Stuck With Fishless Cycle

Sweetiepie

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I have been doing my fishless cycle for 3 weeks now and my ammonia level has been at 3ppm for last week, nitrite 0.25. Not sure what to do shall I just wait? Just found out the kids caught some 'snot' their words! in the tank with the net when I wasn't looking, do you think this was my longed for bacteria?? Anyone available to offer words of wisdom?? Cheers x
 
I have been doing my fishless cycle for 3 weeks now and my ammonia level has been at 3ppm for last week, nitrite 0.25. Not sure what to do shall I just wait? Just found out the kids caught some 'snot' their words! in the tank with the net when I wasn't looking, do you think this was my longed for bacteria?? Anyone available to offer words of wisdom?? Cheers x

What sort of filter do you have?
 
It's a bioflow mini filter it came with the tank x

I have been doing my fishless cycle for 3 weeks now and my ammonia level has been at 3ppm for last week, nitrite 0.25. Not sure what to do shall I just wait? Just found out the kids caught some 'snot' their words! in the tank with the net when I wasn't looking, do you think this was my longed
for bacteria?? Anyone available to offer words of wisdom?? Cheers x

It's a bioflow mini filter it came with the tank x

What sort of filter do you have?
 
It might be but probably not. It is either because your tap water is the very rare type that takes forever to grow the right type of bacteria in it. What is your pH level. If it is under 6.0 than that is the problem. You need to do a water change or add backing soda.
 
It might be but probably not. It is either because your tap water is the very rare type that takes forever to grow the right type of bacteria in it. What is your pH level. If it is under 6.0 than that is the problem. You need to do a water change or add backing soda.

That's a possibility.

@Sweetiepie - You could try asking your local pet store for a mature media, or some people here. Although, you might have to collect it. I think there's a topic in the Newbie Section in the forum homepage.
 
It might be but probably not. It is either because your tap water is the very rare type that takes forever to grow the right type of bacteria in it. What is your pH level. If it is under 6.0 than that is the problem. You need to do a water change or add backing soda.
Not sure what ph is but water is very hard, we suffer with limescale! But I do have a water softener on tap though, I haven't got ph testing stuff will have to buy some to check.
 
If i add baking soda it will lift the ph but after 24 hours it will be completly back to normal. My tap water ph is shocking at around 5!! i need a ph of 7+ for my tank so there was two options available. Add Crushed Coral to my filter (Naturally buffers the water highr) or use a ph buffer (some say dont use it but theres a way of HOW TO DO IT CORRECTLY

I have one tank with the coral and that remains aroud 6.8- 7.5 which is pretty much ideal

How to use pH Agents
The majority of those who suffer from low ph tend to just fill up the tank, then add the pH buffer to the tank and this will raise it back up. however the next time you perform a water change the ph will drop once again as the water your putting in is lower. solution? treat the water BEFORE you put it in the tank so each time you put the water in it will be the same Ph s the tank itself.
Reason for doing this is that the fish will not like the constant ups and downs of the pH shifts, so making the pH constant is a viable solution. Like I have said before the baking soda worked for 24 hours with me then bottomed out, so this didnt work, I starteded using API Proper pH 7.0 during my water changes with tap water conditioner and cut the problem out completely.

What i will say is this worked for ME it may not be the case for others, all i can say is from my own personal experience.

Hope this helps offer some possible solution
 
Thanks for your reply haven't had a chance to get a ph test kit yet! Sound advice ta x





If i add baking soda it will lift the ph but after 24 hours it will be completly back to normal. My tap water ph is shocking at around 5!! i need a ph of 7+ for my tank so there was two options available. Add Crushed Coral to my filter (Naturally buffers the water highr) or use a ph buffer (some say dont use it but theres a way of HOW TO DO IT CORRECTLY



I have one tank with the coral and that remains aroud 6.8- 7.5 which is pretty much ideal

How to use pH Agents
The majority of those who suffer from low ph tend to just fill up the tank, then add the pH buffer to the tank and this will raise it back up. however the next time you perform a water change the ph will drop once again as the water your putting in is lower. solution? treat the water BEFORE you put it in the tank so each time you put the water in it will be the same Ph s the tank itself.
Reason for doing this is that the fish will not like the constant ups and downs of the pH shifts, so making the pH constant is a viable solution. Like I have said before the baking soda worked for 24 hours with me then bottomed out, so this didnt work, I starteded using API Proper pH 7.0 during my water changes with tap water conditioner and cut the problem out completely.

What i will say is this worked for ME it may not be the case for others, all i can say is from my own personal experience.

Hope this helps offer some possible solution
 
Good morning and welcome! :good: I have the opposite problem. I have a pH of 7.8 and I want it to be 6.5. Haven't found a long term solution yet, but driftwood and live plants have kept it around 7.2. If it was me, I wouldn't use chemicals. I'd try crushed coral in the filter and maybe coral sand substrate.
 

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