Cycle Has Crashed.

[Miss Wiggle]

lol

it's just the thought that you can fishless cycle quickly...... really doesn't always work that way, more often than not it takes several weeks. i wouldn't fancy doing that and looking after a tank that's cycling at the same time too

 

[jollysue]

As Miss Wiggle suggested, check the TFF donation list. Do frequent small water changes. If you can get some BioSpira it may help. Mostly keep up with frequent small waterchanges to keep th ammonia down. The tank will cycle that way without any problem. The water changes won't stop the tank from cycling. There will be plenty of ammonia for the bacteria to grow on. Make sure you have good surfaces in the filter for the bacteria. Add an air stone or wand.

Why did the tank crash?

 

[ShoC]

Airstone is not an option, I have a planted high tech tank..

Im using standard internals that come with the tetra tec ex 1200....

 

[waterdrop]

Thing is I once did a fish-in cycle (tried) but it never cycled even after 3 months!!!!!

and I finally had a cycled Tank had nitrates etc... (for a good ammount of time) now its stalled
and I allways dechlorinate before adding water and clean the filter in old tank water.. It's so frustrating.. my tank was cycled I stocked it then it stalled

ShoC,

You are probably more experienced than me, and certainly MW is, but I agree with her that the picture you present in this thread is a bit confusing. Its probably that you are upset at losing the cycle and knowing fish are in there..

The tank sounds pretty heavily planted, which, if the case, would indeed make the fish-in cycle process more difficult because plants will steal away so much of the ammonia (and potentially nitrates too) that you will have a hard time feeding the bacteria and also a hard time knowing what's going on from your ammonia test results (am I right that this is your thinking?)

I would still have to agree with MW that you none-the-less would be best off just biting the bullet (anyone for too many metaphors here, lol) and carefully performing a fish-in cycle. If the plants are doing well, they should just help this process be easier, even if longer. Just increase the frequency of your testing and respond more quickly to any sign of ammonia or nitrite by doing larger and/or more frequent water changes. You'll have to clue us in here if there is some aspect of that that feels un-do-able (you may have extra circumstances we don't know about..)

I think that trying to "get around" the problem of needing a cycled filter by somehow quickly creating one in an extra bucket is just not going to work and will be slower in the long run than doing a fish-in cycle on the main tank.

Also, bravo to your neighbors urging/helping you potentially find some mature media. I'm often jealous of the UKers ability to feel like a closer community - a definate asset to being packed in there on those islands. In the USA, if RDD wanted to see Tolak's tanks it would be a two or three day trip one way by car, lol!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[ShoC]

I'm more than happy to bite the bullet, I'm just looking at alternative options.
I know that my plants are not capable of taking up the ammonia to the point of slowing the cycle dramatically 1week with no water change is producing 0.50ppm or ammonia.
(I had to check the ammount of ammonia being produced)

I'm going to attempt to find some mature media, I do agree having a seperate cycle going would be to much hastle

p.s I wouldn't say I'm more experienced I'm a total ameture

 

[jollysue]

I really am a dunce at the high tech stuff.

I don't understand though how you can have a tank that has begun to cycle and even though you have an ammonia spike, you have no media that has bacteria. What happened to them? I recycle tanks after a problem quite frequently without losing fish. It is not really hard to do if you have a tank that was fully cycled. Some extra uncompromised mature media helps, but frequent water changes will get passed the really bad spots.

Filter accidents happen and tanks have to be set up quickly and tanks must be medicated.

 

[waterdrop]

I really am a dunce at the high tech stuff.

I don't understand though how you can have a tank that has begun to cycle and even though you have an ammonia spike, you have no media that has bacteria. What happened to them? I recycle tanks after a problem quite frequently without losing fish. It is not really hard to do if you have a tank that was fully cycled. Some extra uncompromised mature media helps, but frequent water changes will get passed the really bad spots.

Filter accidents happen and tanks have to be set up quickly and tanks must be medicated.

Now see, that's why I think TFF is so great. I, myself, am not a dunce about high tech (in fact at the moment I'm surrounded by at least 6 running computers) and spend my life collaborating with scientists. I like to read science and tech stuff for pure fun.

But I'm inexperienced with modern tropical fish keeping. This is the first tank I've set up in decades.

You, on the other hand, have lots and lots of practical fishkeeping experience and its little interactions like your paragraph above the are very helpful to those of us in need of experience! I'm sure I speak for all newcomers when I say that many of us greatly appreciate it whenever the folks who have set up and broken down many tanks wander in to the threads and just say stuff - its great.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[jollysue]

Thanks, waterdrop. It is scary sometimes to give advice when folks are running around who test everything and read everything and understand all the interactions.

One outstanding reason to have a small tank running with a few fish is in order to have an extra mature filter running. I have two filters on many tanks. It is called a quarantine tank, but it is used for many things, and I keep one up with a shoal of fish all the time with 2 filters so I can set up or redeem a troubled tank. Even so things happen and I find I am scrambling to help a tank recover or set up a new tank with limited resources.

 

[waterdrop]

The closer we can get to making virtually every member feel comfortable talking and advising and asking, the better off we all are. Everyone has something to contribute. I always feel like most problems in society come from some form of not knowing where someone else is coming from, not knowing what experiences have made them. Each individual is such a vast well of fascinating experiences if only it can be tapped.

Really interesting about how you use your Q-tank. I remember as a kid and having lots of tanks that having lots of extra equipment to move around was very, very handy. Back then though I didn't know anything at all about biofilters, what a shame. I might have had two filters on a tank but it was purely mechanical, I didn't know there were important bacteria to be preserved and moved! Now, with only one tank being set up for my son, I can directly feel the worry of the things that could go wrong and spoil it all because of a lack of backups of various equipment.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[jollysue]

Chapel Hill: nice area.

I agree; communication is the key to the solution of many problems--or at least to starting to understand them.

I have many more than 2 tanks. LOL.

I am not totally without factual understanding and study of many fishy things, but I have not worked at all with the High Tech planted tanks. I am more than old wives tales though!~ LOL

 

[ShoC]

High Tech is suprisingly easy to do,
I just took the dive and got the gear.
simple rule is have a Buckey load of plants else you will have algae

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yeah fishkeeping is definatley a lot easier with 2 tanks for just that reason, always got some mature media if you need it.

we've always got a spare tank or two kicking around and equipment to set it up (even if only temporarily)

 

[waterdrop]

gee, is harrow near leeds? ohwell no time to look it up. get a kick out of seeing where you guys are relative to my last zigzag through the island (had a great time in Wem (!) if you can believel that) .. made me wish I still had my TR6

 

[Anele]

I really am a dunce at the high tech stuff.

I don't understand though how you can have a tank that has begun to cycle and even though you have an ammonia spike, you have no media that has bacteria. What happened to them? I recycle tanks after a problem quite frequently without losing fish. It is not really hard to do if you have a tank that was fully cycled. Some extra uncompromised mature media helps, but frequent water changes will get passed the really bad spots.

Filter accidents happen and tanks have to be set up quickly and tanks must be medicated.

Sorry .. I am a novice. Could you, please explain what sort of accidents can happen to the filter (excluding adding untreated tap water) and what does it mean to recycle the filter. Thanks.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

gee, is harrow near leeds? ohwell no time to look it up. get a kick out of seeing where you guys are relative to my last zigzag through the island (had a great time in Wem (!) if you can believel that) .. made me wish I still had my TR6

ummm..... nope, Harrow's down near London, Leeds is up in Yorkshire in the North of England. good couple of hrs drive away