Have I Done Something Wrong?!?!?

[dinotheelite]

Dear anyone who can help,

I just bought a 2nd hand tropical fish tank, 55 litres with a working heater and i bought a new internal power filter.

I rinsed dry gravel bought from shop (not very thoroughly) and, on the shopowners advice, i added two aquarium plants.

Filled tank 3/4 full with aquarium water and rest with tap water.

No fish yet

Left it on for 2 days.

After day 1 the tank became more and more cloudy and after 2 days i couldnt even see the back of the tank (its only 30cm wide!). Being as impatient as I am, I bought some filter aid and put in the stated amount.

It pretty much cleared up in 20 mins - but my question is - have I broken the required Nitrogen cycle? If I have what should I do?

I dont want to put in some fish only to find them dead - please help!

 

[Truck]

Dear anyone who can help,

I just bought a 2nd hand tropical fish tank, 55 litres with a working heater and i bought a new internal power filter.

I rinsed dry gravel bought from shop (not very thoroughly) and, on the shopowners advice, i added two aquarium plants.

Filled tank 3/4 full with aquarium water and rest with tap water.

No fish yet

Left it on for 2 days.

After day 1 the tank became more and more cloudy and after 2 days i couldnt even see the back of the tank (its only 30cm wide!). Being as impatient as I am, I bought some filter aid and put in the stated amount.

It pretty much cleared up in 20 mins - but my question is - have I broken the required Nitrogen cycle? If I have what should I do?

I dont want to put in some fish only to find them dead - please help!

you havent started the nitrogen cycle, bacterial aids (99% of them) do not work!

buy some ammonia and do a fishless cycle

 

[roofer no1]

Dear anyone who can help,

I just bought a 2nd hand tropical fish tank, 55 litres with a working heater and i bought a new internal power filter.

I rinsed dry gravel bought from shop (not very thoroughly) and, on the shopowners advice, i added two aquarium plants.

Filled tank 3/4 full with aquarium water and rest with tap water.

No fish yet

Left it on for 2 days.

After day 1 the tank became more and more cloudy and after 2 days i couldnt even see the back of the tank (its only 30cm wide!). Being as impatient as I am, I bought some filter aid and put in the stated amount.

It pretty much cleared up in 20 mins - but my question is - have I broken the required Nitrogen cycle? If I have what should I do?

I dont want to put in some fish only to find them dead - please help!
[/quote if i was u i would start again and rince every thing proply before adding water u must be patient and let the tank cycle before adding fish or the fish will die .

 

[Gabriel]

minimum : 3 weeks to a month of waiting if no water from a working tank

I just set up my tank saturday with gravel, plants and wood... gravel throughly rinsed until water clear, wood brushed deeply and brushed then under hot water, plants slightly cleared.

I have no issue as you described despite the wood so would say it comes from your gravel not properly rinsed.

Be prepared for a month to wait
If not fish is likely to die

 

[Truck]

minimum : 3 weeks to a month of waiting if no water from a working tank

I just set up my tank saturday with gravel, plants and wood... gravel throughly rinsed until water clear, wood brushed deeply and brushed then under hot water, plants slightly cleared.

I have no issue as you described despite the wood so would say it comes from your gravel not properly rinsed.

Be prepared for a month to wait
If not fish is likely to die

if your letting a tank sit there doing nothing, its pointless it does nothing, there needs to be a source of ammonia

 

[Gabriel]

well plants + biofiltre/bacteria and usually it works
did everytime I had a tank

 

[Truck]

well plants + biofiltre/bacteria and usually it works
did everytime I had a tank

plants will absorb ammonia.

biofiltre doesnt work, its a money grabber. did you actually test your water in this period?

