Having A New Tank Nightmare.

Hello everyone I’m very new on here but I’ve read many of the forums. I REALLY need your help I purchased a 75 gallon aquarium with a forza hob filter from my local pet supply store. Now I had a tank when I was too young to understand the cycle part of it so I’m completely new to CYCLING aquariums. My wife fell in love with the cichlids they had and wanted 4 cichlids and 3 black neon tetras and the person recommended to do a fish in cycle with these 7 fish now here we are two weeks later and 2 cichlids and 1 tetra died. My ammonia is at 8ppm my nitrites are at 0 and my nitrates are 20ppm. Two days ago I did a 50% water change and even added amquel which I was told was beneficial bacteria in a bottle and my ammonia still keeps staying at a steady 6ppm. Is this normal for the cycle or am I doing something wrong?

 

You need to be doing water changes, big water changes. I would start with a 75% water change to start with, check the ammonia level and then do another water change. You want to get that ammonia level down below one and preferably no more than .50

I am not sure what amquel is. Does it say on the bottle that is bacteria?

The one thing I always recommend using during a fish in cycle is Seachem Prime and nothing else.

What are you using to test your water perimeters?

BTW: Welcome to fishlore. we will do our best to get you on the right track to a fully cycled tank.

 

Welcome to the forum

Congrats on new 75g!

The employee at pet store did not give you good advice.

What type of cichlids did you get?

there are many types from around the world.

Most times they are categorized by geographic location....

African cichlids (most common types are peacocks, haps and mbuna, with dozens of sub-species under each of those)

South America/Central American cichlids (many species also)

The Kordon Amquel you used will help detoxify the ammonia.

It is not a biological booster.

Many people use Tetra Safe Start for that.

Seachem Prime is about the best and most cost effective dechlorinator you can use.

For a 75g, I recommend buying the 500mL bottle. It can also be used to detoxify ammonia spikes.

Large water changes will be needed to lower your ammonia until the beneficial bacteria colonizes to an appropriate level.

Here is a link to a thread on the forum for adding DIY media to your filter. Gives inexpensive and effective methods and ideas to boost your mechanical and biological filtration.

For a 75g, you may need a 2nd filter also
I recommend one that is not cartridge based.

A budget friendly Penguin 350 can be found for $26-$30 online and the reservoirs can be filled with foam sponge blocks instead of using the cartridges.

A step up would be an Aquaclear 70 for around $49 online. I own 4 different Aquaclears and they work great.

Next tier up would, you can get a Tidal 110 on sale for $62 (normally over $85) at kensfish.com.

Of course, these are all just examples.

Also, a decent air pump and 2 large sponge filters would work great as well.

LiveAquariahas their Azoo sponge filters on sale for 50% off or more, along with a ton of other stuff on clearance.

Get 2 of the Azoo Model #10's for $5 each (a steal at that price) and a Tetra 100 air pump for $19 and 20ft of Lee's air line tubing for $2. Here is a to their clearance section for Aquarium Supplies

For $31 and free S&H, that would really boost your biological filtration!

 

You need to be doing water changes, big water changes. I would start with a 75% water change to start with, check the ammonia level and then do another water change. You want to get that ammonia level down below one and preferably no more than .50

I am not sure what amquel is. Does it say on the bottle that is bacteria?

The one thing I always recommend using during a fish in cycle is Seachem Prime and nothing else.

What are you using to test your water perimeters?

BTW: Welcome to fishlore. we will do our best to get you on the right track to a fully cycled tank.

Thank you I appreciate you taking your time out to help. So should I be doing these %75 water changes daily or weekly? My first week I did a $50 water change and did another this week. And amquel is supposed to detoxify ammonia. But this week I bought the seachem prime and used it after my last %50 water change and again today because the bottle says dose every 48 hours. I’m using the apI test strips. Have to wait till I get paid again to buy the master test kit everyone recommends.

Welcome to the forum

Congrats on new 75g!

The employee at pet store did not give you good advice.

What type of cichlids did you get?

there are many types from around the world.

Most times they are categorized by geographic location....

African cichlids (most common types are peacocks, haps and mbuna, with dozens of sub-species under each of those)

South America/Central American cichlids (many species also)

The Kordon Amquel you used will help detoxify the ammonia.

It is not a biological booster.

Many people use Tetra Safe Start for that.

Seachem Prime is about the best and most cost effective dechlorinator you can use.

For a 75g, I recommend buying the 500mL bottle. It can also be used to detoxify ammonia spikes.

Large water changes will be needed to lower your ammonia until the beneficial bacteria colonizes to an appropriate level.

Here is a link to a thread on the forum for adding DIY media to your filter. Gives inexpensive and effective methods and ideas to boost your mechanical and biological filtration.

For a 75g, you may need a 2nd filter also
I recommend one that is not cartridge based.

A budget friendly Penguin 350 can be found for $26-$30 online and the reservoirs can be filled with foam sponge blocks instead of using the cartridges.

A step up would be an Aquaclear 70 for around $49 online. I own 4 different Aquaclears and they work great.

Next tier up would, you can get a Tidal 110 on sale for $62 (normally over $85) at kensfish.com.

Of course, these are all just examples.

Also, a decent air pump and 2 large sponge filters would work great as well.

LiveAquariahas their Azoo sponge filters on sale for 50% off or more, along with a ton of other stuff on clearance.

Get 2 of the Azoo Model #10's for $5 each (a steal at that price) and a Tetra 100 air pump for $19 and 20ft of Lee's air line tubing for $2. Here is a to their clearance section for Aquarium Supplies

For $31 and free S&H, that would really boost your biological filtration!

