jace91974

Hi I am new here , I have a new 36 gallon tank set up for two months .I do use water conditioner. I have two fish in there now one is a blue gourami, and the other one is a cory catfish . My ammonia been a little high but not to bad . And my nitrate and nitrite have been 0 readings until this week , my nitrate has been at 20 , my nitrite has been at 5.0 and my ammonia has jump to from 0.25 to 0.50 and I do water change 20 %weekly but this week its been daily but no result in the readings .So do I just do daily water changes until I get the readings down? And I know it has too go through the cycle . I just want to make sure it safe for the fishs that we have , almost forgot to say that the filter that we are using is a tetra whisper 45ex so any help please Thank you

Lucy

Hi Welcome to Fish Lore
I'd up the water changes to 50% daily and use Prime or Stress Coat+ (not regular Stress Coat) to detox the ammonia until your tank is cycled with readings of 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites with some nitrates showing.

Good luck finishing the cycle

jace91974

And when should I change the filter media ? The filter media is 2 months old

IIIHawKIII

Just don't use ammo-lock or any other brand of ammonia detox. Prime and stress zyme keep the ammonia in a usable form to feed the beneficial bacteria. Good luck. And also, when you do start adding new fish, do it like 1 or 2 and then check your levels until they are back where they should be.

IIIHawKIII

I wouldn't change it till it falls apart. Next time you do a water change, just rinse it in the siphoned off tank water. Tap water kills beneficial bacteria.

Shawnie

welcome to fishlore!! the jumps in all the readings is probably from an unfinished cycle or the addition of too many fish for the etablished bacteria to handle..but either way ammo lock is fine now to use ....it still keeps the ammonia available for the cycle but detoxifies it for the fish...stress zyme is a waste of money as you have to add it forever.....you dont ever have to change the filter media unless its totally falling apart...just rinse it out in the bucket of used tank water you are removing from water changes...daily is a must to finish up the cycle as lucy said and the prime, stress coat+ or ammo lock, will keep the fishies safe while its finishing up ...goodluck

CWO4GUNNER

Actually Prime besides detoxifying ammonia will give you the added benefits of detoxifying nitrite and as well as promoting the regeneration of natural slime coat. Prime does everything Stress Coat Plus does plus allot more and its cost allot less per measured dose. Detoxifying every 24 hours in conjunction with 50% water chnages daily should get you through this. Try and use a water change hose kit like Python or Lee's to save your back in bucket drills, will make water changes simple and fast.

At this point still cycling you can clean your filter media if its real bad by saving some of the water from your old water change in a bucked and gently but completely squeeze rinsing the old filter media and reusing it as it has loads of beneficial bacteria at this point. As long as you don't use tap water to clean it, it should not affect your cycle and most likely will diminish any large spike in ammonia that seems unaffected by water changes.

jace91974

I will let you guy know what happens in a next day or so, thanks

Lucy

Agreed!

jdhef

As other's have said, wait untill it is falling apart to change.

But...a few weeks before you thing it will need changing, put new media in your filter (if it will fit) or in your tank. This way the new media gets a chance to get seeded with bacteria. Then when you do change it out, it should minimize damage to your cycle.

Sometimes I wonder if we have a cycle so we can keep fish, or if we have fish so we can keep a cycle.

cmoreland

^ This.

agabr123

Welcome to Fishlore

once you get your cycle under control, i'd definitely consider adding a few more cories (they really prefer to be in groups) and we'd love to see some pictures!

pogo_richie

oh man I have sooo much to learn, carp! lol

agabr123

dont worry fishkeeping can have a fairly steep learning curve but one day everything will click for you and start to make a whole lot more sense.

jace91974

My Whisper filter 45ex has carbon rock in the media . the media that in there is two months old . I know the carbon in it does not last long ,so do I cut a little hole in the bottom of the filter and empty it out ? so that way I can use the same media for the good bacteria awhile its in it cycle process

jdhef

Yes, just cut a hole in the media and dump out the carbon.

jace91974

thanks jdhef

jace91974

todays readings , nitrite is still 5.0 my nitrate is a 10, my ammonia has been falling back to 0.25 I hope I am on the right track know. I think my blue gourami thinks he a cory catfish , he being sitting at the bottom of the tank this morning and do everything that the cory does,and they are not nipping at each other, so I know they are not fighting . thanks you guys for all the help . I will keep you guy posted on the readings and I hope the cycleing will be done soon