Yana

Hi Everyone,

I cycled my 400L (100 Gallon) Juwel(Germany) tank with "Stability" which is similar to TSS. It took more than 2 months. People from LPS promissed me a safe start....ammonia pick was 0.5, no nitrite and nitrate . Because the tank was heavily planted they said that nitrate might be at 0. After a week of all readings '0' aI started gradually adding fish and now lenth of all fish is about 136 cm (55"). Two weeks ago ammonia started to rise, no nitrite, no nitrate. One day pH which was around 6.8-7.1 srashed below 6.0. I started to perfom 25-35% water changes the every other day, skeeped feeding (I don't overfeed my fish). Ammonia continued to rise. I was advised to adjust PH up to minimum 6.8 because bacteria don't multiply if PH is below 6.5 and 6.0. I didn't want to add chemicals and added banking soda. It corrected the situation, PH stabilized...but I got another problem. Every time I do a water change, the PH crashes under 6.0...even if I change 10 L. Two weeks gone and no nitrite, no nitrate....the tank is full of fish with no opton to return fish to the store or move into another tank.
Tap water PH is 7.6 and water is very soft.
I really don't know what to do.....here in NZ they don't sell BioSpira...
Any advise will be MUCH appreciated. Thanks a lot!
Yana

Shawnie

welcome to fishlore yana if i havent done so yet!!

bio spira isnt around for fresh water tanks anymore..and if you find some for FW, I wouldnt use it as its probably expired.....its now TSS only... and stability is NOTHING like TSS...stability is not self sustaining bacteria like TSS is...so when you stop using stability, the cycle crashes....at this point with your ph issues and ammonia, id do 40-50% water changes a day...that will finish up your cycle, correctly, and help bring up the ph where your tap is 7.6 ....using ph up and downs as well as baking soda, changes the ph too fast and makes it unstable which in turn will cause major stress to the fish...goodluck!

Yana

Hi Shawnie, thanks a lot for your reply! It is not a problem for me to do 40-50% water change....the problem is that after every water change PH crashes in 6-8 hourse back under 6.0 and this affects fish and bacteria as well.... I can't figure out why does it happen...Should be a reason...