Think I Messed Up My Cycle (Fishless)

[librarygirl]

How do you mess up a fishless cycle do you ask? Well leave it to me...

First a bit of history:

• 12 gal marineland hex with filter pad
• had the tank set up for 3 weeks with fish, cycle was going no where, ammo 0-0.25, no nitrites/nitrates
• after a large water change last weekend, they all died (I have no idea why, levels after pwc were tested, ammo was 0 or close to, no 'trates, ph 7.6 same as before the pwc

so I decided to go fishless which is what I should have done at first but didn't know better (one word: Petsmart

)

So last Sunday I cleaned out the tank, refilled with dechlorinated water (Prime), heater up to 86 fahrenheit, added Ace hardware pure ammo to get it to 4 ppm and cranked up the air stone
Have the tank covered on 3 sides with a blanket to block light
Been testing but no levels of 'trates at all yet and ammo still at 4, which is to be expected I guess (although I had hoped since it had been running with fish it would speed it up a bit, filter media is getting gunky and gross which I know is good)

So... to pass time I'm reading up on fishless cycling, trying to find a good local lfs and reading up on some fish I may like to get if I ever get some blasted nitrates

I read that carbon can be bad, especially when cycling. So I did research on my filter pad and uh oh it has carbon in it

So tonight like a dope I took out the filter, tore a couple of holes in the filter and shook out as much carbon as I could
Problem 1: the tray under the filter pad is broken up into sections, so one hole wouldn't get out all the carbon, so I made another hole. I got out as much as I could but it being wet and the filter being broken up into little trays etc I could't get it all [pic below]
Problem 2: now I have little pieces of carbon floating in the tank [pic below, showing a corner of the tank with some carbon floating in the bubbles and even some pieces resting on the decor - and oh yeah LOTS of bubbles on the surface, is that normal?]
Problem 3: unrelated, but tonight I noticed the water turning a bit murky/cloudy, like a white cloudy stuff in there. Is that good or bad? Last night I did add a flake of ground up fish food, heard that might help, not sure if that caused the cloudiness, wasn't that way last night

So what do I do now? My filter has holes in it, it still has some carbon pieces inside and now I have carbon in the tank itself and my water is cloudy. Help!

 

[Mikaila31]

Just do a water change. The tank is fine. The floating carbon bits won't harm much. The cloudiness is just from disturbing the carbon and media. Carbon is purified charcoal basically... charcoal is messy enough to begin with.

I wouldn't work about the holes in the filter, if you really care you could stuff some filterfloss in there now lol...

 

[librarygirl]

Just do a water change. The tank is fine. The floating carbon bits won't harm much. The cloudiness is just from disturbing the carbon and media. Carbon is purified charcoal basically... charcoal is messy enough to begin with.

I wouldn't work about the holes in the filter, if you really care you could stuff some filterfloss in there now lol...

Thank you! With my hand and a net I took out as much of the floating bits as I could. Some fell to the substrate and again got what I could but could't get every piece, but there isn't a lot in there. Once the tank cycles and I do my last large pwc I'll see if i can get the rest of it. If I can't, it won't harm the fish will it?

I can close the holes in the filter so they aren't gaping, so I think that's OK I hope.

BUT I noticed the cloudy water BEFORE I started messing with the filter and tank. So that wasn't the cause. It's probably too early for a bacterial bloom isn't it?

 

[backtotropical]

No, it's not too early for a bacterial bloom. In fact, I'd almost put money on it that the fish food caused it. Bacterial blooms are nothing to worry about (especially when there are no fish in the tank) and are very common in cycling tanks. It will clear on its own in a few days.

You may wish to read this article on bacterial blooms for more info;-

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/246850-bacterial-blooms-explained/

 

[librarygirl]

No, it's not too early for a bacterial bloom. In fact, I'd almost put money on it that the fish food caused it. Bacterial blooms are nothing to worry about (especially when there are no fish in the tank) and are very common in cycling tanks. It will clear on its own in a few days.

You may wish to read this article on bacterial blooms for more info;-

http/www.fishforum...ooms-explained/

Thanks so much! Yes I figured it was the fish food, although honestly it was one flake lol My filter is pretty gross/slimy and the tank walls and decor are feeling rather gross as well....Is this good or no? I know there are different types of slime/bacteria, some good some not. The filter has greenish spots on the pad, and then some light brownish slimy stuff on it. The tank walls and decor feel slimy too. ANything I should worry about?

In regards to the filter and my ripping holes in it......so it's ok to keep it that way in the tank now? Even though there are still some bits of carbon in there, couldn't get it all. Is that ok? What if some of the carbon gets into the tank when I have fish in there? Also I did get out most of the carbon pieces from the tank itself but some ended up falling to and under the substrate which I couldn't get, not tons, but some pieces. Is it OK to leave that there and if I can't get them out will it harm the fish once they're in?

I was also thinking of adding some pieces of sponge or something in there, just to have some extra media on hand if I ever needed a QT tank or to upgrade. Would this be OK and what should I get? Since there isn't much room in there (the current filter is pretty large) I was thinking sponges or foam which I could stuff into some of the empty spaces around/under the current filter. Would that work?

Thanks for all your help, much appreciated! Sorry for all the inane questions, I just want to get it right this time and not kill any more fish

 

[OldMan47]

Don't worry so much about carbon in your filter. Although carbon is far from the best biological filter, its presence really does no harm. The light brown spots on the filter pad are the beginnings of you biological filter. Ripping holes in a filter is something we have all done. Unless you establish an easy path for most of your water flow to bypass the filter path, no harm has been done.

 

[librarygirl]

Don't worry so much about carbon in your filter. Although carbon is far from the best biological filter, its presence really does no harm. The light brown spots on the filter pad are the beginnings of you biological filter. Ripping holes in a filter is something we have all done. Unless you establish an easy path for most of your water flow to bypass the filter path, no harm has been done.

Great thanks. I'm going to leave the filter alone from now on lol Day 6 and still no nitrites/nitrates, ammo still at 4.0 ppm and water is still mildly cloudy. I was hoping since I did have fish in the tank for almost a month and I'm using the same filter it would have gone a bit faster but I guess not. I hope to see some nitrites soon at least, I'm getting tired of seeing the blue in the vial.

Thanks!