Initial Ammonia cycle

[haricots]

I'm relatively new to this, having been messing around with a 20G tank for the last 6 months and only just recently getting it stabilized and healthy. My wife bought me a 60G tank last week and I'm in the process of cycling it properly and patiently (as opposed to blindly jumping in to it like I did with the 20G). Anyway, l've had this 60G tank running for 6 days now with 3 (hopefully hardy) red eye Tetra's. My problem is I'm not detecting any ammonia yet (using a test kit obviously). Shouldn't this have happened already? I also took two rocks from the 20G and put them in the 60G thinking that it might speed things up. I also feed the Tetra's a pinch every day. The tank is heated to 26C. The pH is high (8+) but it's naturally high in my area and from what I have read pH should not be messed with unless it is causing problem with the fish, which it doesn't seem to be.

So, is there a problem or am I being a little impatient?

Thanks.

 

[lauraf]

Hi, welcome to MFT. You are probably being impatient - three tetras in a 60g won't make much of an immediate impact on ammonia levels. Do you still have the 20g running? If so you could always take some of the media from the filter on the 20g, and pop it in your 60g's filter.

 

[aakaakaak]

I used rocks, substrate, dirty water change water, and an old used filter from my 10 gal in my 29 gal. I never saw the tank cycle. It just showed nitrates. You effectively transfer your cycle from one tank to the other. Filter media is supposed to be the key. (Do this and watch for nitrates.)

 

[haricots]

Thanks for the replies. I took the carbon bag portion from the 20G and stuffed it in my 60G last night. I left the sponge filter and replaced the carbon in the 20 because I have fish in there waiting for their new home. Hopefully I'll see some activity tonight ...

Would there be any benefit to adding 2 or 3 more Tetra's? The 3 I have in there now seem happy and healthy.

 

[aakaakaak]

Tetras like to group up and you're working with a 60 gal. Having 5-6 tetras in there would probably be good to keep the cycle running.

 

[1077]

Thanks for the replies. I took the carbon bag portion from the 20G and stuffed it in my 60G last night. I left the sponge filter and replaced the carbon in the 20 because I have fish in there waiting for their new home. Hopefully I'll see some activity tonight ...

Would there be any benefit to adding 2 or 3 more Tetra's? The 3 I have in there now seem happy and healthy.

In 60 gallons,shouldn't be a problem with adding two or three more tetra's.Would monitor the water via test kit just to be safe and wait a week to ten days between new additions of fish to allow bacteria to catch up.

 

[haricots]

Thanks everyone. I'm off to buy 3 more junior Tetra's.

 

[symon_say]

Don't use carbon media, it is to remove medication from water.

If i were you i'll simply put your 20G filter and move all your fish to the 60G, you won't have any problem, cause your filter is already cycled, keep your old filter and your new one running for 3-4 weeks in your 60G, and then you can take your old filter back to the 20G tank and use both tanks.

 

[Dylandrewsdad]

I concur with Simon, unless you are planning on having two tanks now. Mover the complete filter over and bingo, your 60 will be cycled. Just be slow in adding fish.

 

[haricots]

Interesting info, thanks people. I'm about to leave on a trip in a week so I think I'll play it safe and do as you suggested after I return. I really don't want to leave it unattended for 8 days.

Anyway, still performing daily water tests and my ammonia has never gone much past 0.25ppm. Nitrites and nitrates are still 0ppm. I have 5 Red Eye Tetras and a Rainbow Shark in there right now. I have not performed a water change or vacuumed anything yet - the water is still crystal clear. It's been 1.5 weeks since I set this tank up.

 

[aakaakaak]

If you don't move the filter over you may see a nice healthy ammonia spike in about .5 to 1.5 weeks. If you move the filter media over today you probably won't see any at all, just nitrates.

 

[nanu156]

These are the steps i like to follow when i set up a new tank.

Do a big change on the old tank, (assuming the tank is as you put it healthy)

When i do that change i vac as much yuck out of the gravel as possible. Then i take the filter media from the old tank, and i clean it really really good in the dirty fish water trying to get as much goop out as possible.

