How long until ammonia appears on average?

[Longimanus]

I have a new (used) 37 gallon tank I bought from someone off Craigslist. The tank came with 11 Neon Tetras, two Checkered Rainbows, one Zebra Danio and three Clown Loaches. The tank was up and running when I went to look at it, it came with gravel, a small piece of driftwood, a fake ornament thing, some plastic plants, an undergravel filter, a heater and an Aquaclear 200.

The tank looked good so I bought it. He proceeded to empty all the water out and of course it started to STINK! Once I got it home I removed the UG filter, rinsed the gravel and scrubbed the tank. I put the gravel, plants and wood back in and filled her up. I did not put the UG filter back in because I hate them. Then I added the heater and the AC 200, which of course didn't work. Sigh. I had access to a brand new AC 70 so I put that on with the media from the AC200. Now I am unsure if the AC200 was actually running when it was in the guys house. It's terrible that I didn't notice!

Anyway, my question is how long does it usually take for ammonia to start showing up if the tank is cycling from scratch? I mean the tank should have some bacteria from the plants, ornament and driftwood and I'm hoping the filter media was good. Plus there was a couple gallons of their old water that went into the tank with the fish.

I set the tank up on Monday the 16th, so it has only been like four days, but with that many fish I expected to see some ammonia by now? Or is that still too soon? Nitrites are also zero, but there is a small amount of nitrates, maybe 6 or 7. I did a 15% water change yesterday.

 

[Longimanus]

Anyone have an idea?

 

[tcarswell]

You might be ok. It could take a while so I would keep checking params. Removing the Undergravel right off the bat was not a good idea though IMHO. Just to keep the gravel very bio active I would have kept it running for a few days. I think unhooking the under gravel will cause some kind of rebound not sure how long it may take. Were the ornaments and filter media kept in tank water? ? If you let that stuff dry there is no bio on it. Either way you are looking at a short cycle because of the under gravel loading the gravel with bio.

 

[Longimanus]

I had planned to keep the UG going for a little while, but it smelled so bad that I wouldn't have been able to bring it into my room without my husband throwing me and it out lol! Unfortunately the ornaments weren't kept in water. They were still pretty moist though as there was some water in the box from the filter. Well I will keep testing daily and see what happens. I just expected ammonia by now with so many fish in there.

 

[hybridtheoryd16]

I would bet you are probably good. Most of the bio-bacteria of that system would have been in the gravel and media. And you still have that. If you would have switched gravel and got new media then you would have problems. If anything i would bet you might get a little nitrite in the near future just because it seems that those bacteria are a little more sensitive.

 

[tcarswell]

Indeed just keep checking. Prepare for 50% water changes if needed. Also yeah when people dont maintain under gravel filters they get beyond smelly.

 

[Longimanus]

Yeah it was super gross! The water was almost black once I took it out and the gravel got turned up. I did rinse the gravel pretty good, so I'm not sure if there was much bacteria left in it.

Thanks for the replies, I'll keep checking everyday and water changes a few times a week.

 

[lighthouse39183]

Be sure you clean the impeller good on the AC200. If it is too dirty it will not restart. I had that problem with mine once.

 

[Jgray152]

Was the bio media in the filter still kept wet? If so then you may not see much of a spike in ammonia since you could still have some BB in the media, if the filter was used.

 

[tcarswell]

oh jeese you rinsed the gravel too. It really would have been better to do this in increments despite the smell it was an established aquarium. Hope the filter media has a little BB left.