Strange cycle?

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Amaroq

Amaroq

Candiru
MFK Member
Jul 1, 2007
490
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In The Little Town Of Bedrock!
Alright so I set up a 40 gallon long tank on Saturday and I've been testing it daily and doing water changes as required but something weird has been happening. The tank is being cycled by two shubikin goldfish(sp?) and they have been in there since Sunday. They are 1" long at max. Anyways, my Ammonia has steadily increased to a daily 0.50 where as before it was 0.25. My Nitrites have stayed at zero. My Nitrates though have increased from 0 to 5. My pH has also increased from 7.2 to over 7.6 even with having 3 peices of driftwood in there from the begining.

I tested my tapwater as soon as I got my test kit and the readings were; Ammonia 0, Nitrites 0, Nitrates 0, and a pH of 7.2.

I've had a Ehiem 2234 Ecco running on the tank since Saturday (Opted for more Bio so switched the Chem for the Bio) (Filter is brand new) I added a AC mini yesterday with all Mech and a pot scrubby. I've also been using "Cycle" by Nutrafin to try and get it going a little quicker but it doesn't seem to be doing much.

Am I just being a bit paranoid here or is something amiss? I purchased the test kit on Saturday as well, its an "API Freshwater Master Test Kit" is that a very reliable test kit? is it the test kit? am I doing something wrong? I'm so confused! :confused::nilly:

Also when I first filled the tank up I used Prime to dechlorinate it, after adding the fish I switched over to some leftover AquaPlus thinking that this would help with the cycle because Prime says it "Removes Ammonia and Detoxifies Nitrites & Nitrates" did I do the right thing?
 
If your Ammo is dropping & you are making Nitrates, maybe you just got lucky. Cycle contains both kinds of BB, so maybe that has something to do with it? Either way, keep an eye on things & keep us updated.
 
it just takes time. two 1" goldfish don't really generate tons of ammonia so the bacterial population will not grow rapidly because there is not tons of food. Having said that, to protect the goldfish you don't want it to spike quickly because an ammonia spike too high means two dead goldfish :) that is the drawback to a 'fish IN' cycle..

it usually takes 36-38 days on average for a tank to fully cycle (ie your ammo peaks then drops, your nitrites peak then drop, you see nitrates)
 
Any idea how long it will take with the use of the "Cycle" and if I'm able to get some filter "squeezes"/used media ?

At what level of Ammonia should I do a partial water change? Should I just do a 25% every other day? Would it cycle faster if I let the Ammonia go higher then 0.50?
 
Yes, its better with old media, but otherwise just keep doing what you're doing now. I think Prime slows you down a bit, unless you use Stability with it. On the other hand, Cycle probably works best with AquaPlus. Anyway, it just takes a few weeks of constant WC's...
 
I think its the "Cycle" thats causing the Ammonia blurps. I added a few extra capful today and skip the water change and my Ammonia has bumped up to between 1 and 2... I'll try a 50% water change tomorrow and skip adding the extra Cycle and see if my Ammonia begins to go down.

Is it possible that the tank has already cycled (hence the Nitrates) and the Cycle is what is causing my Ammonia to be so high?
 
Cycle contains both kinds of BB, so you should be seeing small amounts of both Nitrite & Nitrate. If you're not seeing any Nitrite & your Ammo isnt dropping, then you're still in stage 1 of the cycle. Be patient & the tank will shift to stage 2 when its ready. You will also probably get stuck in stage 2 for awhile...
 
Guess I'm just being a bit paranoid then lol I decided to pour the rest of my Cycle into the tank as it says on the bottle it is impossible to overdose. So I poured half into the AC mini and half into the intake of the Ehiem. I plan on testing later on tonight and I guess I'll find out if the Cycle really does do its job or if it increases my Ammonia like I seem to think it does.

Also if my Ammonia hasn't gone down by tonight then maybe I got a bad batch and it expired or something? I didn't see any expiry dates on it and it didn't say to store in anywhere special.
 
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