Feeling Discouraged 😞

[Coolysd]

On Sept 24th I had these parameters Amon 0 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 5. So of course I thought my tank was cycled. I test the water every day, sometimes twice a day. I have yet to get another reading of 0 for Amon, it's either been .25 or .50. I have been doing frequent wc and have vacuumed the gravel.

I have a 75gal that has been cycling with fish (pet store guy recommendation) since August 8th. On Oct 18th I did a 75% wc (largest ever), I rinsed the filters in tank water and ever since then my tank is super cloudy. I'm thinking that it's a bacteria bloom (from what I have read). My tests since then they have been Amon .25, nitrite 0, nitrate 0.

I'm getting so frustrated and discouraged that I can't even enjoy my tank! What can I do to get back into the groove and get this tank right??

I love my fishies and don't want to give up on them. Please Help! Thanks in advance!!

 

[DoubleDutch]

Don't rinse the filtermedia after such a small amount if time, but it is fairly impossible you killed all the bacteria (if you didn't change fiktermedia)

I seriously doubt the nitrate test is correct. It is quite unlogical you've nitrates first and they'll disappear.

The bloom is caused by a different type.of bacteria than the cycle-ones and is triggerd by the rinsing probably. Best sollution is PATIENCE. Do nothing and only waterchange when ammonia / nitrites rise (what I don't expect). Only feed a little for some time so the BB can repopulate and the heterotrophic ones (bloom) will end their party soon.

 

[Deleted member 149562]

Having looked at the stocking, its actually quite light for the size of aquarium, percentage wise. Cycling with fish can take 9 to 14 weeks or sometimes more to complete. It is the more time consuming and less successful ways of cycling....and it takes ALOT of patience, with the very real potential of killing some or all fish due to the water chemistry imbalances along the way that are a part of the cycle process.

As @DoubleDutch rightly says, the rinsing of the media so frequently it not giving the bacteria enough time or stability to grow and thus get the aquarium through the cycle.

Without fish you would probably have been in the same boat due to the maintenance that you routinely doing.

Maintenance routines such as weekly water changes, substrate cleaning and filter media rinsing only really need doing when you are cycled, when you are stocked to around 65%......doing it all whilst in the cycle process effectively stalls the cycle, essentially a perpetual stop/start cycle.

To be perfectly honest, I would not have taken the LFS advice and done a fish in cycle. There are far too many potholes to fall into and at the end of the day the fish will suffer since you have to resist the urge to do that maintenance every week.

Fishless you can leave the aquarium to do its own thing, testing periodically, feeding ammonia when needed and so on....no harm done to anything and an aquarium that cycles quietly and without too much fuss.

Because you are human and you have fish, you have an irresistable urge to keep the aquarium clean for them. That works when fully cycled but stalls (and thus lengthens) the cycle when not.

Step away from the maintenance. Test the water every few days, be prepared for the occasional spike and potentially losing a fish or three. Let the aquarium build and properly establish its good bacteria. The bloom will clear on its own (it is often part of the cycle process anyway to have bloom and/or diatoms).

Have patience, don't get disillusioned....the LFS has probably years of fish in cycle experience but I bet you he messes it up more often than not....leave the aquarium alone to do its thing, keep an eye on things, test occasionally but try not to panic if you have ammonia and fish start acting odd or even die.

You'll get there.....but I would suggest that any future additional aquariums are cycled without fish, its alot less stress for you and the fish.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Test your tapwater directly first, too. Some people always have a reading of 0.25ppm ammonia from their tapwater, but the test is picking up ammonium, not ammonia, so not harmful. Worth testing.

Also agree that you should stop rinsing the filter for a few weeks unless it slows down drastically and needs unclogging, and even then, only rinse the worst off. It's meant to be a bit gunky and slimy! It's definitely possible to over clean an aquarium. Some filter floss added to the filter should help if the cloudiness comes from particulates in the water and not from a bacterial bloom.

Bacterial blooms are frustrating, but they pass! Remember that you're creating a little indoor ecosystem here, and there's lots of life going on in there, and it takes time for it all to balance out. Cycling is a long and often frustrating process, but you'll get there! A tank is still considered "new" for the first three months or so, and not even really what we'd consider "established" until it's been up and running for six months or more. It's rarely just a "add water to box and it just works out" scenario - it's rocky for everyone at the start, really! But you'll get there.

 

[Coolysd]

Thanks everyone for the info! That's the only time that I've rinsed the filters and thought I had to since they were overflowing. I've tested my tap water and it always reads 2ppm. I use the API test kit, and honestly, sometimes it's difficult for me to match the colors up. So I'm sure there are some errors on my end.

But I will do as suggested and calm down and have some patience (not one of my virtues) lol. The good thing is I haven't lost any fish and hopefully I won't!!

Thanks again!! So glad I have this forum to turn to!!

 

[DoubleDutch]

Test your tapwater directly first, too. Some people always have a reading of 0.25ppm ammonia from their tapwater, but the test is picking up ammonium, not ammonia, so not harmful. Worth testing.

Also agree that you should stop rinsing the filter for a few weeks unless it slows down drastically and needs unclogging, and even then, only rinse the worst off. It's meant to be a bit gunky and slimy! It's definitely possible to over clean an aquarium. Some filter floss added to the filter should help if the cloudiness comes from particulates in the water and not from a bacterial bloom.

