Please help idk what to do!

Soo my tank has been cycling for 2 months now and evrything seemed correct I had everything to 0 except nitrate.

I recently added some plants.
And I changed filters.
I purchased an aquaclear 50 thanks to this forum lol.

It has been running for 2 days now.
I tested the water and now everything has gone whack.

I can't seem to find my chart but here is a pic of the vials..
Left is ammonia
Middle is nitrite
Right is nitrate

Ph is 7.6 and has never changed.

I currently have 6 neons and that's it.

 

Did you transfer the media from the old filter to the new filter when you switched them? (that would be the media and cotton)

 

Filter media is:
Sponge
Carbon
Biomax

 

Should have saved the media and a portion of your old tank water so you wouldn't have to start the cycle all over again.

 

And no the old only had a large bio bag which wouldnt fit in my new filter

 

I actually had a black sponge in there as well in my old filter and I still have it but its been dried out.

Can I put it in my new filter?
I would have to cut it though...

 

You could have taken a cutting off the old cartridge (or the entire section of cotton around the frame) and placed it in the new filter. Since you weren't able to place the old filter piece in new filter you lost your cycle and will have to recycle. I'm sorry.

Edit: if it has dried the bb are dead, you will have to recycle

 

the cycle is located in the filter media. I keep a small bag of bio-rings in my big tank, when I need to start a new tank, I just plop that bag in the new tank for a couple weeks til the bacteria are in the new media. works great. been doing it this way for YEARS

you will be cycling your tank again at this point.

 

Would it be okay if I still put in the black sponge?
I would take out the carbon

 

if it dried, it is of no use at all

 

Should I do a water change?

 

do water changes, adding prime, etc like you would to cycle a new tank.

basically, you have a new tank as far as the bacteria and filter are concerned. so you have to cycle the tank all over again

 

Are there fish in the tank right now?

 

Yes 6 neons

 

Everyone has there own ideas but I had extremely good luck with Tetra Safe Start Plus. Id just buy that just use double the size of the tank because I had very good luck with it with a brand new tank just suing it and putting fish in right away.

If you do:

Don't put in any other additives, do a 50% water change, and wait a day without putting any other additives in.

Use double the amount the bottle says so if you have a 100gal tank use 2 of the bottles that say up to 100 gal at least someone said that in a different thread and I did it and it worked out.

Then don't do ANY water changes for 2 weeks unless you have some critical value. I didn't bother even checking my water for the first 5 days. When I checked I have 7.4 ph,0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and 10-20 nitrates.

It should be noted if you have to do a water change before the tank cycles than it will remove the TSSP and you will need to add another bottle or the fish will at risk. If you add any stabilizers and such it has been said in other threads those can deactivate the TSSP and put the fish at risk too.

 

Here is a link with a photo of the chart

And can I just say another option would be to use stability BB as it is excellent and does not die off if you have to do large water changes and can use it with prime to treat the whole tank if the ammonia and nitrite don't reach to 1ppm. The prime if treating the whole tank (it is a water conditioner BTW) will turn the ammonia into harmless ammonium for 24 hours, the BB will still consume that as an ammonia source. But again it will only work if the ammonia and nitrites are less than 1ppm so water changes will bring it down and then add the stability triple dose it as it can't be overdosed and again will not die off. So while I appreciate and respect what crawfordw81 has posted I just think as you have fish the stability and prime would be the safest way to take.

Here is the link with the chart
aquagardening.com.au/api-freshwater-master-test-kit

Here is a link for Prime conditioner and Stability with information pertaining to both. Good luck. Sorry you lost your cycle but you will get it back and with the help from people in this forum you won't be alone.




By the way, yes I would recommend a 50% water change as the nitrites are very high, plus you have an ammonia reading and the nitrates are looking a little high. I think you may be having a minI cycle as opposed to a full crash as you do have nitrates, if you had no nitrates then I would agree a full crash..You did lose all the BB from the filter but if you have substrate there will be BB living in that unless you have disturbed that and also on the tank glass itself etc. So with the water changes adding stability and using prime this will probably not be too much of major problem as far as waiting for the cycle to be complete again. Dont know if anyone agrees but it will be good to get some feedback on this one.