Trouble with cycling

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I've been having problems with my ph so that's why I've been testing everything just to make sure that isn't crashing and that's the cause of a ph of 6.2 sometimes. I've been using a new conditioner (it helps detoxify nitrites without ruining my cycle) and that has now changed my ph above 6.8 which I've heard is better for the bacteria to get established. I've also used a bit of media from other tank so I got told that would speed it up (hopefully). It's been cycling now for nearly 3 weeks as it started fishless so I'm hoping I'm nearing the end! I didn't know about water changes and feeding I normally feed mine the morning of a change including my other tanks so will stop that of it causes problems. I must have been lucky before so thanks for the heads up. I also got told not to touch the sand often so I have only been cleaning the sand every 4 days or so. Do you think I should clean it every water change now? I really want this tank to be cycled. I was tempted to put them in with my blackmoor the other day but I don't want him getting sick so I haven't yet. I haven't had them all that long so don't want to chance it yet.
 
If the tank that has pH problems (dropping) is going to be for goldfish, you can add some limestone or shells to the tank. They are calcium based and will raise the pH and help keep it stabile.
 
Ok that's great. I will try them. Thank you for your help. My son is obsessed with fish and this has been a big worry. He's constantly checking on them (like me) and once the tank is properly up and running he will really enjoy them as watching them relaxes him I'm just trying everything so we don't have any losses as that will absolutely devastate him.
 
If you are feeding sparingly cleaning the sand once or twice a week is just fine. For now I would focus on the cycle and not worry about the pH. It will settle to a stable level, and if that is not suitable we can address that once the cycle issues have been resolved.

In the meantime adding more things to fix different problems confuses the issue. We all want to do the best for our fish and it may be tempting to try and "fix" everything in one go but that very often does not work out the way we want it to.
 
I was a bit worried that low ph was going to stall my cycle but it seems to be staying at 6.8 now. I've just got home from work and tested the water again and it's exactly the same as this morning so it's holding steady for now. I'm going to do a water change in the morning and see where it goes from there. I'm going to squeeze my established filters into this filter to see if that will transfer some bacteria over (I will try anything) and see what my waters doing tomorrow evening. At least it's a plan for now lol
 
squeezing the gunk out of one filter will not help speed things up. The gunk in filters is only fish poop and does not have beneficial filter bacteria. If you move some of the filter material to the new tank then that will give you an established filter straight away.
 
I moved some across about a week ago. No more will fit into my new filter unfortunately and I also didn't want to upset the balance of the other tanks. Looks like I just have to carry on as I am and just have patience lol its just hard when I have a child that wants everything explained to him in major detail haha
 
I think I'm so close to being cycled. My water parameters today after a 50% water change are as follows....
Ammonia 0 been zero for over a week.
Nitrites very very close to zero just the tiniest bit of colour change
Nitrates 50 (not happy about this but plan on doing another 50% water change for the next 2 days)
Gh 8
Kh 7
Ph 6.8
Cl 0
Do you think my cycle is just about there? I haven't fed the minnows today because of the water change but I fed them the tiniest bits of pea yesterday because I was feeding my other fish thein weekly peas. Also gave them a small amount of food too. They seem great today. They seem to like the water changes as they follow me around the tank as I am slowly putting water back in. My other tanks don't like water changes so this is new for me lol
 
It sounds like the filters are almost ready :)

You could try feeding once a day now and see how the ammonia and nitrite go. And when you test the water, check it before the water change. If the nitrite is really low then don't bother with a water change.
I know this sounds contradictory to what we have been saying, but if you remove all the ammonia or nitrite with water changes, the bacteria won't have anything to eat.

Over the next few days the nitrite should hit 0, then you increase feeding again (to 2 times a day) and a few days later add some more fish if the ammonia and nitrite have remained on 0 for that time :)
 
Thank you for the advice. I was going to carry on as I was... lol will the nitrates be ok being high for a couple of days? I'm hoping the plants will bring it down a bit too. If I add a blackmoor once the levels have been zero for a couple of days will they rise again? I've still been adding nite out 2 (bacteria) shall I stop that for today and see what happens? Thank you so much for getting me through this. I did test the water before the water change and the nitrite was below 0.5. I did clean the sand and take out a few dead plant leaves that I'm sure the minnows have been munching on lol so I'm wondering if thathere had something to do with the water levels too as I hadn't cleaned the sand since Saturday.
 
You can continue on as you have been if you like, but a good test of the filters is to increase feeding to once a day. If the bacteria are established they will quickly remove the ammonia and nitrite from the water.

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Nitrates won't be an problem if it's just for a few days. I have seen tanks with healthy fish and the tanks had nitrates above 100ppm for over 6 months, so a few days at 50ppm won't be an issue. The true nitrate reading will probably be less than 50ppm because nitrate test kits read nitrite as well as nitrate. So any nitrite will be picked up by the nitrate test kit and added to the total nitrogen in the water.

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You can stop adding the bacterial supplements. Once the bacteria is in the filter then it will reproduce quickly. You can keep the remaining bottled bacteria (nite out 2) in a cool dark place and use it on another tank if you get another one. I keep test kits and liquid bacteria in a plastic icecream bucket in the bottom of the fridge.
Make sure children and animals can't get the test kits because they contain some pretty toxic stuff.

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A few rotting leaves should not create much of an ammonia or nitrite reading and neither should adding a black moor. Any increase in ammonia caused by the rotting leaves or an extra fish should be broken down by the filter bacteria. If there is insufficient filter bacteria they will multiply until there is enough bacteria to keep the ammonia down. The bacteria can double their numbers in a few hours so any little ammonia readings caused by adding new fish or a bit more food, should be removed within a few hours.
 
Ok thank you. I'm just going to see how it goes and do a water change if things get high again. I tested again this morning and the nitrite level is around 0.2 so I think thats really low and hasn't really risen over night everything else is just the same so it seems to be stable at the minute. I do have nitrates in my water anyway and my other tanks have about 25 nitrates before a water change so mine can be quite high anyway. Thank you so much for your help. I might be able to give up testing numerous times able day soon enough haha
 
Do you think I could rinse one of the filters very gently in the tank water? I can see it through the lines of the casing and it does look like it to as a bit of gunk itttn it as I haven't touched the filters for just about 2 weeks. I was worried about upsetting the bacteria but I've been looking today and i can see it and it's going to drive me mad lol the bottom one looks OK though.
 
do not touch the filters for at least 2 weeks after the filters have cycled. Cleaning them now can wash the bacteria off the filter materials and set you back a few weeks in the cycling process.

3 white clouds are not going to create much waste so leave it :)
 

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