Cycle Has Halted

[farty1025]

Ok did an almost 100% water change at 8.00pm tested at 8.00am

ph 8.0 was 7.8 before i did the water change
ammonia 0mg/l in less than 8 hours will top up at 8.00pm
nitrite 0.50mg/l hopefully getting there but ive been here before and it has stuck for weeks on end
nitrates 40mg/l same as tap water was at 80mg/l before i did water change
kh 10 was at 5kh before i did water change
gh 12

So i am going to wait till monday and if the nitrite is still at 0.50mg after 12 hrs bugger it im going to get fish i cant do this any longer to my son its not fair.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

what have you topped the ammonia up to?

 

[farty1025]

I topped it up to 5ppm so come 8am tomorrow if its at 0.25ppm or less i think i will do a large water change and go get some zebra danios to give my son something to look and i can get a break from all the when we getting fish questions LOL.
My kh has dropped from 10 to eight in the last 2 days could this be what has been holding up my cycle

 

[Miss Wiggle]

a falling KH is never good, so long as the pH stays above around 5.5 though it shouldn't stall things although it may slow them down.

seriously, try just topping up to 2/3ppm, i think you'd find that ammonia and nitrite both drop in 12 hrs, it'll mean that while you can't fully stock the tank straight away, you can safely add a small shoal of fish.

 

[farty1025]

could i do small water changes to keep the kh up.I may even leave getting fish to wednesday.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yes small water changes would probably help, i'm surprised that it's falling so rapidly though, can you run through what filter media you're using and what decor you have in your tank, it could eb something other than the cycle is pushing it down.

 

[farty1025]

my filter is a fluval 2 plus which has 2 foam filter pads and a finer polyester filter pad in it
In the tank is a small piece of bogwood 2 rein ornamants plastic plants and a playsand substrate and a small what seems to be ceramic barrel ornament.-

 

[farty1025]

I think i may of came across why my cycle has stalled a bit .When i bought my fluval filter it had no instructions and i had read a topic started by LOSING NEMO who has a fluval 2 filter and someone had told him on the forum that the fluval 2 filter has a clogging indicator on it and when it poped up it was time to clean the filters.I have since found out from a friend of mine who had a fluval 2 plus filter that when the clogging indicator goes all the way down its time to clean it."guess what" i have cleaned mine out twice so i think tis has been the problem

 

[farty1025]

My tank update

ammonia 0mg/l in less than six hours
nitrite 0mg/l in less than fifteen hours didnt test at 12 hrs as i was at work
nitrate 40mg/l
gh 11
kh 8

Looks like im getting there

 

[Miss Wiggle]

excellent

 

[farty1025]

I am going to do a 20% water change to keep the kh up so do i add ammonia or do i stick to my routine ammonia 8pm test 8am

 

[farty1025]

Well finally my tank has cycled hip hip hooray.So i will be going to get fish on friday the fish im after is maybe 6 zebra danios and 6 black skirt tetras or six cherry barbs any other suggestions welcome

Some advice on what they feed on and what meds i would need incase of an emergency.

My kh is still dropping about 1 kh a day anyone any ideas on what could be causing this and will it effect my fish when i get them.

ph 7.8
ammonia 0mg/l topped up to 5mg/l processing in 6 hours
nitrite 0mg/l processing in less than twelve
nitrates 80mg/l; my tap water is 20-40mg/l
kh 6 usually 10kh
gh 12

 

[Miss Wiggle]

the process of cycling sends the KH down, just control it with water changes until you add fish, then monitor it, if you find it's still dropping with fish in then let us know and we can advise from there. it should stabilise though.

i try to keep in the following meds

pimafix
melafix
king british ws3
myaxin

for food, get a standard good quality flake/pellet food which will be enough for day to day, then give them treats of bloodworm, brine shrimp etc

 

[waterdrop]

zebras and black-skirts are very safe fish with respect to overall community stocking decisions (ie. you can get them and probably be pretty safe no matter what you get later)

cherry barbs are a bit more of a decision, but they are significantly less aggressive than tiger barbs - at any rate you might want to hold and gather more tips from the members on these and other possible tank-mates

 

[farty1025]

Thanks guys you have been a great help.
MISS WIGGLE could you explain a little more what these meds are for as i have no clue.
Also my LFS run all there tanks with R/O WATER will this be a problem with my tap water and whats the best way of acclimatising my fish when i get them.Thanks in advance