Update on my first Aquarium, I'm doing a fish-less cycle of my tank things seam to be going well, I'm two weeks in and Ammonia is 0.25 Nitrite 2 + Spiked at 5, Nitrate 40PPM (Hard water area). I have done a water change today 52 litres added some Stress coat and some Stress-zyme+ and i'll check it tomorrow or the day after. any advice is always welcome.
Two weeks in to New Aquarium setup
- Thread starter Ian.ryan
- Start date
What have you done so far? Are you following this method http://www.fishforums.net/threads/cycling-your-new-fresh-water-tank-read-this-first.421488/ ? This really is the best method for fishless cycling. If you tell us how much ammonia you've added and when, and your test results so far that will give us a better picture of where you are in the cycle.
According to the safety data sheet on API's website, Stress Zyme contains only bacteria ("non pathogenic bacterial cultures") and no ammonia.
Even if it did contain ammonia, you can't know how much ammonia you are adding - whether it is enough to grow the number of bacteria needed for a tankful of fish.
I would buy some ammonia and follow the instructions in the link I gave you. The first stage, waiting for ammonia to drop, should go quicker than usual as you obviously have some ammonia eating bacteria or you would not have a reading for nitrite.
Fish shops do not sell ammonia. Homebase used to sell it (in the home cleaning section) but since our nearest one closed I have no idea if they still sell it. I got Jeyes KleenOff Household Ammonia from my local independent diy shop. If all else fails, try Amazon or Ebay. You need a solution of ammonia (or ammonium hydroxide) and nothing else - no colouring, no fragrance and no detergent (surfactant)
It is much safer for the future fish if you do use ammonia. If you don't you could find yourself doing a fish-in cycle.
Even if it did contain ammonia, you can't know how much ammonia you are adding - whether it is enough to grow the number of bacteria needed for a tankful of fish.
I would buy some ammonia and follow the instructions in the link I gave you. The first stage, waiting for ammonia to drop, should go quicker than usual as you obviously have some ammonia eating bacteria or you would not have a reading for nitrite.
Fish shops do not sell ammonia. Homebase used to sell it (in the home cleaning section) but since our nearest one closed I have no idea if they still sell it. I got Jeyes KleenOff Household Ammonia from my local independent diy shop. If all else fails, try Amazon or Ebay. You need a solution of ammonia (or ammonium hydroxide) and nothing else - no colouring, no fragrance and no detergent (surfactant)
It is much safer for the future fish if you do use ammonia. If you don't you could find yourself doing a fish-in cycle.
I have just seen your photo in your other thread. Are those live plants or synthetic? If they are live, you shouldn't add 3 ppm ammonia (as in the fishless cycling method) as a lot of live plants can't cope with that much all in one dose. But there aren't enough of them to do a 'silent' cycle - the fact that you have nitrite in the water shows the plants are not using all the ammonia in there.
You have 2 options. Either do a fishless cycle using just 1 ppm ammonia as the main dose and a third of a ppm as the snack dose, then add fish slowly, a few a t a time with at least a week between additions, and monitoring the ammonia and nitrite levels every day; or get more live plants, particularly floating plants, and add fish a few at a time without having added any ammonia.
If the plants are fake, just do a fishless cycle
You have 2 options. Either do a fishless cycle using just 1 ppm ammonia as the main dose and a third of a ppm as the snack dose, then add fish slowly, a few a t a time with at least a week between additions, and monitoring the ammonia and nitrite levels every day; or get more live plants, particularly floating plants, and add fish a few at a time without having added any ammonia.
If the plants are fake, just do a fishless cycle
There live plantsI have just seen your photo in your other thread. Are those live plants or synthetic? If they are live, you shouldn't add 3 ppm ammonia (as in the fishless cycling method) as a lot of live plants can't cope with that much all in one dose. But there aren't enough of them to do a 'silent' cycle - the fact that you have nitrite in the water shows the plants are not using all the ammonia in there.
You have 2 options. Either do a fishless cycle using just 1 ppm ammonia as the main dose and a third of a ppm as the snack dose, then add fish slowly, a few a t a time with at least a week between additions, and monitoring the ammonia and nitrite levels every day; or get more live plants, particularly floating plants, and add fish a few at a time without having added any ammonia.
If the plants are fake, just do a fishless cycle
In that case you can't follow the fishless cycling method exactly. When there are fish in the tank they make ammonia in tiny amounts 24 hours a day. This adds up to 2 or 3 ppm in total, but very spread out. There is no detectable amount of ammonia in the tank because the plants or bacteria use it as soon as it is made. But with a fishless cycle, that same amount of ammonia is added in one go, and it stays in the water for hours until at the end of the cycle it is all taken up within 24 hours.
Live plants do not not like this amount of ammonia in the water for hours. This is why I suggested doing a fishless cycle with less ammonia than the method on here as one option. But the tank cannot be fully stocked at the end of the cycle using reduced ammonia doses.
Your tank looks carefully planted so you may not want to add more plants. But this is the other option. Plants use ammonia as fertiliser and if there are enough well growing plants they will use all the ammonia made by the fish before the bacteria get chance to use it. Floating plants are particularly good at this, and a lot of fish do like to have cover over their heads.
As a side issue, this is a good time to find out how hard your water actually is. Are you on Yorkshire Water? if you are, just enter your postcode here about half way down the page https://www.yorkshirewater.com/waterhardness and the next page will give your water hardness on the right hand side - not the figures in the table. It will give it as mg/l calcium, which we will need to convert to the units used in fishkeeping.
Live plants do not not like this amount of ammonia in the water for hours. This is why I suggested doing a fishless cycle with less ammonia than the method on here as one option. But the tank cannot be fully stocked at the end of the cycle using reduced ammonia doses.
Your tank looks carefully planted so you may not want to add more plants. But this is the other option. Plants use ammonia as fertiliser and if there are enough well growing plants they will use all the ammonia made by the fish before the bacteria get chance to use it. Floating plants are particularly good at this, and a lot of fish do like to have cover over their heads.
As a side issue, this is a good time to find out how hard your water actually is. Are you on Yorkshire Water? if you are, just enter your postcode here about half way down the page https://www.yorkshirewater.com/waterhardness and the next page will give your water hardness on the right hand side - not the figures in the table. It will give it as mg/l calcium, which we will need to convert to the units used in fishkeeping.
Its important to note that whether Stress zyme adds actual bacteria or not, there is no reason to continue using it weekly in a cycled tank.
Bottled bacteria is a controversial subject. Some of them seem to work, some are just expensive bottles. All reports of benefits are anecdotal -- studies have only been carried out by their makers.
Waste of money,
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