Then i take the super goop water and I add it to the new tank. the goop jump starts the bacteria and GENERALLY I don't have any kind of spike.

There is a chance (if you tetra are small) that you simply aren't producing enough ammonia to keep the bacteria alive. Or that you are doing it correctly and aren't spiking because you have started small enough that you won't ever see much more then .25-.75 ammonia.

I wouldn't do a water change for a while assuming that the ammonia stays stable and under 1.0 your fish aren't making that much waste if you are only feeding 1xday and you should be able to cycle slowly.

Oh and if you are going on vacation will somebody be feeding for you? Or do you plan to use a vacation feeder?

The sinking blocks "vacation feeders" are pretty gross and I wouldn't suggest them. I like to use an auto feeder when i am away. IF it is <3 days that i will be gone i just feed before i go and then first thing when i return.

 

[Squiggles9059]

there are not enough fish in the tank to create ammonia levels sufficient enough to create the bacteria. i would transfer the fish to a new tank or your old one and cycle it without fish. by adding amonia and such. look up fishless cycling here and there is a great explanation on how to cycle the tank and prepare it for fish.

 

[nanu156]

FIRST Squiggles get your own house in order. See your thread...

Second that is enough fish for a slow fish in cycle. Because he will be out of town for 8 days i would just let it works it's self out. IF he was home to micromanage then yeah add more fish speed it along.

 

[haricots]

Ok, here's the update:

After my week away the tank and fish were fine upon my return. I somewhat slowly added the other fish from my 20G into the 60G because the levels seemed healthy still - 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, typical nitrate levels. This past weekend the tank went really cloudy and almost all the fish started acting strange. I tested again and the ammonia levels were through the roof - 8+. I removed all the fish except for a few that I cannot catch and they seem unaffected. I bought some ammo-lock, dosing everyday was well as doing 25% water changes. The water is not so cloudy now but the ammonia levels are still 8+, nitrites around 1. How long should I anticipate waiting to put the rest of the fish back (they are in the 20G at the moment)? I haven't done a water change today at all, nor have I added the ammo-lock. I'm wondering if I should just let it do it's thing now as I suspect I'm slowing the process down a bit. Should I be concerned about the remaining fish (2 black ghost knife's, corycat, pictus cat and one clown loach). I can't seem to catch these guys.

 

[IThinkTherefore]

MASSIVE WATER CHANGES. Like right now. 100%!!!!

 

[IThinkTherefore]

Also, by adding the fish slowly, this means to add a few new fish every week or few days. I don't think there was time for you to add them slowly enough :/

But yeah, change 100% of the water, you won't lose the bacteria.

Also, I don't know if this has been mentioned, but most of your fish will need to be rehomed - Pictus cats, bichir, black ghost knifes and clown loaches will definitely outgrow your tank by a long shot.

 

[haricots]

ok, I will do a massive change tonight then. Should I take out the remaining fish too? I'm afraid that I'm going to soon overwhelm my 20G before I get the 60G sorted out (and run in to another ammonia spike).

And yeah, I have been finding out that the types of fish I have picked will outgrow my tank. So much for getting advice from fish store employee's. I swear there is no point in talking to them at all.

 

[haricots]

What about getting the remaining fish out and letting the tank finish the cycle on it's own?

 

[IThinkTherefore]

To quote aakaakaak - never trust some monkey trying to sell you fish!

Okay. First of all, you can keep those fish in the 60 gallon temporarily once you change 100% of the water if you do big daily water changes until they can go back to the store (which should be as soon as possible!).

Use your test kit - you'll need to get it down to zero ammonia (or really, really close!) on a daily basis, which could be 25 to 50%. This is only an emergency measure, and better than having them all crammed into the 20.

As for your stocking, you might want to opt out on the Rainbow Shark as well as the other four I mentioned. While a rainbow shark can live in your tank (the others simply cannot), they will grow up to six inches and become mean and territorial. I don't know much about angels, but the other posters on here do. Cory cats are okay, but should be in groups of five.

I recommend using aqadvisor.com to plug in numbers and figure out which fish can work - then run it by us and we'll tell you which fish or okay before you go back to the store


Edit: According to aqadvisor plus teh internets, the angelfish can stay