Am I good?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
do 30% WC's every day until you get the Nitrites to 0.

I don't know peopels obsession with prime and bacteria in a bottle.

Any good declorinator will get the job done. and bacteria live in the fishes waste so buying a bottle of bacteria that does poorly on a shelf is not liekly going ot be much luck unless you got lucky and the bottle is still very fresh.

Time and Patience. Your colony needs time to build keeping your ammonia below I belive it's 2ppm and your nitrites as close to unreadable is your Goal at this stage. High ammonia will kill off any bacteria started growing and force the tank into a re-cylce. Def agree with takeing some "Muck" from an established filter and dumping it into your filter, I would put it behind the filter cartridge so the sludge can get trapped by your current cartridge. ( this will seed the filter cartridge which in turn will re-seed the bio-wheel. ) So dureing this tiem avoid changeing out the carbon pad. Syphoning the bottom of poop, and shakeing the filter pad into the water your intending to throw out dureing a water change and replaceing the pad are imo good ways to help your system. You will be keeping the tank as clean as possible, yet maintaining and encourageing your BB colony.
 
keep adding the stability, honestly if it were me i'd do a huge WC probably about 50% go ahead and re-add some more stability directly to the filters and continue to do 25%-35% daily until you get things under control
 
You might try as suggested and get some currently used filter pads from a friend and put it in your filter or get some matching substrate or rocks from your LFS that has been in their tanks. Also keep feeding to a minimun and you'll be OK!!

I have never used "bacteria in a bottle" because I can't belive it stays potent for any length of time.

Let us know how it turns out.
 
Try to get your nitrItes below 1.5 (preferably below 1) then add salt to the tank, that will protect the fishes from nitrIte poisoning. It competes in the gills with the nitrItes, and allows them to breathe.

Edit:: Yes, take the media from your friend. Throw it in a bucket with his tank water, and place the filter directly into your filter, don't rinse it or anything, that will remove bacteria, the sludge is carrying a lot of that stuff, and becomes a problem when your tank is mature, it leads to high nitrAtes, but right now, you need that sludge for your immature tank.
 
Don't get too impatient of cycling the tank for a MONTH. I didn't once and I learn this the hard way. Almost lost a red wolf fish and 2 bichirs. Patience is the key.
 
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