In need of some massive help.

M

Meman5150

Medium Fish
#1
Oct 25, 2006
60
0
0
#1
About two months ago I bought a 55 gallon fish tank. I did the normal procedures of getting the rocks and running the equipment and all that. For awhile I wasn't getting any ammonia, which i assume is normal. Many of those fish died and now I have 1 tiger barb and 4 zebra danios. My problem is my tank wont cycle. I've been doing 15% water changes for about 4 weeks now and I'm still having ammonia and some nitrates but no nitrites (which I don't even know how thats possible). I figured by now my whole tank would be complete but its not even to the nitrite part yet. The good news though is that the rest of my fish haven't died. There is this orange dark colored stuff on some of the decorations in the tank. Does anyone know what this is? All and any help will be much appreciated. Thanks-
 

exhumed07

exhumed07

Superstar Fish
#2
Apr 30, 2006
1,774
0
36
Illinois
#2
well the orange stuff is most likly algae and as hard as it is to belive it I never really had much of a cycle myself in my 10 gal. nitrites didn't spike or ammonia. had my tank set up for bout a year now and havn't had any problems. heck my crabs neons and snails survived the cycle which I hear is almost unheard of. so I would say ur tank is all set.
 

M

Meman5150

Medium Fish
#3
Oct 25, 2006
60
0
0
#3
I have about .50 ammonia every 3 days. Maybe a little bit more. I thought when the cycling process is complete it should read zero? I don't want to have to change my water every three days. does anyone know else have ammonia in their tank when it should be cycled?
 

M

Meman5150

Medium Fish
#5
Oct 25, 2006
60
0
0
#5
how do you overclean the filter? When I feed my fish they eat all the flakes.
I tested the water without dechlorinator and it has no ammonia in it.
 

Last edited:
Lotus

Lotus

Ultimate Fish
Moderator
#6
Aug 26, 2003
15,115
13
38
Southern California
home.earthlink.net
#6
If you clean the filter media every week, then you are removing a lot of the beneficial bacteria needed to cycle the tank. Replacing or cleaning out the media should probably be done only once every few weeks while you're cycling. If you do rinse it out, rinse it out in old tank water or dechlorinated water.

You should only feed the fish as much as they can eat in about three minutes, once or twice a day. More than that, and you're overfeeding. Barbs and danios will both eat way more than they should, if you allow them to.

Please let us know the results of your tests. :)
 

M

Meman5150

Medium Fish
#7
Oct 25, 2006
60
0
0
#7
I haven't cleaned the filter media at all. So when I do change the filter media how does the tank carry on without that bacteria? Everything else seems to be right so I guess I just have to wait longer. They eat all of their fish food under 1 minute.
 

exhumed07

exhumed07

Superstar Fish
#8
Apr 30, 2006
1,774
0
36
Illinois
#8
once ur tank becomes established changing ur filter wont hurt anything because there will be enough bacteria in the gavel and on the decorations to sustaine a normal balance.
 

Dan Steveo

Dan Steveo

Large Fish
#15
Apr 1, 2006
707
0
0
33
South England UK
#15
Meman5150 said:
how do you overclean the filter?
Click to expand...
it also depends on how you clean your filter. dont do it with cold water from the tap.or hot water. take water from your tank and put it in a clean bucket and clean your filter in there. try not to take over 30 mins. (i think bacteria die without oxygen). then put the filter back and turn it on. also if you can avoid it dont change all of the filter media.
 

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