New Tank/Water Issues

[cichlidguy314]

Hi Everyone!
My name is Mike and I am new to this site. I have been in the fish hobby for a few years now off and on and I just started back up again. This is the largest tank I have had so far. It is a 55 gallon tank. Just to start, i bought this stater kit from walmart I cant stand walmart at all but thats where i got it from. I set it up and let it run for a week without fish. I then got my spotted pleco and some bala sharks. After research, i quickly learned that those sharks whould get way to big for a 55 gallon. So i donated those to a man at PetsMart.
I kept the pleco and got 4 cichlids. Tiger Oscar, Firemouth, Ram, and a jack dempsy. Well, after about a week i lost the tiger and then the firemouth today. I do have the API master test kit and test daily. Well I still have the walmart 30-60 HOB filter running which we all know is junk, but i bought the Eheim 2217 and i have had that running for a week now. I still have an ammonia issue. Test Results:
AMMONIA: 1.0PPM
PH: 7.0
NITRITES: 0
NITRATES: 0
I do not belive the tank is done cycling. I also have ammonia in my tap water! The water company said they have to add that in my area. So that is another of my whoes lol. It reads from the tap at 1.0PPM as well. I am going to leave the 30-60 HOB filter on there untill the tank establishes itself. I am doing daily 25-50% water changes and using PRIME to treat the new water. Is there anything I am doing right or wrong? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[HappyFish]

I think your stock will be fine as long as you keep up with water changes. For future tanks, consider fishless cycling.

Your ammonia will drop and turn to nitrites. You want to get 0 ammonia 0 nitrites and just nitrates. Keep up with water changes and don't purchase anymore fish. Those fish you have get pretty large. Read up on their profiles. Happy fishkeeping!

 

[1077]

I think your stock will be fine as long as you keep up with water changes. For future tanks, consider fishless cycling.

Your ammonia will drop and turn to nitrites. You want to get 0 ammonia 0 nitrites and just nitrates. Keep up with water changes and don't purchase anymore fish. Those fish you have get pretty large. Read up on their profiles. Happy fishkeeping!

+one, Would not change less than 50 percent .

 

[cichlidguy314]

+one, Would not change less than 50 percent .

That sounds like a plan. I think by me doing large (50%) water changes I am keeping my cycle from starting. By me using Prime, my ammonia is staying at 1.0PPM or less. So now i am only going to take out enough water to clean my gravel once a week to see if that helps. During this time I will be testing my water daily to keep my fish safe. I just had another question, have you heard any pros/cons to the Eheim 2217 Canister Filter? That is the one I bought and am currently using.

 

[1077]

50 percent water changes will not prevent cycling from beginning. Bacteria (good kind) begins to develop as soon as a source of food is available (fish food,fish poop).
The bacteria gathers or colonize's on hard surfaces like gravel,decorations,rocks,glass,and most of it will be found in the filter.
Next to none will be free floating in the water so water changes do not prevent or slow the cycling to any measureable degree.
I use the Eheim 2217 on a 75 gallon planted tank and it is in my view a fine filter.

 

[kb951]

To start off welcome to the tank! as well as your issue i had the same about six months ago, you do know your cichlids and pleco will out grow that tank as well? i have two 24 inch jack and oscar in a pond so you do the math and cichlids produce lot's of waste if you are doing poor gravel vac's or do not have a good under gravel filter or filter in general that could be the reason you also want to put as much o2 as you can with those guy's one air stone on one side of the tank will not cut it check out my 50 tank on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnTMryyUYRs&feature=related i always say "too much is never bad, it's alway's happy!"

 

[cichlidguy314]

Ok, for the most part I have been following the directions from the guy at PetsMart. He never tries to sell me anything and seems very knowledgable about fish. But like I said, everyone has their opinion. He said before your posts that I need to cut back on my water changes. He said that I was removing my bacteria colonies by doing that. I too thought that there couldnt be that many free-floating in the water and that they would mostly colonize in the filter/gravel etc. So I dont think he is correct and I will go by what you all are saying. So now I am doing 50% water changes to keep my ammonia down. Again, I have that in my tap water and cannot get it to drop below 1.0PPM untill the tank cycles. I am also using Stabilty by SeaChem. I heard good reviews on it and my last dose is on Friday. Hopefully it will help me out a bit. BTW as far as an airstone goes, I have a bubble curtain in the tank that is in the middle and is about half as long as my tank is. My readings are still as follows:
Ammonia: 1.0PPM
Nitrite: 0.0
Nitrate: 0.0
PH: 7.4
Also, how long did it take all of you to get your tanks to cycle? Keep in mind also that i have only had my Eheim up and running for about a month now. Lastly, What are the first signs that I will see that my tank is cycling? And should I keep doing daily 50% water changes untill I see those signs? Thanks again for all of your help it is greatly appreciated!!!

 

[cichlidguy314]

I also wanted to know how often I should service my Eheim 2217 Cansiter filter as well. Can someone also tell me how to delete a post? I tried using edit post and cant figure it out lol

 

[lauraf]

Since you have ammonia in your tap water (chloramine) your tank water test for ammonia will always show some, whether you are cycled or not. What you'll want to watch for instead is nitrites. If you have nitrites, then your cycling is on its way. If you have nitrates and nitrites, you're almost there. When you have nitrates and zero nitrites, your tank is considered 'cycled'.
I'd say that you could be changing less water for now - maybe do 50% every other day. While it's true that the bacteria colonize hard surfaces, the ammonia that they eat and need in order to multiply is in the water itself.

 

[cichlidguy314]

Ok, so 50% water changes every other day. The way I do the big water changes are by taking out 15 gallons, Wait a few hours, then do another 15. Is that ok?. And how soon do you think I will start to see nitrites and nitrates? And will I ever get to the point where there is 0 ammonia on my test readings?

 

[lauraf]

Well, if you are taking out 15g, replacing it with new water, then taking out another 15g, you aren't actually removing 30g total of 'old' water. But yeah, doing two 15g changes is fine - it's substantial enough.
So my understanding is that because you have chloramine in your tap water, you may never show a zero reading of ammonia with standard ammonia test kits, because those kits will read for both ammonia (also called free ammonia, and this is the bad kind) and the non-toxic ammonium that chloramine breaks down into. What you can do is buy a product called Ammonia Alert - it is a reader you put on your tank that changes colour when your water shows any free ammonia. I've never used it myself but another forum member here recommended it for people with chloramine in their tap water.
Cycling can take several weeks. Be patient. Mostly, observe your fish closely for any signs of ammonia or nitrite poisoning, things like gasping at the surface, reddened gills, red streaks on the body, or any other sign that your fish 'aren't right' . . . . .
Also, if you don't have any live plants, add some. They will help buffer potentially toxic ammonia/nitrite levels.
Cheers,
Laura