Help! Trying to cycle tank - feel so lost

[steelo]

Hi everyone. About a week ago, I purchased a 45 gallon aquarium (it was a black Friday special and my Christmas gift) I have everything set up except for the ornaments, it has the gravel added, Aqueon power filter with carbon running, a heater and a recently added air stone. After I put in all of the water, I added the correct amount of dechlorinator, bacterial starter and let the tank sit for a few days. I added a very small pinch of fish food every couple of days to help feed the bacteria. After the fact, I also read that's a very bad idea as it introduces other chemicals into the tank. On the 4th or 5th day, the water became very cloudy (like milk) and 1 week later hasn't at all cleared up yet...if anything it's worse. All I've done is add about 2 gallons to replenish the evaporated water.

Last night, I took a water sample to PetSmart and according to their tests, it had a ammonia reading of zero and a high nitrite reading, but no nitrates. The guy (which I now question) says, I don't know how you did it, but it looks ready for fish. Here's the weird thing, I purchased an API master test kit and according to several water samples I pulled, it had absolutely no nitrites, no ammonia and no nitrates. I went to Wal-Mart and purchased clear ammonia and according to the label it has no added cleaning ingredients. I went on the handy online calculator on this site and added the proper amount of ammonia to get approximately 3ppm. I tested it again 24 hours later and the ammonia still appears to be at around 2-3ppm.

I've had aquariums before but have never attempted a fishless cycle. I know that it's inevitable for a new setup to have a bacterial bloom, but doesn't the cloudy water usually mean the nitrites are reproducing unchecked?

I am so confused and worried that I might have screwed this up. I know it's only been a week, but the sudden cloudy water on the 5th day, which literally happened in a couple of hours along with zero nitrites/nitrates makes no sense to me...I'm wondering if maybe there WAS a bacterial bloom that died off from the lack of ammonia being added?

 

[Colin_T]

Hi

Milky cloudy water is bacteria feeding on rotting fish food in the tank. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate to remove the food. The cloudiness should clear up after that.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

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If you add a liquid bacterial supplement to help speed up the filter development, you start adding it when you have ammonia in the water. Then you double dose each day for a week and put the remaining supplement in the fridge. If there is only a bit left you can pour that into the tank. You can't overdose with the filter bacteria supplements and I have seen people pour the entire bottle into the tank in one go. It got the filter going pretty quick. Normally tho you can double dose each day for a week and that does the job.

When you add the supplement, try to add it to the tank near the filter intake so it gets drawn into the filter where it is required.

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It takes about 4-5 weeks to cycle a tropical aquarium. Normally it takes about 2 weeks for the first group of beneficial filter bacteria to appear in an aquarium and start converting the ammonia into nitrite. And it takes a couple more weeks after that before different bacteria have grown in the tank and are converting nitrite into nitrate. The filter bacterial supplements can speed this process up and reduce the time it takes by a week or two, depending on how much bacteria you add. The more bacteria you add, the faster the cycle occurs.

If it has only been a week I would not worry. Just monitor the ammonia level and keep it around 2-3ppm. When the ammonia level suddenly drops to 0 (usually over night), the nitrite will start to go up. This indicates the first group of filter bacteria are established and doing their job. Then you wait for the next lot of bacteria to develop and once the nitrite goes up and then comes down to 0, the nitrates should go up. when this happens the tank is cycled and you do a 90% water change, wait 24 hours then add fish.

Do not bother testing nitrates until the ammonia and nitrite have both gone up and come down to 0. Most nitrate test kits will read nitrite as nitrate and give you a false reading.

 

[steelo]

Thank you so much for the reply. I tested the water last night and the ammonia is right at 4 ppm (a bit high, but I read it should be okay) but I'm just going to keep an eye on it and not add any more. The nitrites are somewhere between 0-.25 ppm (I'm using the API water test and the color was an off shade of blue, but not quite purple) I'm hoping as the nitrites build up, the ammonia will drop down to appropriate levels. I think I'm going to give it another 2 weeks...if the ammonia levels remain and I don't see any progress, I will change 50-75% of the water and try again. One thing I noticed is the ph is off the charts - around 8. I think that may be due to the high ammonia levels.

 

[Colin_T]

Ammonia doesn't affect pH.

Check the pH of the tap water. If the tap water has a lower pH then there is something in the tank that is buffering the pH, most likely the substrate. You can test that by putting some of the gravel into a bucket of tap water and monitoring the pH before you add the gravel and every 24 after that for a week.

You can also aerate a bucket of tap water for 24 hours. Check the pH before aerating it and 24 hours later. Tap water is under pressure and sometimes the dissolved gasses get forced out of it. When you aerate the water the gases go back into the water and the pH can go up.

