when i went home to check on my tank today, i noticed that by the filter there is a build up of foam. i have no idea how this foam came to be but i have been cycling this tank for about a week now and have not been around it since sunday morning. any insight on this guys?
foam on the top of tank
- Thread starter zpetrichko
- Start date
zpetrichko;3666148; said:
Do you have fish in the tank? I once disturbed my bio-media. The next day I had foam like you described on top of the water in a corner. My first though was that it was a bubble nest, but that didn't make sence. I checked my ammonia and the tank was going through an ammonia spike. I did a water changed , kept an eye on it, and it cleard up in a few days.
If you have no fish in the tank and your ammonia is high, once the tank is finished cycling, you may need to physically remove the bubbles from the tank to clear it up.
yes cycled and no ammonia are linked by definition.zpetrichko;3666148; said:
cycled- refers to the nitrogen cycle, well actually only part of it. it refers to the process of converting ammonia to nitrite and then nitrite to nitrate.
to be cycled you have no ammonia or nitrite.
during your tanks life you will go through mini cycles, where in the bacteria or other organisms will grow to reestablish a balance. so they ie the bacteria will grow as much as they can with the food thats available.
class is adjourned.
depends how big of a bioload your attempting get the tank to handle. it varies usually around a few weeks, to be honest i dont remember i havent cycled tanks with out seeding them with biomedia from a cycled tank(really speeds it up).zpetrichko;3666333; said:
bet heres a graph
most people dont finish stocking for atleast months tho, it can be done faster but this gives you a chance to research your fish choices
what happens is
1)you add a fish to a new tank
2)you wait a few weeks until nitrite dissappears
3)then add another fish
4)wait until your tank readjusts to increased bioload(termed a mini-cycle), usually this happens in a couple days(but again it varies based on how big your tank is and how big the fish you add). so your testing for ammonia and nitrite during this time and do water changes if it gets too high.
5)repeat step 3 and 4 until your fully stocked
well i did the cheat with the media from another filter. i usually dip it in for just a few seconds, it was a tip a guy at my lfs told me. since then i havent had any of my fish die off. but i'll probably go do a water change next chance i get.