Fishless Cycling Question

[kporteo]

Im not too keen on introducing filter media to my tank, its really a last resort for me, i dont want to introduce any diseases to my tank. My friend has a trop tank but his fish keep dying so its a just in case.
Think il test for another week, itl be month then, if its still 4ppm then il do a water change.


Thanks everyone, il keep you updated.

Kxx

 

[OldMan47]

You are right to be reluctant to add any media from a tank that sees a lot of disease. The dirt idea is badly defined. We know quite well that ordinary garden soil contains the same bacteria we are trying to grow but not much research has been done trying to bring the benefits of soil into a water system. If you find no progress with your cycle after a while longer, you might want to do a bit of experimenting and add maybe a handful of dirt where the filter will pick up some of the resulting muddy water. Any source of the bacteria that is not likely to be contaminated by disease organisms is worth trying IMO.

 

[waterdrop]

Yup, totally agree. One thing that's been interesting to me over the years is that even in the few cases we've had of fishless cycles taking more than 100 days (or however you want to define "long ones") the nitrogen cycle has always finally made itself evident. Its not that hard to picture that if you start with only a dozen cells, or some small number like that, instead of a thousand plus cells then you're going to have to wait through quite a few more cell division cycles. WD

 

[kporteo]

Lying in bed the other day I had a dreadful thought....

When we first got the tank we siliconed the decorative backing on with general household waterproof antimould silicon, we took it off and i removed all traces from the decoration before resticking with aquarium silicone then filling with water. Could this be the problem? I was certain we had removed all traces of the 'wrong' silicone but now im starting to wonder??

K

 

[waterdrop]

I suppose its possible the antimold may have been a powerful antibiotic type of substance but I don't know what that industry uses. Perhaps others have run across threads about this or have knowledge of these silicone products?

 

[kporteo]

Ive taken the plunge and emptied my tank completely gutted!!
So, water is back in, dechlorinators in, temp is increasing back up to 30 nicely and ive just added 10ml of ammonia, fingers crossed whatever went wrong the first time has gone in the water change.
So, I have a Biorb with a goldfish in, and it's water levels are always perfect, would it be worth putting some of the ceramic rocks from the bottom of the Biorb or, I have a bubble tube decoration - could either of these be put in my tropical tank to add some bacteria?? Or could i lie the sponge from my Biorb filter in the tank to help?

K

 

[kporteo]

Ive tested my tank and its reading about 7ppm ammonia..........what do i do??
This tank is seriously starting to wear my patience!!!
K

 

[waterdrop]

Hi K, to get your 7ppm down closer to 4ppm, just siphon off a few gallons of water, replace it with tap (and a little conditioner as usual) and see if you've made it to something that looks closer to 3 to 5ppm, any of which is fine for this early stage.

I would not think of having to do a water change in a negative light, its often part of normal happy rhythms of fishkeeping. It has only positive effects usually on growing bacteria, since it gives them some fresh oxygen, fresh trace calcium and magnesium and other odd stuff they use in their cells and then thanks to you they also get some fresh food in the form of ammonia, lol.

The discussion about the anti-mold, remember, is just speculation and not very knowledgeable speculation at that! Is the background the the now dry sealant still in there (I forget?) Maybe you've got the tube still and could communitcate with the manufacturer and find out what actual antibiotic or drug they use and post it here. We do sometimes have members who know about some of these. Meanwhile, I would guess that you have just as much chance that this is not a factor at all as you have that it is!

Remember, all this stuff is like building houses or raising kids, the more fuss and pain, the bigger the reward eventually! But we can promise it won't be on that scale.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[kporteo]

Thanks for the reply, ive taken half of water out and refilled and ammonia is down to 4ppm. Ive also added some of the filter media from my Biorb to the top, middle and bottom of my Juwel filter compartment, so fingers crossed.

When we realised the wrong silicone had been used on the backing we removed them, took all of the silicone off the glass and i took a craft knife to the backing to remove all of the silicone i could see. Then, we restuck the backing on with aquarium silicone. So, if any of the wrong stuff is left on its minimal and has hopefully been chucked with the water change.

Il keep you posted with test results, i might get some fish in there in time for Xmas at this rate!!
K

 

[waterdrop]

Fresh start sounds good, fingers crossed for you. WD