A little help with cycling new tank.

[agover]

Hi All,

I just joined this forum, after reading tutorials on various sites regarding freshwater aqariums.

I recently purchased a 38gal kit from BigAls here in Toronto, and according to the tutorial I read followed the directions.

I am attempting to correctly cycle the tank prior to buying any expensive fish/plants - so acting on a tutorial I found I went out and purchased 6 adult zebra danios.

I then waited a few days (about 4) and did not see any change on the amonia checker in the tank. So I went out and picked up a water testing kit a couple days later (6-7th day in) and ran a set of tests: .5 ppm of ammonia, no nitrites, no nitrates.

So I went and spoke with the manager of big als (I wasnt looking for him, it was coincidence) and he said to wait a couple more days and I should see the ammonia spike.

So I waited until day 12 and re-ran the tests: between .5 and 1 ppm of ammonia, no nitrites, no nitrates.

Im confused from every tutorial/how to Ive read I should be seeing substantially more ammonia, and the manager of big als said I should have around 5ppm ammonia by now.

So to date ive done the following:
7th day I did a 15-20% water swap
9th day I added about 4 live plants and an additional 2 small bags of gravel/sand along with the recommended amount of plant food (20 ml of big als plant supplement).

A friend @ work is saying I need to pick up about 12 more fish in order to cycle the tank. But the big als manager said that this would likely kill many of them.

Am I missing something?


Things about the tank:
38gal
Emperor 280 Filter
Submersable 200w heater
4 live plants
6 zebra danios
according to big als appropriate amounts of: water conditioner, biosupplement and plant supplement.

Thanks

Adam

 

[namukoby]

When I cycled my tank with fish this spring, I never got more than about 2 ppm ammonia, and it took 22 days before I saw any nitriIte. The entire process took 40 days. It is the tank below, and we cycled it with the pristellas - which were all jeuveniles.

I wouldn't worry yet. It sounds like all is going well. Your ammonia would probably be higher with more fish because it will increase at a faster rate while your bacterial fiter becomes established , but your tank will cycle just as it is. This way it is just easier on your fish.

 

[JNevaril]

hmm.

sounds fine to me....just gotta play the waiting game now.

 

[FroggyFox]

Your bigals manager is correct in that if you bought another dozen danios that would probably be pushing it and some would die. You MIGHT however get a few more. Last time I did a fish-in cycle I used 3 danios in a 10G so I wouldn't be afraid to maybe get a few more? Either way though, like Jnevaril said it is a waiting game and I wouldn't be upset that you dont have higher ammonia at this point. The other thing is that you have live plants and if they are growing and absorbing things in the tank you may not even SEE spikes of ammonia or nitrite in your tank. Plants tend to at least soften the cycle...if not make it completely invisible (if you have enough of them)

 

[agover]

Thanks for the info all. It helps, as I was really thinking I had done something wrong or had completely misunderstood this.

Adam

 

[SullenGirl]

it took my tank about 3 months to cycle after trying everything. I found the product Cycle helps. Even though many will say not to use chemicals.

 

[Iggy]

A 38 gallon tank with 6 danios is a pretty low load, even for a new sterile tank. Like Froggyfox said, live plants will soften the ammonia spike and help.

You should add another 3 danios, just to up the load a little more. Just be aware that the fish load is cumunative, and the cycle bacteria grows fairly slow (especially the nitrite processing bacteria).

Just keep-up with the water changes as planned, and it should be fine.

 

[FroggyFox]

Cycle will not help speed up your cycle...it only prolongs it usually. Also, I dont think that I would include cycle as a "chemical" that I wouldn't put in a tank...Cycle I wouldn't put in a tank because its a waste of money. If you're looking for a product that supposedly helps speed things up while doing a fish-in cycle (and the natural options aren't available or a route you want to take, like adding plants (as you've done) or seeding with media from an established tank) then you might try a product called Stabilize. I haven't tried it myself, but I have heard good things about its effectiveness. (whereas we've done studies here on cycle, I've tried it myself...and just haven't seen any helpful results.)

 

[agover]

A 38 gallon tank with 6 danios is a pretty low load, even for a new sterile tank. Like Froggyfox said, live plants will soften the ammonia spike and help.

You should add another 3 danios, just to up the load a little more. Just be aware that the fish load is cumunative, and the cycle bacteria grows fairly slow (especially the nitrite processing bacteria).

Just keep-up with the water changes as planned, and it should be fine.

After reading all the comments here I think I will pick up three more. Im not sure if I will get Danio's though - I was thinking of maybe three bottom feeders/algae. I need to do some research as to which are hardy and compatible with the danio's first though.

One of the folks at petsmart (its closer than big als) suggested some "flying foxes" saying they were hardy and the "best" algae eaters there are. Unfortunately they dont sell them.

I figure I will wait until right after my next water change and pick something up right afterwards.

Thx
Adam

 

[FroggyFox]

Many bottom feeders, especially plecos produce a LOT more waste than danios...when we suggested more danios thats what we meant If you're going for a pleco that stays small...rubbernose or a bristlenose, clown pleco? Something that stays relatively small. The smaller algae eaters that might do well in your tank (like otocinclus or "ottos") or I guess most of them, shouldn't be added until your tank is pretty well established...usually the last thing you want to add to a tank.

 

[Iggy]

Ya, I would hold off on algea eaters for now. The hardiest onces, Plecos get pretty big and usually don't match-up with Tropicals very nice (they stand out)

I know danios are not the fanciest fish, but a few more will help you produce a higher bio-load, which is there job right now.

Thats the trouble with fish-in cycles, your stuck with fish you never intended on getting in the first place.

I agree 100% with froggy on Cycle. The bacteria found in Cycle is acutally soil-based, Anaerobic bacteria, not the same as the water-based, Aerobic bacteria that grow in your tank. Its like apples and oranges, one does not necessarily help the other.

If you want to speed things up a little, see if you can find some pre-cycled filter material from a healthy tank, something like a sponge or gravel and then add it to your filter somewhere in the flow of your water. It's called seeding and it can help a great deal with the 2nd cycle of your tank (aka Nitrite cycle).