water parameters out of wack

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niqolas619

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 21, 2007
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Chicago
Ok, I have been attempting to do the fishless cycling thing for about a month now. I thought I was good, because I got my ammonia and nitrite down to 0, and then did a water change to bring down my nitrates. I added 4 fish the next day, but they all died within the next day. I checked my parameters then, and my nitrites had shot up to about 4 ppm, while my ammonia was at 0 and nitrates about 5 or so.

So I tried to continue the cycling process, and got my ammonia and nitrites to 0 and my nitrates were about 50 or so. I did a large water change and checked the tank within about an hour, and the levels were pretty much unchanged - 0,0, and about 20 or 30. I thought I would add some ammonia, just to see what happened, and planned on doing another water change today to try to bring down my nitrates a little more. Well, this morning, I checked my stuff and my ammonia is back down to 0, nitrites about 4 or 5, and nitrates are around 10 or 15. I think there may be something wrong with my dechlorinator. If my water isn't really dechlorinated, it would kill off the bacteria when I add it to the tank, right?

I'm using Stress Coat by Aquarium Pharmaceuticals. It says that it removes all chlorine and chloramines from the water, but I think there may be something wrong with it or I'm using it incorrectly. I'm adding about 2.5 ml to every 5 gallon container of water that I add because it says to add 5 ml for every 10 gallons.

Does anyone have any experience with this stuff? Am I using it correctly? Am I incorrect in thinking that my problem is due to chlorines and chloramines?

As you can see, this is my first post here, so I'm sorry if it's in the wrong area. Thanks in advance.
 
I forgot to mention some stuff about the tank itself:

It's a 55 gallon, 48x18x12 inch tank and have 2 emperor 400 HOB bio-wheels. The tank is going to be for African Cichlids. This isn't my first tank - I had one in San Diego for about 7 months and never had a problem with any fish dying.
 
Stress Coat is a perfectly fine dechlorinator. We used it when we fishless cycled our 300 gallon tank. Actually, your readings for nitrite and nitrate were not that high, so I'm wondering if you fishless cycled your tank properly. Did you continue to add ammonia to your tank until the end of the cycling process? If you did, you should have had a nitrate reading that was sky high. You should have initially added enough pure ammonia to your tank to get a reading of 4 ppm. Remember, you have to keep feeding the beneficial bacteria that you are colonizing. Here is a site with very easy step-by-step directions for fishless cycling.
http://www.aquatic-hobbyist.com/profiles/misc/fishlesscycling.html.


Make sure you are using pure ammonia. Dollar stores and hardware stores are good places to find pure ammonia. Surfactants in the other ammonia products could hurt your fish. When you initially add the ammonia, keep a count of the drops that you add. Knowing how much ammonia you need to get a reading of 4.0 ppm, makes it easier when you add more ammonia to get the level back up. ( If it takes 60 drops of ammonia to get a reading of 4 ppm ammonia, when you have a reading of 2 ppm, you would add 30 drops of ammonia to get the level back to 4ppm. If you are at 1 ppm, then you would add 45 drops.) Once you have a nitrite reading, add only enough ammonia to keep the reading at 1 or 2 ppm. We kept the ammonia at 4ppm, and that delayed the cycling, as the nitrite was so high, it took a long time to drop. You will eventually have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and a high nitrate reading. At that point, your tank is cycled. Do a massive water change to get the nitrate as low as possible, and add your fish. When a tank is fishless cycled correctly, you can place your fish in the tank with full confidence that you have enough beneficial bacteria to handle the bioload of the fish.
 
Stress Coat works as a dechlorinator, but I recommend Prime. This will save you money, as Prime is much more concentrated and less is required to do the same job.
 
niqolas619;767698; said:
Ok, I have been attempting to do the fishless cycling thing for about a month now. I thought I was good, because I got my ammonia and nitrite down to 0, and then did a water change to bring down my nitrates. I added 4 fish the next day, but they all died within the next day. I checked my parameters then, and my nitrites had shot up to about 4 ppm, while my ammonia was at 0 and nitrates about 5 or so.

