Couple of questions

[lothaekor]

Okay, after about 3 weeks of not seeing anything (no nitrites, no change in ammonia), I've decided to try seeding the tank with some water from a healthy established tank. I added about 2L of water from said tank. (My tank is a 20g)

My question is, with something like this, when can I expect to see some change in ammonia or nitrites? Is this still going to take 3 weeks from this point, or a matter of a couple of days?

The first fish I'll be adding are about 8 harlequin rasboras that my friend is going to give me. I still intend on getting an angelfish for the tank, so I'd like to know if there are going to be any problems between these fish, or if I'm overstocking my tank. (I might want to add a couple more fish in the future, but this will be good to start off with)

Thanks

 

[FroggyFox]

20 with an angel and 8 rasboras...sounds pretty full...but doable. Probably room for some type of a cleanup crew later on when you need one (a couple ottos or an apple snail or a small pleco, some shrimp...whatever)

As far as the cycling goes...two weeks with a running tank and no change in ammonia??! I'm confused. Fishless cycle right? Either the temperature is too high or too low, not letting the bacteria grow. (should be between 75 and 85...preferrably on the high end around 83) or you didn't dechlor the tank water, or you dont have a filter going, or there's something wrong with your ammonia test kit (are you using strips or drop kits? You could take a water sample to the LFS and have them test it to compare to your kit to see if they match) or you put way too much ammonia in (If you put lots too much ammonia it will show up as 8ppm or whatever the highest amount is on your test kit...even if its 40ppm or whatever. If that was the case then I dont think you'd see much progress...eventually you might start seeing nitrites...but I think with that much ammonia in the tank it inhibits the bacteria growth also.) bottom line is something is incredibly wrong or missing if you've had three weeks with no change in the level of ammonia in your tank.

Seeding from another tank would be a good start...I'd expect to see almost immediate results...as long as there isn't something hindering your cycle. Also, if you want to get the most "good stuff" from that existing tank...dont just use water. Take the filter media out and literally dunk it in the tank and swish it around/squeeze it. Let the gunk get in there...cuz its the gunk you want. (If that tank isn't close enough to borrow the filter...then get a baggie of tank water and get some of that gunk in a baggie and bring it home to your tank.)

Good luck...keep us posted...be patient... Its worth it

 

[lothaekor]

I've got two different test kits, and they were showing between 4 and 8 ppm for ammonia, only changing slightly when I had to top up the tank (and then, it was two top ups before I had to add more ammonia)

Temperature was kept in the range of 79-83 for the duration of the cycle. No malfunction of any equipment during this time.

One contributing factor may arise from this: My friend has one of the python gravel cleaning systems, which has as one of its features, the ability to refill the tank with the flip of a valve. My friend (who's running a freshwater tank with no problems) explained that to perform the water change, he uses the python to remove some of the water (while cleaning the substrate) then adds dechlorinator solution and tops up the tank through the python. Figuring this would work in much the same way, when I topped up the tank I added sufficient dechlorination solution to the tank then topped it up with tap water.

The LFS just gave me some water, I didn't have access to their filters, but there should be enough bacteria in there to at least make me feel a bit more confident that something will happen here. We'll see what happens over the next week.

My roommate keeps threatening to drop in a bunch of feeder goldfish if I don't get something in the tank soon

 

[va1]

If you are careful, you can add some goldfish to the cycle and you probably won't kill it. Besides, if it's a feeder goldfish, there isn't much "investment" it one. It's doomed whether you feed it to another fish or if it dies in the process of cycling.

 

[FroggyFox]

ok I think you know how most of us feel about comments like va1 just made...so I'm not even going to touch it.

Just tell your roommate not to get his/her undies in a knot lol

They're showing between 4 and 8...is 8 the highest on both charts? I'd have been going crazy about 2 weeks ago not seeing any change in ammonia levels. If nothing changes in a few days I'd be tempted to do as large of a water change as possible and start over with a lower level of ammonia....

 

[lothaekor]

Bingo. Besides, my roommate always has his underwear in a knot

Well, I know the one test kit goes blue in the presence of too much ammonia Made that mistake already. The other one isn't dark enough to be 8, but is darker than 4. It's close enough to be reasonable.

But we'll see where this water seeding takes me. No comments about the python?

 

[FroggyFox]

na...sounded normal to me I dont use a python...I do the normal bucket in the shower thing. lol The important part is adding the dechlor as or before you put the water into the tank.