jdhef

That's only because you don't have fish yet!

scorpiogirl

LOL, John! We shall see about that.

I have another question...would it be ok to put a small clay pot in the tank for decoration/hiding place or would this harm the water?

jdhef

I'm pretty sure it would be okay. But someone jump in if I'm wrong!

ThisGuy

I have seen people use clay pots in tanks as a spawning location for some types of fish, it should be harmless as long as its not full of dirt.

Cheers (its just an expression)

Ryan

scorpiogirl

Thanks you guys! LOL, Ryan....I know it is and I was just teasing you
I think it would be a good hiding place for the fish, (when I get them...can't wait!) and it looks cool too. Hey, yall better except my friends request. OK?
Laters,
Lisa

scorpiogirl

hey, check out my new pics of the (empty ) tank. What do yall think?

ThisGuy

Tank looks good it will be better once there is some fish in there

Blub

Looks good - especially for a first tank, my first one looked half as good!

Lucy

Your tank looks great! Very well done.
My first tank was a mish mash of colors and stuff, not very appealing. lol, Actually it hasn't changed much, but it's grown on me and my fish like it.

tzqng8

Got in on the tail end of all this discussion, but thought I'd say welcome to fishlore and good luck on the tank!

scorpiogirl

Thank you all for the compliments. I am having a very hard time waiting on this stupid thing to cycle! You know, all of my levels are staying the same. Granted, I am using test strips right now because that's all I have but still, shouldn't SOMETHING be happening? In fact, it looks like my ammonia levels are going down...? I have been putting flake food in twice a day and the heat is up to 84. The test strip shows that the nitrite and nitrate are both 0. When should I expect to see a change? Getting antzy here.

jdhef

There should be some overlap in your ammonia dropping and your nitrites rising. So that fact that your ammonia is dropping may be a good thing! It took about 2-1/2 weeks for my ammonia to drop to zero (I cycled with danios). and about 2-1/2 to 3 weeks for the nitites to cycle.

scorpiogirl

Tomorrow will be three weeks and the ammonia is lowering but no change in the nitrite or nitrates. Went ahead and put some fish in though, they are doing fine. Love to watch them all the time.

ThisGuy

What kind of fish?

Blub

Seconded!

Lucy

You're using test strips? They're not accurate. It would be a good idea to get a liquid test kit so you really knew where you were in the cycle.
It's probably mentioned in this thread somewhere that the API is recommended by a lot of people here.

If you put fish in while you have ammonia readings, you can be jeopardizing your fish's health.
I'd suggest you start daily water changes until the tank finishes cycling.

Good luck.

scorpiogirl

I have 3 guppies, 2 platies, and 6 neon tetras in my 26g tank. They all have been doing very well but this morning I noticed that the mickey mouse platy is just hanging around the bottom of the tank. He will come up for food and moves around some but not as active as usual. No visible signs of any problem so I don't know what is goin on with him. I know I need to get the liquid testing supplies but until I do I have been taking samples to a local pet shop for testing. They use the liquid and as of Mon. my ammonia was between 0.25 and 0.50. I bought some of the reverse-osmosis water they have there because the source of the ammonia is my tap water. I did a 50% water change with the water and the lady told me to bring in another sample for testing today which I will do. Just not sure what is going on with the platy. Any advice? Thanks!

jdhef

It could be the ammonia. Fish usually can't tolerate even small amounts. So you are really going to have to keep up with the 50% water changes until it comes down.

I don't know how much the R.O. water costs at the LFS, but you could also use bottled water. You can usually get bottle water pretty cheapat places like WalMart.

Lucy

Using Prime as your conditioner will help neutralize the ammonia.
We have another member who has ammonia in their and that's what helps her.

Your platy is feeling the effects of the ammonia, the water change will do him good.

Good luck.

scorpiogirl

How often will I have to change the water? Do I need to change 50% each time? The RO water is 52 cents per gallon is that much cheaper than the bottled water at walmart; spring water/distilled water, or mineral water?

scorpiogirl

Lucy, I was told that I don't need to add any Prime if I am using the RO water. Is this right?

mrsmuffin

The RO water may not have chlorine in it that requires you to use water conditioner, but the Prime will help your fish deal with the ammonia that is in your tank right now. I believe that since there is ammonia in your tank, you should dose the entire tank with prime every 24 hours (after or during your daily water change.)

scorpiogirl

Thanks for the advice. My problem is that I can't afford to buy enough RO water to do daily changes and I don't think I can use my tap water because it has 1.0ppm of ammonia. Will the Prime eliminate all of that ammonia from the tap?

scorpiogirl

I took a sample of the tank water to the pet shop and my ammonia level is 0.25, nitrite and nitrate are 0. I am using some zeolite in a media bag that is placed behind my regular filter for extra help in ridding the tank of ammonia. What else can or should I do to get the ammonia down to 0? The fish seem fine, just doing a little bit of "flashing". Any suggestions?

jdhef

Your ammonia won't reach zero until you build up enough ammonia eating bacteria to convert the ammonia to nitrites, at which point you'll be testing positive for nitites. Your in a bit of a pickle, since your tap water contains ammonia, so daily water changes are impractical/too expensive.

