Eskielvr
- #1
Well it turns out the brown stuff in my tank is a type of algae/diatom that's a sign of the beginning stages of cycling! I talked to a fish tech from Drs Foster and Smith and she said that snails produce very little ammonia, so they're not harming the cycle like some thought. She also told me that adding the Stress Zyme can in fact slow the cycle, but only because I was adding more bacteria to the water that it could handle due to lack of food for the bacteria, basically.
My tank is a 5 gallon, and I added the entire contents of the Bio Spira, which is what the directions say to do. The 1 oz Bio Spira treats up to 30 gallons, so her theory is my tank has been taking so long to cycle because I had added so much to it. Makes sense!! She said the Diatoms show up for about 4 days, and it's been I think 2 now, so I'll keep an eye on it. She also suggested me not performing any water changes until the tank is cycled. She also said that snails are sensitive to water conditions and the fact that they're doing fine is also a good sign. (But the ammonia is up to 4ppm!!)
So, I'm going to give the tank a maximum of 3 more weeks. After that, if I'm still not seeing anything going on I'll call them back and maybe consider starting over from scratch or something. Hopefully this is the beginning! I don't mind having to wait, it's just that I wasn't sure if I had messed something up or if something was wrong.
My tank is a 5 gallon, and I added the entire contents of the Bio Spira, which is what the directions say to do. The 1 oz Bio Spira treats up to 30 gallons, so her theory is my tank has been taking so long to cycle because I had added so much to it. Makes sense!! She said the Diatoms show up for about 4 days, and it's been I think 2 now, so I'll keep an eye on it. She also suggested me not performing any water changes until the tank is cycled. She also said that snails are sensitive to water conditions and the fact that they're doing fine is also a good sign. (But the ammonia is up to 4ppm!!)
So, I'm going to give the tank a maximum of 3 more weeks. After that, if I'm still not seeing anything going on I'll call them back and maybe consider starting over from scratch or something. Hopefully this is the beginning! I don't mind having to wait, it's just that I wasn't sure if I had messed something up or if something was wrong.