No Ammonia Spike?

[CathyGo]

I've had my 10 gallon set up for 6 days now and I have yet to see the ammonia, nitrate, or nitrite readings budge even a little from absolutely zero. I got 2 female koi swordtails because they were the last ones and I knew the store I work at wouldn't be getting anymore for awhile. Otherwise I would have gone to fishless cycling. I used all the water from the bag they were bought in plus an extra bag of water with some gravel in it to see if I could get it to cycle faster. But now I'm not sure if it's cycled or just taking forever to spike. I added a male betta in a floating breeder to see if I could get the readings to budge and so far it's just stayed at zero. Is there any way to test if it's cycled before I add more fish? I'm glad the ammonia didn't go nutso and kill my fish but I would have known what to do with that. This having completely zero of everything is just weird.

 

[rdd1952]

What chemicals are you using, dechlorinator, bacteria starter, etc.? Some of those products say the remove ammonia, nitrite and nitrate which is actually bad because the tank will never cycle. Some filter media such as nitor-zorb or neolite will remove them too. Also, what kind of test kit ae you using? Strips can be very inaccurate.

 

[*Fishkies*]

Also to help your tank cycle better, the best idea would be to get mature media filter. This would definatly help with cycling your tank.

 

[CathyGo]

What chemicals are you using, dechlorinator, bacteria starter, etc.? Some of those products say the remove ammonia, nitrite and nitrate which is actually bad because the tank will never cycle. Some filter media such as nitor-zorb or neolite will remove them too. Also, what kind of test kit ae you using? Strips can be very inaccurate.

I'm using Novaqua+ and Aquarisol only. I have an ammonia sensor that sticks to the tank glass and I also have a liquid test kit where you add a microscoop of something and then 3 drops of something else. Both read it at absolutely 0 and I even waited the whole 15 minutes to read the test tube one. Filter media is an unknown since it was bought as part of a starter kit. I've had people come in who got ammonia spikes from same kit though so I doubt that's it. I'll look while I'm at work Saturday and see if the replacement filter cartridges have zeolite or anything else that takes ammonia out. The tank had 1 dose of Stress-Zyme added when it was first set up. I also did a 1/3 tank water change on the third day.

 

[rdd1952]

I guess it's possible that the 2 fish you have just aren't creating much waste and that the water change lowered it if they were. Generally, you will get some ammonia build up with even one fish though. That's odd.

 

[CathyGo]

I guess it's possible that the 2 fish you have just aren't creating much waste and that the water change lowered it if they were. Generally, you will get some ammonia build up with even one fish though. That's odd.

Actually I have 3 fish if you include the betta. I opened up my filter cartridge and confirmed that it's a carbon only filter. I'm going to try not touching the tank other than feeding for the rest of the week and see what that does. I have a neon swordtail that's going in there in 5 days since any anchorworm eggs she was exposed to would have hatched by then. She didn't have anchorworm but a lot of the fish she was with did. If I see the ammonia levels spike before then she'll stay in my quarantine tank which is also just starting to cyle. And if that tanks ammonia levels go real nuts she'll go to a friend who has an established tank and I'll do a fishless.

I don't feed much because I'm used to feeding bettas where even the small uneaten pellets cause problems. Could that also be a factor in not seeing any ammonia?

 

[CathyGo]

I finally saw some detectable ammonia this morning. It's somewhere between 0-.25. It's just enough to give the liquid test a slight lime green tint. I'm going to hold off on the water change till this evening. Nitrates and Nitrites are still at zero.