Tank Uncycled?

[karawr]

Hi all,

I recently finished cycling my tank after 70 bloody days!!! It's a 20g with an Aquaclear 30 Filter; used mature media. Well I was getting 0ppm ammonia/nitrites after 12 hours (4ppm dose). Now all of a sudden I'm not!!!!

I haven't added any fish yet, but I will be this sunday. I am getting 0.5ppm ammonia/nitrite after 12 hours. I had a random pH spike to 8.8, then it went down to 6.8 the next morning. I did a 95% w/c and it has been staying at 7.6 since.

I'm getting nervous to add any fish to my tank at all now (but I have to because I ordered them and they're coming Sunday whether I like it or not); please give any advice you can.

PS. I will be doing daily water testings when I get the fish and will be doing w/c accordingly...

 

[Tizer]

carry on with your plan, fish in cycle isnt that much of a nightmare if you are there to manage the water.

 

[Smells a bit fishy]

Ok. Keep cycling the tank. 7 day qualifying period is used so that you can confirm that these things don't happen. But thats by the by.

You can add fish and finish off cycling with a fish in cycle as long as you keep ammonia and nitrites levels very low. Less than 0.25.

If you redose to 4ppm after 12 hours. Don't wait till it drops to 0 otherwise you could risk a and n bacs dying. I hope this helps

 

[karawr]

I should redose 4ppm 12 hours after first dose? I thought you only dose once every 24hours.

My schedule is normally~
Dose 4ppm 7PM
Test 7AM
Dose Again 7PM

I guess I will just have to be extra careful with testing and w/c once I get the fish!! It's just so curious as to why I'm having so much problems with this cycle.


And just a question on stocking:

I am planning on
x10 Corydoras Habrosus
x6 Black Phantom Tetras
x1 Clown Pleco (or x3 Pitbull Pleco, or x1 Bulldog Pleco)
x1 Male Betta

Is this ok? The betta is definitely up in the air, I think the tetras would nip its fins?? And I'm really leaning towards the pitbull plecs but it's dependent on whether or not I can find them.

I'll be adding the 10 cories this sunday.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

As stated above... keep dosing the ammonia until 24 hours before the fish are due to arrive. Then stop the bacs will survive without much loss. Then just continue as a fish-in cycle. Unless you are adding a full complement of fish, you probably have plenty of bacs to handle the bioload. The 4-5ppm dosage is sufficient for a full bio-load. If you are stocking conservatively (say 50% of the max) then you only need to process 2ppm or so. The bacs will probably handle that with no problem, and without a single NH3 or NO2 reading, but obviously you want to test it daily just to be safe. Also keep your feeding low for the first few days. Less food = less waste. Also, you shouldn't feed them for a day or so anyway.

 

[Smells a bit fishy]

Oh maybe I'm wrong with that, as I never completed my fishless cycle due to me going on holiday.

Just the way I see it is, if the bacteria havn't got anything to eat then they will die. However over a 12 hour period I doubt that will happen.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Be EXTREMELY careful with those cories. Habrosus means DELICATE! I would do a 2 hour drip acclimation, at the least. Secondly, I would say that water changes might be in order for the first few days, even if the readings are good. Just because you don't see a reading doesn't mean there isn't a little extra ammonia. Finally, make sure that they are able to find food.


Cories generally are not a first fish choice, especially habrosus. I would get sinking pellets and add some extra to ensure that they find it. Watch them the entire time, and when they have lost interest in the food (moved away from it) remove by netting it out.

Best wishes.

I love the phantom tetras too. I've heard that they can be nippy, but with larger numbers they generally restrict that to each other. But, to be safe, I wouldn't add a betta to the group. They should be fine with the other inhabitants.





On the issue of the 12 hour redose. That is incorrect. Dosing happens every 24 hours only. Remember, we are only measuring ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. There are countless other things going into this entire thing, and the bacteria could do with a "rest" period as well. Continually adding more ammonia at such high levels would be like trying to drink from a garden hose non-stop. Sure, you can handle a little bit, but you can't take too much! Plants generally need a rest period between photo periods. Animals need breaks between meals. It isn't hard to extrapolate that a period of "zero" ammonia could actually be beneficial. (I put zero in quotes, because in a mature tank, the readings will always be "zero" but if there were no ammonia, the bacteria would die. Yet, they survive so "zero" must not actually be ZERO, all the time.)

 

[karawr]

Aww really the habrosus are that touchy?

I figured they would be delicate because they are so small!! But I made a post in the cory section about them, if they're hardy, explained I would be shipping them and such. The responses were all positive saying they will be okay and I won't have to worry because they're not delicate.

I will definitely be extra careful, just in case!!

I got some hikari sinking waffers for them and there won't be any other fish in there to compete with. So I think they will find food well. But yes I will definitely keep an eye on them!! Thank you so much.

 

[colleen0309]

Good Luck with the cories. They are cute little buggers.

 

[karawr]

Hehe thanks. I am super excited for them!! I really went to a lot of trouble to get the habrosus kind too.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Sorry. I could be wrong.

Here's what I've seen regarding the habrosus:


from Kitty Kat

You should add Corys last, because they are scavengers or be sure to give them plenty of food. The dangers of adding them to a new set-up are usually starvation.

from: seriouslyfish.com

These catfish are sensitive to poorly-maintained or dirty substrates and can lose their barbels if kept in poor conditions.

I might be exaggerating their delicacy, but better safe than sorry. I can't seem to find the reference where I read that they were a little more delicate than most cories.

 

[karawr]

I see, thanks for the concern.

Well.. the are definitely my (soon to be) babies. I have been avidly seeking them all through out my very long cycle! So I will give them the best care I can!! Yes better safe than sorry, always good to know every precaution I can take!!

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Who did you order them from?

 

[marieukxx]

Who did you order them from?

Tbh I wouldn't add that many fish to a new tank all at once. Also I wouldn't have phantom tetras with a Betta.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

The reason for a fishless cycle is to create sufficient headroom so that you can add that many fish at once. The fishless cycle is carried on with 4-5 ppm dosage of ammonia, because that's approximately what a full load in the tank would produce. Adding only 50% or less of that total should be fine.