aquarium cycling question

I started off cycling with well water that went through a water softener that used salt. I cycled for over 50 days then dumped it out because I was getting no where. The water was super dirty and no nitrates where showing up, let alone the ammonia going down more than .25ppm every 3 days. So I bought stream water from Walmart and put that in the tank. But I did't change the filter cartridge to clean the decorations. In fact, it never crossed my mind! So now after 12 days, the water is looking a little dirty, no nitrites are showing up, and the ammonia is going down slower than a snail. Does anybody know what I should do? Should I dump the water out again and clean every thing, or try to keep it cycling? I can buy seeding material, or would it even help at this point? Thanks!

 

Hello sus...

Well water that's dosed with a water treatment like Seachem's "Safe" should be fine for a tank. Most aquarium fish are tolerant of most water conditions. If you have the tank set up, then put in some individual stems of Hornwort or another floating plant and allow the tank to run for a few days. The plant will help prepare the water for the fish.

I cycled my first tank with female Guppies. I used 8 fish in a 30 gallon tank. I fed the fish a little every day and tested the water for traces of ammonia and nitrite, If I had a positive test, I removed one-quarter of the water and replaced it with new, treated water. I tested every day and removed the water when needed. At the end of roughly 30 days, I had several tests with no traces of ammonia or nitrite, so the tank was established (cycled). From this point forward, I just changed roughly half the tank water every few days to a week to make sure the water was safe for the fish.

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do you have fish in? or are you using another source of ammonia? and what do you mean by the water is dirty?

 

I don't have fish I'm fishes cycling. I am using pure ammonia. And by dirty I mean that the water was greenish brown.

 

that's really odd. was it in the sunlight?

 

What your seeing may be algae in the water. Try lowering the light level or time lights are on to stop it. I would add some live bacteria to help the cycle start. Whats your ammo level your using to start cycle? I've read that too high can inhibit bacteria. Ph may be a factor also.

 

No it wasn't the sun light because it looks dirty in all lighting. I will just turn the tank light off. Can I put the fish in the tank with the algae?
I started with 1ppm of ammonia then yesterday I got it up to three ppm. I was thinking that I would dump out the water again and change the filter cartridge and then add the heathy bacteria. But maybe I'll just add it now! I haven't tested my ph yet.