then swap one of my blue fine filter sponges with the one blue fine sponge in the other tank.  Hopefully this will give the tank a boost.
 
I'll look into getting a couple of plants during the week as well to see if that makes a difference - biggest issue is that I only have the lights on for about two hours a day at the moment whilst I get the algae under control, perhaps the 'live' plants will help out with this???
 
Treatment Summary Banwell Water Supply Zone Churchill, Banwell, Bleadon and Weston-Super-Mare (419)
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Source / Supply Description Your water supply comes from both surface (lakes) and groundwater (boreholes or springs) sources
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Hardness Your drinking water supply is classed as hard. Calcium mg/l Ca 77 Magnesium mg/ Mg 8.5 Total Hardness mg/l CaCO3 228 UK Degrees Clark (°C) 16 Degrees French (°f) 23 Degrees German (°dH) 14 Fluoride Bristol Water does not add - and currently has no plans to add - fluoride to the water it supplies. The water we supply does contain a small amount of fluoride that occurs naturally in the source waters we use. Fluoride mg/l 0.06
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Parameter Average Value Drinking water quality standards Units Alkalinity mg/l CaCO3 186 No legal limit applies mg/l CaCO3 Alkalinity mg/l HCO3 227 No legal limit applies mg/l HCO3 Chloride mg/l 18.7 250 mg/l Cl Nitrate mg/l NO3 13.0 50 mg/l NO3 Phosphate mg/l P 1.0 No legal limit applies mg/l P Sodium mg/l 10.3 200 mg/l Na Sulphate mg/l 17.18 250 mg/l SO4 Conductivity µS/cm 428 2500 µS/cm @20°C pH 7.62 6.5 to 9.5 pH value Failures None
 
Your ammonia is probably not helping with the algae in that it is essentially free fertiliser, so getting more plants in and the ammonia down will help with that.
 
The bad news is that ammonia is more harmful in hard water than in soft water, so glad to hear that you're going with the water changes!
 
An update.
 
Tested mid week and Ammonia was still at 4ppm - good news as it didn't rise!
 
Tested again today and the ammonia was just under 4ppm, even better news as a slight drop, however tested for nitrites and it is still at 0
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I have added 3 real plants mid week - Wednesday I think.
Added another 3 real plants just now, so it now has 6 real plants and no artificial plants.  I also added the large rock back in there in readiness for one day transferring my bronze corydoras over.
 
I have also swapped another fine sponge with the small tank this afternoon, so it now has two fully seeded sponges from the small tank - I also tested the small tank this morning and it was still reading 0 for ammonia, so the sponge swap I did last week hasn't affected it and I can only assume the sponge I put in there is now fully seeded.
 
So, do I :
 
1. Do another 50% water change tomorrow to hopefully reduce the ammonia down to around 2ppm.
2. Leave the water as it is and hope that with two seeded sponges in the filter the ammonia will start to come down on its own?
 
Any advice gratefully received
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