Gravel From Another Tank Help Please

[gregcool]

hi guys ,
im having a bit of a war with the guy in my local aquatics and need some advice please.
as some of you know im doing a fishles cycle and this is my firs tank ever.
i have followed all instructions from mods ond forum to the letter and after 3 weeks my tanks first amonia dose is still showing 3ppm.
i followed recent advice given to me by your kind selfs and my tank is still on this first cycle and not moving any more,,
the guy in my local shop is so cocky im finding it very hard to stay calm with him anymore telling me not to listen to forum advice ect...dnt wory i told him what i think of his advice and how some of you guys hear are excperts and have been doing this for ever and im in full support from you guys.
i was adviced buy a kind sorse in the forum to see if i could acsess any one elses media ( gravel ect) to help speed up my long cycle and he said it wont help because of various factors and its a wast of time doing so....Anyway i cam home with some gravel from him and after about 30 min i got it into my tank....is this going to help and is there any thing eles i can do.... as i say i have no fish in my tank only very healthy looking plants and this is week 3 after puting in first amonia drops....there is no nitrites or nitrate present just amonia ....thanks guys

 

[nyx2k]

i would of crammed as much of the new gravel as i could into the filter as well as leaving the other media in the filter and i would have thought you'd have a cycled tank in 2 weeks.

leaving it on the tank floor will spread the bacteria around just a lot slower.

tell lfs to clear off and find somewhere else to spend your money.
im lucky because i have 4 maidhen aqautics within 15 miles

 

[Amerce]

To help with the bacteria build up you could add some apple snails or just feed the tank, I usually add some of the brine shrimp I have left over after feeding the fry as you probably can't do that just drop some fish food in there. It will break down and develop and feed exisiting bacteria.

 

[Harlequins]

The best source of media is filter media from a mature tank,gravel holds a little bacteria,but not has good has filter media.

Whats your ph? - cycles can stale if your ph hits 6 or under...

 

[gregcool]

hi guys well thanks for the info and hear r my test results today 24 jan
amonia is 1.5

ph high 7.9

norm ph 7.5

ph from my tap is 7.3 - 7.4

today i added some fish food

is it safe to add any clean up crew to start eating algae ect in these conditions

also can anyone explain why a fish cycle (which is when fish are producing amonia and water changes ) and my (fishless cycle ) are different as amonia is being present in both these conditions and why fishles is much longer process ? i just want to understand thats all im enjoying more understanding of the whole fishkeeping and like to be able to know what im being adviced to do so i feel confident in what im doing ....if this makes any sence....thanks guy as allways i realy am greatful to your advice...Greg

 

[Harlequins]

If you are doing a fishless cycle with ammonia,i would not add any fish even to clean up,

Doing fishless you are building up the filter's bio load so you can reasonably stock your tank immediately after your qualifying week of zero ammonia and nitrite readings in 12 hours.

Whereas fish in cycle,you would have to do daily(maybe more than one)waterchanges just to keep the ammonia/nitrite safe for your fish,otherwise they will be poisoned by these and die.

I'm not much good at explaining things in depth.

Have a read of these in the Beginners resource centre these topics are well worth reading.

 

[gregcool]

chears bud thanks for keeping in touch ....so do i just keep waiting and hoping

 

[Harlequins]

How much ammonia are you putting in the tank at the moment?

Once the ammonia starts reaching zero in the 24 hr mark,then start testing for nitrite,then test twice daily,on the 12 hr mark and 24 hr mark,this will tell you what ammonia and nitrite are doing,it takes a while for ammonia to start clearing to zero,has the bacteria builds up in the filter,you will then get nitrite readings,these will probably go off the scale,when it hits a peak(spike)then it will start to come back down.

Only add ammonia every 12 hrs if the ammonia reading is zero...

If you put up you're daily results,we can help you if needs be

 

[gregcool]

thanks for response ...well iv only put enough to bring it upto about 4 on the amonia and am still waiting for it to get to zero...i havnt added anymore since day 1 (3 weeks ago ) just waiting for it to zero itself for the first time then i plan to rais it upto 4 again untill zero again and the upto 4 untill as you say is zero;s in 12 hrs ....but still on the first amonia that i put in 3 weeks ago...i have added some fish food today and a small lettis for the small snails that are appering then i will dispose of the lettis....

 

[ellena]

Why are you going to the lfs and talking to him about it? Strange that it's taking so long to show any change. Are you using the API liquid kit?
I had a very long fishless cycle-biology is notoriously unreliable
I don't think fishless does necessarily take longer than fish in. Just think, if you'd done fish in, your filter bacteria would be growing (or not!) at the same rate, but you'd be doing twice daily 50% water changes and worrying all the time about the fish.
I remember mine being a total nightmare, I was pulling my hair out almost the whole time. But it was worth it, my stats have been mostly stable and the memory fades, honestly!

 

[gregcool]

yes i am using the API liquid kit and its nice to hear someone who has had this long wait like myself....thanks for the info on the fish in and fishles cycle ,thats what i was thinkin that its producing the same amounts of amonia for bactiria to grow fish in or fishless cycle and never undersood the difference betwene why people chose to do one or the other .....ohhh i dont know the more i think about it the more my brain goes mad on me....whats frustrating is that a family member of mine has a 3.5 ft tank and just filled it with tap water and declorinator ( sory for my spelling) and after 2 days has got all sorts of fish in it and iv told hime all about what i have now learned and hs's adimant to just feed and watch them swim daily with no water checks or changes of any kind.he just thinks that it is all going to be fine without cheacking and water changes ect.....he said to me ( iv done it like this before when i had a fish tank ) and knowing his luck it will prob all be fine in some fluke like way......so ill just wait for him to ring me and tell me they are all looking ill....how long can he excpect them to survive without any care water changes amonia cheaks ect....do they die asap or do they get ill and slowly die off