Ammonia Help

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
It's either add more fish and let the cycle complete or remove the guppies and do a fishless cycle. Or, if you have the patience, you could shepherd the guppies through the cycle alone with massive daily water changes. It would take a lot of time. When you return the goldfish, you will probably have a lot of casualties. Neither goldfish nor guppies are particularly good fish to cycle a tank with.
 
Ok, last time. You don't think some overfeeding has contributed to a .25 ammonia spike. I did have readings at zero last week. Are you absolutely sure I'm not done cycling?
 
No, of course I'm not absolutely sure of anything! I'm especially confused in this case, because the numbers you gave for all parameters are, like, IMPOSSIBLE.

What was your nitrite and nitrate reading last week when the ammonia was zero?
 
I had the spikes for both Nitrite and Nitrates. They both went thru the roof and then came back down. Ammonia then also was at zero after that. After about a week, ammonia went up slightly to .25 from 0. I'm sorry I'm such a rookie about this. I just want to make sure everything is healthy.
 
you have to understand that the nitrogen cycle happens in 3 phases...
1. the introduction of ammonia (fish or pure ammonia)
2. the colonization of bacteria that converts ammonia to nitrItes
3. the colonization that converts nitrIte into nitrAte.

So when you cycle your tank you should first get an ammonia reading, with zero nitrIte and zero nitrAte.
Then you will see a slight reduction in ammonia and a readable nitrIte ammount...when the tank is cycled fully you will have a reading of zero ammonia, zero nitrIte and a 20-40 ppm nitrAte...weekly water changes will keep the nitrate in that range.

My advise is to pull the guppies, and do a fishless cycle.
I also have a Magnum 350 on my small tank, and I replaced the carbon with ceramic media.

No matter what you decide to do for fish make sure you get a steady reading of your perameters.
Using Ammonia is not only humane it is more presice of a bio-load and in my opinion one of the fastest ways to get a fully cycled tank.
 
I agree. If you had 0.25 ppm ammonia yesterday and today you reallyl and truly have 0 nitrite and 0 nitrate, then I'm stumped. Something is amiss. However, based on the story of the beginnings of the tank, my *best guess* is that it did not completely cycle.

Incidentally, is the current goldfish tank cycled?
 
can't increasing the bioload quicker than your filtration can handle it lead to a mini-cycle?
 
Not usually. A healthy colony of nitrifying bacteria can double itself in 24 hours. I've added 8 3" fish before with no problem. Anyway, she decreased her bioload, not increased.
 
Ok everyone, just a fyi. My tank readings are back to perfect. I performed a 10% water change and waited 2 days to take another reading and everything was perfect. Ammonia was reading 0. Nitrites 0. Nitrates between 0 & 20 (a trace). I do use the strips but there was no mistaken the chart. I also am only feeding the fish once per day as opposed to 3x a day. I placed 3 more goldfish to hang out with the 4 guppies to keep things good. I'm planning on this Wednesday to pick up 5 quarter sized RBP's. Tank was set up initially June 2nd. Do you truly believe this tank has cycled as I do. I thank everyone for all the input.
 
Strips are no good. You should get a kit with separate reagents to test your water parameters. Other than that dmed is absolutely right. You probably never finished cycling in the first place. One more thing I would add, you should do larger volume water changes as it's the only effective way to get the nitrates out of your tank. As dmed said, you should always have some nitrate reading in a fully cycled tank, but zero is not a feasible reading.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom