Cycling A 10 Gallon

[TheJ0kerrr]

I really wish I had started with a fishless cycle from the start... My ammonia is always at or under 0.25ppm, yet one of my minnows now seems to feel pretty depressed...he's spending most of his time sitting at the bottom of the tank behind some plants or ornaments and not doing much. Hasn't eaten in a few days either. Still no trace of nitrites and i'm already 6 weeks into this
!@#%$!@#$ cycling process...

 

[OldMan47]

The cycling process is not your enemy TheJokerrr. We all live through periods where our own tank conditions do not meet ideal values. When that happens to me I do a 90%+ water change.
It is not that I know exactly what may be wrong but rather that I know from experience that a giant water change will put things right. I have yet to see it fail to improve things.

 

[TheJ0kerrr]

Thanks for the words of wisdom Oldman. My sick Minnow is getting better now, has started to swim some more and even managed to eat a little

The new problem that I have is my girlfriend keeps trying to feed him and in the process is polluting the tank and overfeeding the other 2... I tried to tell her she is not doing any good by doing that, but she just can't help herself...

So yesterday, she had a day off and before I left for work, I hid all the fish food... she called less than 30 minutes after waking up and she was pissed... hahaha. Today, she is off again, but I left the food near the tank and clearly told her not to feed them... we'll see if she can earn my trust this time

And for the record, still some ammonia in the tank, but I keep it under 0.25ppm with 50% water changes almost everyday. Still no nitrite as of last night though...those bacterias need to get off their butts and get to work!!!

 

[OldMan47]

I once left a tank in the charge of a neighbor while I went away for 2 weeks. When I got home and opened the front door, I could smell the tank. Yep, it was overfeeding. I emptied the tank and dragged it outdoors in disgust. I used the garden hose at full flow to rinse out all of the substrate and do multiple water changes in that tank while it was tilted up against the wall. Then I went indoors and simply forgot about it for a few weeks. When I decided to set it up again I found a guppy happily swimming around in what water was left in the tank, still leaned against the wall. I assume he had been eating bugs and such that fell into the water. Fish are amazingly durable when they have fresh water.

 

[TheJ0kerrr]

So I began reading about bacterias in a bottle and wonder what my LFS had in store so I could then read about it. The girl there asked if I needed some help, so I asked her if that Nutrafin Cycle thing worked. She said it will help for a new setup. I told her it had been 7 weeks since I put some fish in there and I still hadn't seen any nitrites or nitrates. She blames it on me doing some water changes. She says i'm stopping the cycle everytime I do that. She also said only 20% of the bacteria live in the filter media, the rest is in the gravel and other stuff in the tank.

I tried to get her to explain to me how the nutrafin cycle worked and she said it had to be combined with the waste control. As I kept asking questions, she just couldn't tell me the same answer twice. The nitrifying bacteria first converted nitrite into nitrate, but then they were converting ammonia into nitrite. Then there was the whole thing about how fish waste is transformed into ammonia. First it was waste control that did it, but later waste control was turning nitrite into nitrate.

She was getting irritated, so I ended it there, but I still don't know what i'm supposed to do to get those #40## bacteria to work. Is it possible that I don't have any in my tap water and therefore, they can't reproduce? I'm thinking about ordering the Dr.Tim's one and only nitrifying bacteria...

 

[OldMan47]

In general bacteria in a bottle are a total waste of money. If you wish to do so go ahead and use it but do not expect much. We have had numerous people here try it with the end result being that the cycle took just as long with or without it. At one time a product called Nitrospira, bactinettes in the UK, was being sold that actually made a difference in many cases, but that stuff is no longer being made nor offered for sale either in the US nor in the UK. It was sold at that time as a cycle additive and we actually saw tanks respond positively to it in some significant percentage of tanks, but its manufacture was stopped a few years ago. Since it required constant refrigeration and had a rather short shelf life, any you find today is completely out of date. A similar salt water tank product was being made at that time and I have no idea what happened to that. It may still be available.

 

[TheJ0kerrr]

So last friday, I tested ammonia again, but this time, I compared it to tap water and realized that if I waited a little longer for the test color to settle, it was turning a lot closer to the 0ppm yellow than the 0.25ppm greenish. And both were the same.

So I figured if I still have no ammonia, and no nitrite after 7 weeks, I might have missed the spikes. The odd thing is that I also have 0ppm nitrates...but oh well

I went ahead and bought 3 more WMCC's (6 total now) and introduced them in the tank. Man, what a party they are having now! Tested everyday since then and still reading 0 on all 3 tests...

Is it possible to have a cycled tank that has no nitrate if I don't have any live plants in? I'm a little confused as to how my cycle went, but I guess as long as I don't go overboard with fish introduction and monitor water quality closely, I should be able to handle it!

And before you ask, yes, i am wacking the heck out of that #2 nitrate test bottle and I shake the little tube after I put the #1 bottle drops in before adding #2.

 

[JDs4me]

If you are that desperate for nitrites you can have some of mine...I've got tons of the stuff, I'll bottle you up some

I am looking forward to losing mine, hopefully soon! Got the fishies planned, just waiting for the bacs...good luck with yours

 

[TheJ0kerrr]

I think I finally made it! The ammonia test on the left is my tap water vs tank(right) as I wasn't sure if it was yellow or greenish...

I finally found a fish store here who allowed me to steal a huge sponge from one of his tank's filter...that pretty much sealed the deal for me. I have never had a reading other than 0ppm for nitrites.

If all stays nice and steady, i'll go ahead and get a couple more fish...would like bottom dwellers, but i'm very limited with a 10g... shrimps maybe?

Edit : Water is still kinda foggy though...not sure what I can do to fix that. I'm only feeding every 2 days. Some brown spots are now appearing randomly on the glass and quite a bit on the fake plants.

 

[OldMan47]

I would call your nitrates a 5 ppm reading. Not much, but you don't have many fish.

If you want bottom dwellers, how about some nice pygmy cories like one of these species. All stay about 1 inch or less.

Corydoras pygmaeus

Corydoras hastatus

Corydoras habrosus

 

[TheJ0kerrr]

Yes, that would be the best thing for me, but I can't seem to find any around here... Wonder if I can get some shipped to me in Canada. The smallest corys they have are albinos...

 

[OldMan47]

I ordered my hastatus from Florida Guppies Plus because nobody around here had any. I ordered a dozen and they sent me 13. If I include shipping, they came out to about $3.00 each. I don't know if they will ship to Canada but the owner was very easy to work with.