Bacterial blooms are frustrating, but they pass! Remember that you're creating a little indoor ecosystem here, and there's lots of life going on in there, and it takes time for it all to balance out. Cycling is a long and often frustrating process, but you'll get there! A tank is still considered "new" for the first three months or so, and not even really what we'd consider "established" until it's been up and running for six months or more. It's rarely just a "add water to box and it just works out" scenario - it's rocky for everyone at the start, really! But you'll get there.

owww yes wanted to ad 0,25 often is a reading often seen (could be ammonium)

 

[Deleted member 149562]

Fishkeeping forces you to be patient.....you will find patience within you that you never knew existed when you keep an aquarium

 

[DoubleDutch]

Thanks everyone for the info! That's the only time that I've rinsed the filters and thought I had to since they were overflowing. I've tested my tap water and it always reads 2ppm. I use the API test kit, and honestly, sometimes it's difficult for me to match the colors up. So I'm sure there are some errors on my end.

But I will do as suggested and calm down and have some patience (not one of my virtues) lol. The good thing is I haven't lost any fish and hopefully I won't!!

Thanks again!! So glad I have this forum to turn to!!

Patience is the number one sollution for most issues hahahaha. Available for free on every streetcorner.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I've tested my tap water and it always reads 2ppm.

The tap water itself is always reading 2ppm? Or 0.25ppm?

Yep, the colours can be tricky to match up! Checking them near a window and with a white background can help.
Just follow the instructions, and if they tell you to shake a bottle (like the nitrAte test) then they really mean shaaaaake the heck out of the bottle! Like, bang it against a wall, shake it hard, and if it says shake it for 30 seconds, shake it for a full minute, kind of thing, since that one tends to settle, and will give inaccurate results otherwise. But, I've heard that the instructions might have changed in newer kits for the nitrate tests? Mine ran out and I have an NTL labs test kit now, so I don't know whether they've changed the formula for that test.

 

[Coolysd]

The tap water itself is always reading 2ppm? Or 0.25ppm

It reads 2.0ppm and yeah it does say shake the bottles and I've been following the instructions. Guess I need to "bang it against the wall"
Seriously, still cracking up!!

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

It reads 2.0ppm and yeah it does say shake the bottles and I've been following the instructions. Guess I need to "bang it against the wall"
Seriously, still cracking up!!

2.0ppm ammonia straight from the tap? Think we need @Essjay to help here with the numbers and test kit stuff, since she's the chemistry wizz, and I was always a dunce at that - but it shouldn't be 2.0ppm straight from the tap, and it's even stranger if it's then dropping to 0.25ppm - 0.5ppm once it's in the tank. Something isn't quite adding up!

 

[Essjay]

Ammonia in tap water is likely to be from chloramine. This is an ammonia and a chlorine joined together. Dechlorinators split it up and remove the chlorine part but leave the ammonia part in the water. In a cycled tank, the bacteria should remove this ammonia within a few hours; or in a planted tank, the plants should remove it even faster. Water conditioners which contain an ammonia detoxifier will keep this ammonia in the 'safe' form until it has been removed.

But you have ammonia in your tank well after it should have been removed by the bacteria/plants. Why?
When you do the ammonia test, what is the lighting in the room when you read the chart? it is a well know fact that fluorescent lights (tubes or compact fluorescent bulbs) can make the liquid in the tube look greener than it really is. The best lighting is bright daylight, but not direct sunlight.
What is the pH of the tank water? The toxicity of ammonia varies with pH. It is in the non-toxic form below pH 7, but at at higher pH more is in the toxic form. If you have a low pH, you do not need to worry about 0.25 ppm ammonia, but if the pH is over 7 it is more of a concern.

 

[Naughts]

We've already looked at these puzzling results.

Tap Water Perameters Question

Hello my fish peeps! Hope y'all are having a smooth weekend 😎 So I just tested my tap water using the API test kit and the results are Nitrite 0, Nitrate 0. PH 8.2, Ammonia 2.0 The Ammonia in my 75gal non-planted tank which houses 3 Dojo Loaches and 9 Neon Tetras, has been consistently...

www.fishforums.net

I still think you should ask the water company why there is so much ammonia in your tap water. People report 0.25 when the water is treated with chloramine, but 2.0 seems dangerous. Many European nations have adopted a drinking water standard of 0.5 mg/l (ppm).

 

[Coolysd]

Here are my parameters for the last week. As for the lighting, It's just been my living room lamp. I will do them again tomorrow in the daylight.

I just put in Anacharis in a few days ago. I know nothing about keeping plants. I've been concentrating and trying to learn how to keep my fish alive that anything else just causes more stress!

 

[Coolysd]

We've already looked at these puzzling results.

Tap Water Perameters Question

Hello my fish peeps! Hope y'all are having a smooth weekend 😎 So I just tested my tap water using the API test kit and the results are Nitrite 0, Nitrate 0. PH 8.2, Ammonia 2.0 The Ammonia in my 75gal non-planted tank which houses 3 Dojo Loaches and 9 Neon Tetras, has been consistently...

www.fishforums.net

I still think you should ask the water company why there is so much ammonia in your tap water. People report 0.25 when the water is treated with chloramine, but 2.0 seems dangerous. Many European nations have adopted a drinking water standard of 0.5 mg/l (ppm).

I will re-test the tap water again tomorrow in the daylight. I may be reading it wrong.