If the Zeolite removes the ammonia, you'll never build up the bacteria colony that you need to convert ammonia to nitrites.

I'm not sure, and I would love someone elses opinion on this, but at this point you might just be better off trying to get some BioSpira or Safe Start. When I bought BioSpira at mylfs it was only $12 for a packet that would cycle 30 gallons. That would probably be cheaper than Zeolite and bottled/R.O. water.

Oh well, I hope I helped a little. Good luck.

scorpiogirl

I think you are right about my tank not being able to cycle as long as I am using the Zeolite to take ammonia out but I don't know anything about using BioSpira or SafeStart. Will it harm the fish? Do I need to stop using the Zeolite and when I do, will the ammonia level harm the fish? Can you take me step by step through what I should do? Am open to any and all suggestions because I am clueless here. Thanks in advance for all your help!

Lucy

I've never heard of Zeolite, but what John said sounds right.

Another member has ammonia in her tap water, if I remember correctly, the Prime takes care of it.

Ammonia can kill your fish, so now that you've decided to add fish to an uncycled tank, you'll need to do 50% water changes daily.
Get yourself an API Master kit and test daily keeping track of the reults.

You'll see ammonia rise then begin to fall, at which point you'll see nitrites rise....which also can be deadly to fish.....then you'll begin to see nitrates.
When your ammonia and nitrites fall to 0 with some nitrates showing, your tank will be cycled.

This takes time, longer with fish than without, so be patient and do your daily water changes, you owe it to your fish.

I don't have experience with Bio-Spira or Safe Start, I'll let someone who knows about it comment on it.

Look luck.

jdhef

I think that you would need to stop using the Zeolite if you add BioSpira/Safe Start. BioSpira/Safe Start needs the ammonia to feed the bacteria it contains. With BioSpira/Safe Start you add the fish at the same time you add the BS/SS so it won't harm your fish (and once again needs the ammonia that the fish produce to feed off of).

Of course that is assuming it works properly. I used BS for my 5 gallon betta tank, and while I am getting no ammonia, I am getting nitrites, so I'm doing daily 50% water changes.

scorpiogirl

Ok, I am really confused here. I have given this info before, but just in case anyone is not aware of my situation let me recap. My 26 gallon tank has been set up for 4weeks and not knowing anything about the nitrogen cycle, I added in fish right off the bat. I have a total of 12 fish, 1 rubbernosed pleco, 6 neon tetras, 3 male guppies, 2 female platies.
My ammonia level was about 0.50 for a few weeks and my lfs said to add Zeolite carbon into the filter to help lower the ammonia. I did so and the ammonia went down to less than 0.20. However, now the ammonia is back up again to 0.25 and I've been getting nitrite readings of 0.25. The nitrate is 0, pH is 7.6 and I keep the temp around 77F. The lady at my lfs tested my tap water which contains 1.0 PPM of ammonia. She said I would need to buy R/O water instead of using the tap water. I've been doing 20% water changes about every 4-5 days with both R/O and tap water. Yesterday I noticed that my Mickey Mouse platy was hiding alot and pooping a lot. Today she seems a little better but she is not acting "normal", at least compared to how she usually acts. She stays in one place for long periods at the bottom of the tank except for feeding time when she joins in. I have noticed that she is rubbing against object in the tank a little and at times she twitches and shakes her body in a violent way. What is going on? I am sure I have probably been overfeeding them so I started cutting that down today. I added aquarium salt to the water as suggested on the container yesterday when I did a 20% water change.
I am really confused about whether or not to do partail water changes while my tank is trying to cycle because one lfs says to do them at least once per week to keep the toxins down and another says NOT to do any water changes while the tank is cycling, just stir up the gravel to allow all the poop to go into the filter so it can create the good bugs. Should I do them or not? Please help! Can anyone tell me what might be going on with my platy? Also, why is the ammonia still at 0.25 when I am getting a nitrite reading? Any suggestions? Thanks!
Lisa

Darlene

We have 1ppm of ammonia in our tap water and we also cycled with fish, not knowing better before we found this site. After talking to some people on here I did 50% daily water changes with half tap water and half spring water from the store. Also we added Prime to the water changes. It helped us get through the rest of our cycle without losing more fish.

Good luck.