Thank you they are African cichlids ones orange and the other is blue I guess I should invest in that safestart chemical to see if it’ll help the cycle. Last Monday I bought the prime and did a %50 water change and dosed with prime and dosed again today because it said to do so every 48 hours. Now do I just continue dosing or do I do daily water changes at 75% and continue dosing that way till it’s cycled?

 

I guess first and foremost, as mentioned above, you need to get your ammonia down to 0 or 0.5.

Do a 75% water change, check your ammonia, and do another one until it close to 0.

After that, you might be able to get away with a water change (35 - 40%) every other day, since you only have 4 fish in there. Fish in cycles are possible of course, but just take more work to ensure your fishes don't die during the process.

 

As long as you are registering high ammonia levels you need to be doing no less than a 50% water change every day. Prime will help protect your fish from the damaging affects of ammonia but only up to a certain point. The ammonia really needs to be kept below one for the Prime to be totally effective. Once you get the ammonia down below one you shouldn't have to do the big water changes daily. At that point just let your test be your guide. If the ammonia goes back up to one or above do a water change to get them back below one.

You can add Tetra Safe Start but in my humble opinion it isn't necessary as long as you are keeping the ammonia down. It might help but Prime can affect the TSS and with the ammonia so high you do need to use the Prime so it kinda leaves you between a rock and a hard place.

I am wondering where your nitrates are coming from. Have you used the strips on your source water? It is fairly unusual to have them this early in the cycle.

 

I guess first and foremost, as mentioned above, you need to get your ammonia down to 0 or 0.5.

Do a 75% water change, check your ammonia, and do another one until it close to 0.

After that, you might be able to get away with a water change (35 - 40%) every other day, since you only have 4 fish in there. Fish in cycles are possible of course, but just take more work to ensure your fishes don't die during the process.

So just continue to do these back to back water changes till my ammonia goes down to 0-0.5ppm then test daily and do smaller changes 35-40% until the cycle is done? Do I dose with prime daily?

As long as you are registering high ammonia levels you need to be doing no less than a 50% water change every day. Prime will help protect your fish from the damaging affects of ammonia but only up to a certain point. The ammonia really needs to be kept below one for the Prime to be totally effective. Once you get the ammonia down below one you shouldn't have to do the big water changes daily. At that point just let your test be your guide. If the ammonia goes back up to one or above do a water change to get them back below one.

You can add Tetra Safe Start but in my humble opinion it isn't necessary as long as you are keeping the ammonia down. It might help but Prime can affect the TSS and with the ammonia so high you do need to use the Prime so it kinda leaves you between a rock and a hard place.

I am wondering where your nitrates are coming from. Have you used the strips on your source water? It is fairly unusual to have them this early in the cycle.

I have not tested my tap water all I do is dose it with prime before adding it to the tank when water change. But I guess I will be doing these %50 water changes everyday until I can get this tank cycled. So do I really need safe start seeing as I have 4 fish in there who produce ammonia should prime be sufficient to protect them untile the nitrites start kicking in?

 

So just continue to do these back to back water changes till my ammonia goes down to 0-0.5ppm then test daily and do smaller changes 35-40% until the cycle is done? Do I dose with prime daily?

Don't need (unless ammonia suddenly get out of hand, it shoudn't if you are water changing every other day), just dose Prime when you do a water change.

I have not tested my tap water all I do is dose it with prime before adding it to the tank when water change. But I guess I will be doing these %50 water changes everyday until I can get this tank cycled. So do I really need safe start seeing as I have 4 fish in there who produce ammonia should prime be sufficient to protect them untile the nitrites start kicking in?

Safe Start is Bacteria, if you have it, add it. The fish will produce ammonia which is food to the Safe Start Bacteria.

 

I have not tested my tap water all I do is dose it with prime before adding it to the tank when water change. But I guess I will be doing these %50 water changes everyday until I can get this tank cycled. So do I really need safe start seeing as I have 4 fish in there who produce ammonia should prime be sufficient to protect them untile the nitrites start kicking in?

We can usually tell where you are in your cycle from the readings. You may want to test your source water to see if the nitrates are coming from there. If it tests out at zero we will know the cycle is producing them.

Do you know the PH of both your source and tank water? Personally I have never used any kind of bottled bacteria and have no problem cycling a tank. As long as you use Prime to protect your fish and keep up with the water changes this tank will cycle.

 

AndrettI , are you using bucket method for water changes?

Or have you connected a longer hose to you gravel siphon vac to drain into a shower or drain to the back yard?

If you're using bucket method, let me know.

I can post how I went from using buckets on my 75g, to an easy and inexpensive way to fill and drain the tank without buying a Python.

Also, when your bottle of Prime starts to run out, I would advise to look into getting Seachem Safe.

Safe is a powdered version of Prime. I switched to that last year for my 75g, and use Prime on my smaller tanks.

It is even more concentrated.

A 1/4 tsp. scoop treats 300 gallons of tap water to dechlorinate.

Same size scoop will detoxify ammonia for 75 gallon tank.

An $11- bottle of Safe from Amazon lasts a very long time

 

I use the bucket method to fill but to take water out I just run my vacuum hose out the window and clean the gravel that way. But I will definitely look into that sechem safe. This is my first time using sechem prime and let me just say I will never use another brand again lol

 

Seachem is an excellent company and their Prime and Safe are top notch products.

Consider getting a Camco RV drinking water safe hose from WalMart or Amazon and a couple of adapter fittings from hardware store.

You can attach the hose to your sink faucet if you unscrew the aerator.







I use the barb fitting to connect the hose to my gravel siphon vac to drain the tank.

After doing a substrate vac, I remove the vinyl tube from the gravel vac and attach it to the output of a water pump I drop into the tank.

I plug in the pump and it drains my tank rest of way through the garden hose.

I usually do 50-70% water changes on my 75g, and let the pump do the work to drain and the faucet do the work to refill!!