Done Something Silly

[makaveli144]

First of all hello, this is my first post here.
 
Basically this morning I did something silly,My tank is cycling and has been unsuccessfully for three weeks now. Then this morning without thinking I turned off all power to it for 2-2.5hrs. It dropped temperature by 3degrees c in that time.
 
Have I killed what small amount of bacteria I may of had?

 

[fluttermoth]

Unlikely; bacteria can survive quite a few hours without flow or food.

 

[makaveli144]

That makes me feel a little better, thanks

 

[Electric Warrior]

What do you mean unsuccessfully? Mt tank took about three weeks before any change occurred and I was able to finally get a nitrite reading. Are you talking fishless cycle?

 

[makaveli144]

Rather than start a new topic can I ask your advise, As i have said my tank has been cycling for three weeks. It was started without fish for a week then I added 3 leopard danios which lasted 8 days before dieing unfortunately. The tank has sat empty since then. Its a 15Gallon.
 
It has a sand substrate and 7 live plants and I have been keeping a record of the readings for just over a week now, they are as follows;
 
10/3/ Ammonia 0.5 Nitrate 10 Nitrite 0 Gh 500 Kh 270 pH 7.6
12/3                  0.5            10/25      0       500      270      7.6
14/3                  3.0             10/25     0       500      270      8
16/3                  1.0              10/25    0       500      180/270  7.6
 
The tank was set up with water from an established tank and I added fish food to start the ammonia.

 

[Electric Warrior]

Okay. You have no fish now so you should definitely start doing a fishless cycle with household ammonia. Trust me, much easier in the end then trying to cycle with fish, and nothing dies. And water from a tank will do absolutely nothing, it has to be media from a live filter. Have a look at the sticky on fishless cycling and see what you think. It takes about 3-8 weeks depending on several factors, but will save you tons and tons of headaches in the long run.

 

[makaveli144]

Will household ammonia not kill the plants?

 

[Electric Warrior]

And as you probably know, an ammonia reading of 3 is extreme in the least to any fish, so that is def what killed them. Anything above .25 is bad and can kill or affect fish. 3 is a certain death.

Will household ammonia not kill the plants?

No. You might get a little bit of algae, but no.

 

[makaveli144]

Ok, thank you for your help, i will go out and try and find somewhere that sells it in the UK.

 

[This Old Spouse]

Make sure you get the kind of ammonia that has no surfactant so it won't create suds in your tank. Then as suggested check out the Beginner's Resource Center here. It explains all about the fishless cycle and there's loads of other good stuff there too.
 

 

[Electric Warrior]

Lots of people say that they have had success getting it from Homebase or Boots. I could not find it in any shops nearby in Scotland, so I bought some Kleen Off branded ammonia of eBay, which many people on here have used successfully as well. It's also available on amazon.co.uk usually.

 

[leighton_87]

I got mine from The Range

 

[makaveli144]

I just bought some from the Range as its the only place I could find it...and it foams on top when shaken.I take it it can't be used

 

[daizeUK]

I wouldn't use that.  How about Kleenoff ordered from Amazon?  Lots of people have had success with that.

 

[CezzaXV]

I used Kleen Off. Works fine.

Ammonia is hard to find in the UK. By the time you drive around trying to find it wasting petrol, you might as well order online.