 

[steelo]

Thank you again Colin_T. I might try that idea tonight, just out of curiosity.

Unless a ph of 8 is unacceptable, I feel the ideal solution would be for me to leave the tank alone for a few days. I have a bad habit of wanting to add more and more chemicals when I don't reach the desired outcome immediately. I'm going to check the levels again in 1-2 days rather than obsess over it =)

 

[Colin_T]

A pH of 8.0 is fine for cycling a tank without fish in. If there were fish in the tank and the pH was 8.0 and you had any ammonia, the fish would probably die very fast. But without fish it's fine.

With a high pH you should look at keeping fishes that prefer alkaline water (pH above 7.0). Most fish that like alkaline water also like hard water (lots of minerals) so you should check the general hardness (GH) of the water. You can usually find the GH of the water on your water company's web site or give them a call on the telephone.

If they can't provide it then take a sample of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the test. And find out if the test is in ppm or dGH.

 

[steelo]

A pH of 8.0 is fine for cycling a tank without fish in. If there were fish in the tank and the pH was 8.0 and you had any ammonia, the fish would probably die very fast. But without fish it's fine.

With a high pH you should look at keeping fishes that prefer alkaline water (pH above 7.0). Most fish that like alkaline water also like hard water (lots of minerals) so you should check the general hardness (GH) of the water. You can usually find the GH of the water on your water company's web site or give them a call on the telephone.

If they can't provide it then take a sample of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the test. And find out if the test is in ppm or dGH.

This is what I was able to dig up from our water utility company: Total Hardness 158 mg/L or 9 grains per gallon, so it looks like it is moderately hard. Thankfully, it appears I have many options having hard water as opposed to soft water.

This was a sample taken this year within 5 miles of our house. Of course, I need to do my own testing...this just gives me an idea

Alkalinity leaving the treatment plant 80.4 mg/L
Calcium leaving the treatment plant 36.2 mg/L
Chloride leaving the treatment plant 27.3 mg/L
SMCL = 250 mg/L
Copper [90th percentile result] in the distribution system 0.147 mg/L
Type of disinfection NA Chloramines
Disinfectant residual leaving the treatment plant 3.25 mg/L
Disinfectant residual in the distribution system 2.3 mg/L MRDL = 4.0 mg/L
Flouride .61
Iron Not detected
Lead Not detected
Magnesium 9mg/L
Manganese Not detected
Nitrate .12-.88mg/L
ph 7.3
Sodium 15.4 mg/L
Sulfate 37 mg/L
Total dissolved solids 220.7 mg/L

 

[Colin_T]

You have pretty soft water. Half the total hardness (Alkalinity 80.4mg/l) is carbonate hardness (KH). The rest (calcium and magnesium chloride & sulfate) is GH.

There is some sodium chloride (salt) in water but it is pretty low.

Nitrates are low (less than 1ppm) so that's good.

pH is 7.3 so there is definitely an increase in pH somewhere along the line or in your tank.

You have chloramine in the water so you will need to dechlorinate all water before it goes in the tank.

And a little bit of fluoride for tough teeth Mrs Marsh. Sorry, flashback to an advert from the 70s.

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Your water is suitable for tetras, barbs, rasboras, killifish, most catfish, angelfish, South American dwarf cichlids and other soft water species.

It is not suitable for livebearers (mollies, guppies, swordtails & platies), rainbowfish, goldfish or Rift Lake cichlids. All of which need much harder water.

 

[steelo]

You have pretty soft water. Half the total hardness (Alkalinity 80.4mg/l) is carbonate hardness (KH). The rest (calcium and magnesium chloride & sulfate) is GH.

There is some sodium chloride (salt) in water but it is pretty low.

Nitrates are low (less than 1ppm) so that's good.

pH is 7.3 so there is definitely an increase in pH somewhere along the line or in your tank.

You have chloramine in the water so you will need to dechlorinate all water before it goes in the tank.

And a little bit of fluoride for tough teeth Mrs Marsh. Sorry, flashback to an advert from the 70s.

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Your water is suitable for tetras, barbs, rasboras, killifish, most catfish, angelfish, South American dwarf cichlids and other soft water species.

It is not suitable for livebearers (mollies, guppies, swordtails & platies), rainbowfish, goldfish or Rift Lake cichlids. All of which need much harder water.

Thanks Colin_T, the ph most likely is very high due to the ammonia being added (I overdid it a little I think) As of last night, the ammonia levels were around 4ppm. I've read that is a bit high but should still promote bacterial growth. However after nearly 2 weeks, the nitrite levels still sit at 0pmm...all I really can do now is sit and wait. If another week goes by and the tests still don't register nitrites, I may drain 1/2-3/4 of the water and try again with a lower ammonia concentration.