.25ppm ammonia?

[MXPX4318]

ok so my tank finished cycling, and so I bought some corys (juli's and a skunk (skunk going in a diff tank from juli's but that's beside the point) ) so I got home, set up my q/t tank, put in filter from reg. tank, an ornament from my reg. tank and a handful of gravel, so I put 50% reg. tank water and 50% tap water and treated it, now my q/t tank is reading .25ppm ammonia, so I tested my reg. tank and sure enough 0ppm ammonia just like normal, WHY? and will my cories be ok? maybe the bacteria just haven't gotten to the ammonia yet (only been in water for half an hour and I know my tap has chloramines which are broken down in to ammonia by aquasafe right?) so am I in trouble or am I just paranoid?

 

[skimpy]

When you set up a tank this way it still does it's own version of cycling. I must admit when I set up my baby tank I thought using water from main and filter media from main it would be ok but it does not work that way.

When I set up my baby tank the only thing different from what you've said you've done is I didn't put in fish until it was cycled but I did use flake to feed the bacteria. Look Here it will show you what happend to my tank over the next 11 days. It may give you some idea of what will happen to your tank.

Good Luck, unfortunately we can't cheat cycling, it will happen however you start it off, but some ways may be quicker than others.

 

[MXPX4318]

hmmm guess I'll learn to set up a q/t tank a week BEFORE I get my fish from the store, instead of the day of... my mistake, hopefully my cories will be ok, if things get out of hand I guess I'll take my chances and move them to my already cycled regular tank, I DO NOT want to lose my cories (of course I don't want to lose my wonderful gold barbs either...) hmmm what a pickle I"ve got myself in now, guess I'll learn eventually.

 

[skimpy]

Unfortunately I do not have the room for a q/t and wish I did. I have read that people who have them set up tend to keep them going after cycling. They purchase a fish (not sure which type is best) and he/she lives in the tank keeping the tank going. Then when they need it for a hospital or q/t they move the one fish into main tank and add new fish. After quarantine they move new fish to main tank and put the q/t housekeeper back in to keep it alive.

Just a suggestion for the future and a good excuse to buy one more fish

Good Luck

 

[MXPX4318]

hmmm sounds like a plan to me, I might just have to go out and buy me one more fish.

 

[purple_drazi]

They purchase a fish (not sure which type is best) and he/she lives in the tank keeping the tank going. Then when they need it for a hospital or q/t they move the one fish into main tank and add new fish. After quarantine they move new fish to main tank and put the q/t housekeeper back in to keep it alive.

That's exactly what I'm trying to do, but I just wanted to check and see if I'm doing it right.

I'm doing a fishless cycle on the 12g planted main tank, but in the meantime I bought a 5g and set it up with gravel, plastic plants and Sparky, the betta. (I originally thought that because Sparky had been in the 12g since June, it would be cycled, but that was before I emptied it, wiped it down, put new gravel down and put new plants in. So I'm cycling now: better safe than sorry.)

The theory is, that when the 12g has finished cycling, I'll move Sparky into a bowl, buy some fishies (one species at a time), put them into quarantine in the 5g and then after a couple of weeks move them into the 12g. I don't want to put them straight into the 12g because if somebody is carrying something infectious, I don't want to have to break down the whole planted 12g.

Then when everybody is in the 12g, I'll move Sparky back in there.
Sound ok?

 

[MXPX4318]

hmmm sounds like a plan to me, I might just have to go out and buy me one more fish.