So I tried to continue the cycling process, and got my ammonia and nitrites to 0 and my nitrates were about 50 or so. I did a large water change and checked the tank within about an hour, and the levels were pretty much unchanged - 0,0, and about 20 or 30. I thought I would add some ammonia, just to see what happened, and planned on doing another water change today to try to bring down my nitrates a little more. Well, this morning, I checked my stuff and my ammonia is back down to 0, nitrites about 4 or 5, and nitrates are around 10 or 15. I think there may be something wrong with my dechlorinator. If my water isn't really dechlorinated, it would kill off the bacteria when I add it to the tank, right?

I'm using Stress Coat by Aquarium Pharmaceuticals. It says that it removes all chlorine and chloramines from the water, but I think there may be something wrong with it or I'm using it incorrectly. I'm adding about 2.5 ml to every 5 gallon container of water that I add because it says to add 5 ml for every 10 gallons.

Does anyone have any experience with this stuff? Am I using it correctly? Am I incorrect in thinking that my problem is due to chlorines and chloramines?

As you can see, this is my first post here, so I'm sorry if it's in the wrong area. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...


I've reread your post. Your tank is definitely still cycling. You need to keep adding ammonia to keep it at 1 - 2 ppm until the nitrites drop to 0.

From the Fishless Cycling article:
"Now test for nitrites. They should be VERY high. The nitrites will probably exceed the highest limit of your nitrite test. This isn't a problem, if course, because you have no fish to worry about. Continue to add enough ammonia each day to bring the ammonia level to 1 or 2.

The high-nitrite stage seems to last forever. It seems to me that Nitrobacter (the nitrite-consuming bacteria) grow more slowly than Nitrosomas (the ammonia-consuming bacteria).

When the nitrite drops, it will drop rapidly. When the test reads zero for 24 hours or more, your tank is cycled. This is the payoff for all your patience."
 
Thanks for the help and the link. I have been following the fishless cycling directions (with adding ammonia everyday), but I'm just confused as to why my tank seemed cycled, but then wasn't. I would add ammonia and the tank would break it down to 0 within a matter of hours and my nitrite reading would not fluctate at all - stayed at 0. My nitrates were extremely high as well. I did the large water change to bring down my nitrates, and that's when it seems like all of the bacteria left as well. My ammonia still goes back to nil within a few hours, but my nitrites are hovering around 3 or 4. I'm just concerned that my water change is messing with the bacteria. I didn't vaccuum or anything when I changed the water - just drained out about 75% and then put dechlorinated water back in. What's the deal???
 
It takes longer to build up the nitrite consuming bacteria. Be patient, your nitrites will come down. Don't do any water changes until the nitrites and ammonia are both 0. Doing a massive water change with dechlorinated water will remove the nitrates and will NOT harm the beneficial bacteria in your filter media. When we fishless cycled our tank, it took a long time for the nitrites to drop. Since the tank has been cycled, we have NEVER had a nitrite reading. (We did have a mini cycle and an ammonia reading after a long power outage) Our experience has been that it takes longer to colonize the nitrite consuming bacteria than the ammonia consuming bacteria, but once established, the nitrite consuming bacteria are hardier than the ammonia eating ones. It just takes patience on your part. Stress Coat is a good dechlorinator. After your tank is cycled, turn your filters off and remove most of the water. Add enough Stress Coat to treat the whole tank, then add your water. Once your tank is full again, turn on your filters. Running chlorinated water through your filters would kill off beneficial bacteria.

When your tank is completely cycled, you should be able to add ammonia, and in 12 hours have 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite readings with a rise in nitrates only. Your tank is still cycling until you can add ammonia and have 0 readings for ammonia and nitrites.
 
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