New 75 gallon African cichlid tank! Have a question

[Britnee]

Hi! I started a 74 gallon African cichlid tank and have a question. I am sorry I didn't know about the nitrogen cycle when I started it but am trying to do the best I can by this tank. I started it 3 weeks ago and added all of the fish. I read a few days later on the nitrogen cycle after my tank became very cloudy. I picked up an API Master freshwater test kit and tetra safestart for 500 gallons and a bottle of stability. My parameters are as follows and I tested 3x yesterday and twice today.
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
I'm very confused because everything I've read says there's no way the tank is cycled and I should have some readings on one of those if not all. My tank is white cloudy looking the fish all are eating not seeming to have any problems I can see. What is going wrong with the tests?
I have a 75 gallon top fin HOB filter
Cascade 1000 canister filter
Sand substrate
Many of the stackable caves along with a few fake plants and one Anubias on a coconut husk(real)
Stocking is this
5 Electric Yellow Labs
10 assorted zebras
2 Albino Peacocks
3 Sydontis Catfish
One ivory mystery snail
2 assassin snails
8 giant danios

Now I know I'm over stocked but I have read that with African cichlids it's best to do that do the aggression is spaced out. Can anyone please tell me why I'm getting these readings?

 

[Britnee]

Anyone?

 

[ThatCrazyFishLady]

Have you tested it again? Water parameters can fluctuate rapidly and it might have looked fine in that moment of time. Do you have an algae in the tank? I believe there is an outbreak that turns the water a murky green... I've only seen that happen once though. Have you checked for media? Sometimes after maintenance my filter spews out some nasty gunk that got stirred around.

 

[Britnee]

Yeah I checked it almost 5 Times today. The last 2 Times though I got .25 for ammonia but no nitrites or nitrates. In stumped! I'm the picture the cloudiness looks green but it's actually like a milky white.

 

[arcab4]

maybe the safestart or other components you're adding is kinda screwing up the test results (where your nitrates are 0) is my guess but i am not sure.

i would continue to do some small water changes and then watch the fishes for signs of stress. i assume over time the cloudiness will start to diminish.

 

[Britnee]

Ok the cloudiness is almost gone but when I did the tests I got 0 Ammonia 0 Nitrite and maybe a very slight nitrate reading. How is this possible. Would the filters be that efficient? I have the cascade canister 1000 meant for 100 gallons and a top fin HOB for 75 gallons

 

[arcab4]

great to hear the water is clearing up. have you stopped dosing the safestart and stability bottle? wondering still if those are messing up your results. your filtration system sounds more than enough. could be the water changes you're doing too that is keeping those levels low to zero.

 

[Britnee]

Yeah I stopped using that that day I got the strange test results. I haven't done any water changes since then either. The water is now completely clear and I'm gonna do another couple of tests today to see if I get anything different. All of the fish are definitely doing well. There colore are great and they're active and eating well.

 

[FreshyFresh]

Britnee, welcome to the site! Unfortunately water color/clarity has little to do with water quality in the aquarium world.

Given this is new, uncycled tank, loaded with fish, the only component you're going to see is ammonia. This tank is going to require pretty much daily water changes to keep ammonia (and then nitrite) to a non-readable level. Eventually the cycle will complete, and you'll see nothing but nitrate creep between your weekly water changes.

I'd get a quality dechlorinator like Seachem's Prime or Safe (Safe is powdered form and more economical). Theses products will temporarily detoxify ammonia and nitrite for you between water changes.

Do you have any chance at getting some healthy, well-used filtration media from anyone? Sponges or bio media? Placing these in your filters or just using the whole used filter outright will instantly cycle your tank. The beneficial bacteria you need primarily form in your filter's bio media where they have constant water flow.

I'd be prepared to do 25-50% daily water changes for weeks, unless you can get some used filter media.

 

[Britnee]

I had ammonia readings a week before this happened. And nitrite readings it's just this week I've had 0 across the board. I have done water changes and have been treating with Novaqua plus. I will do another test today and see what I come up with

 

[Britnee]

When I was putting in the TSS and Stability they went directly into my HOB and Canister so I at least did that right lol I don't have another tank to take media or anything from unfortunately.

 

[FreshyFresh]

0ppm for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate for any length of time isn't possible for a tank with fish, so something is up.. What dechlorinator are you using?

 

[Britnee]

Ok so I just did a test and now it's reading .50 Ammonia 0 Nitrite and 0 Nitrate. So how big off a water change do I do? I agree with you there was no way a tank gets those readings cycled or uncycled. I'm sorry I should've done more research before I started this but I'd like to make it as comfortable for lack of a better term as I can for these fish while it cycled. I'm open for any help and I appreciate you guys doing what you've done already

 

[CAPSLOCK]

A larger water change will remove more ammonia. Ideally if you can do 50% or more that is best. A python water changer or similar is helpful for this with your size tank. Alternatively if you can't change as much water as frequently, Prime or another product to detoxify the ammonia so it isn't harmful. But this should be in conjunction with water changes every few days as a lot of test kits still show the ammonia on the test even though the prime has rendered it less harmful - so it becomes harder to measure where you're actually at.

BTW if you want to keep your mystery snail you will want to remove the assassins... The name isn't accidental.

 

[Britnee]

Thank you CAPSLOCK. I did a large water change today and added Novaqua plus to help them cope I will retest in the morning. The mystery snail is almost 4 Times the size of the assassin snails and there are only 2 in there. Do you think it will still be a problem?

 

[FreshyFresh]

I'd skip any additives and use a quality dechlor/detox product like Prime or Safe as mentioned above. This is going to be a lot of work having a tank stocked like that with no nitrogen cycle going on. One thing I forgot to mention on your other thread, but is there any change at getting a well used/seeded sponge bubbler filter or some type of healthy seeded filtration media from someone, where you could run it in your filter(s)? This would instantly cycle your tank or atleast get you most of the way there.

 

[Britnee]

The Novaqua plus is ammonia and nitrite detoxifying and I use it with amquel plus which is a dechlorinator. They are both the kordon version of prime when together. I unfortunately don't have any other tanks to take seeded filter media from. When I do the test today I'll let you know what they say. Thank you

 

[Britnee]

Ok so I just tested the tank the results are as follows

Ammonia between 0 and .25
Nitrate 0
Nitrate 0

 

[CAPSLOCK]

You said your friend has a 65g - any chance you could snag some used filter media or a handful of gravel (you can put the gravel in a pantyhose so that it is easily removed afterwards)? Or borrow a decoration, etc. Anything hard from their tank will be a help. Just keep it wet and not too cold during transport.

The assassins will attempt to chase down the mysteries. You can also feed them bits of meaty food (pieces of shrimp, fish, etc) but if they can catch a mystery it will have a bad, bad day. I haven't had them but have read about them. They will also potentially breed and are pretty hardy, so make sure not to accidentally release them outside.

 

[Britnee]

She does but her tank has an ich issue going on and I don't want any part of it lol I will take the assassin's out then and see if my lfs will take them, thank you for letting me know about them