 

[Gabriel]

I tested it before, not since, as it has been set up only since saturday,
well I did buy a lot of water treatment and medication from someone everything sealed with expirationd ate 2011, so it is not like I have spend much money on it.
I think it does no harm to add some

 

[rabbut]

The Nitrogen cycle cannot start untill an Ammonia source is presant. This can be from food, liquid bottled Ammonia or fish to name but a few sources. Without doing a fishless cycle with Ammonia/food prior to adding fish, you start a fish-in cycle after adding fish. This can *work* if done in a controlled way (add fish slowly over a long time), but intentionally subjectes the fish to poisons while the filter "cycles" with the first set of fish and "mini-cycles" with each subsiquent addition to the stocking. If you go realy slow with additions, you may not get any detectable or dangerously high levels of Amomnia/Nitrite, but anything above 0.25ppm long-term will shorten the lives of the fish used to cycle the tank. If levels get above 1ppm, the fish are in imediate danger of death. For most cycles in smaller tanks, daily 50% waterchanges are often needed to keep the fish alive.

Ammonia burns the fishes gills and skin, leading to permanant damage to the fish. "Cycle fish" will not live their full lives, hence why many feel fish-in cycling is un-ethical. Nitrite binds to the blood, stoping Oxygen getting into the fishes blood stream. This effectively suffocates them. There are ways to reduce the toxidity of these two poisons, but it is best IMO to avoid subjecting the fish to them in the first place so far as is possible.

Adding meds without a disease being present is harmful. A lot of meds can upset the bio-filter and they increase the stress on the fish. All meds are poisonous, that's how they work so them being present does stress the fish, weakening their immuse systems and potentially making them go down with one of the many things the med dose not treat. Broad spectrum med = too weak to be of any benefit, so that isn't realy a "preventative"

Bacteria in the bottle products won't hurt anything but your wallet. All baateria in them is dead by the time it gets to you. It is in hermetically sealed containers, stored at room temperature, or warmer in Wearhouses, so they have no Oxygen supply and have not swithced to a dormant state. This kills them via Oxygen starvation. Also, only a select few contained the correct filter bacteria to begin with They will not up-set the tank, but they won't realy help it either.

Anyhow, getting back on-topic...

dinotheelite, there is nothing wrong with what you have done so far. You are not yet readying the tank for fish though... Have a read of This Thread to see where to go from here. If the method Gabriel describes takes your interest, take a look at This Thread to see the work involved if you do it properly, and bear in mind that you will only be starting with a maximum of 1" of fish per 5gallons for the first month using this method, preferably less fish and possibly a longer wait before adding more...

General recomended reading (might be worth a look for a refresher session Gabriel?)

Cycling, what it is...
The beginner resources center in "New to the hobby", for maintanance, common trouble shoots and other "background info"

HTH
Rabbut

 

[Gabriel]

Really interesting links

I go buy amnonia
Search on google.fr reveales that a lot of guide to beginners never mentions this fishless cycle.

So during past ten years I did a fish in cycle, always worked fine with no loss but must be because I started with very few fishes, and fishes yes coud have suffer at first from it...

Thanks

My first reply to the topic was just to give dinotheelite an idea on how long should be wait before introducing fish as it wasn't said before, that's all.

 

[dinotheelite]

The Nitrogen cycle cannot start untill an Ammonia source is presant. This can be from food, liquid bottled Ammonia or fish to name but a few sources. Without doing a fishless cycle with Ammonia/food prior to adding fish, you start a fish-in cycle after adding fish. This can *work* if done in a controlled way (add fish slowly over a long time), but intentionally subjectes the fish to poisons while the filter "cycles" with the first set of fish and "mini-cycles" with each subsiquent addition to the stocking. If you go realy slow with additions, you may not get any detectable or dangerously high levels of Amomnia/Nitrite, but anything above 0.25ppm long-term will shorten the lives of the fish used to cycle the tank. If levels get above 1ppm, the fish are in imediate danger of death. For most cycles in smaller tanks, daily 50% waterchanges are often needed to keep the fish alive.

Ammonia burns the fishes gills and skin, leading to permanant damage to the fish. "Cycle fish" will not live their full lives, hence why many feel fish-in cycling is un-ethical. Nitrite binds to the blood, stoping Oxygen getting into the fishes blood stream. This effectively suffocates them. There are ways to reduce the toxidity of these two poisons, but it is best IMO to avoid subjecting the fish to them in the first place so far as is possible.

Adding meds without a disease being present is harmful. A lot of meds can upset the bio-filter and they increase the stress on the fish. All meds are poisonous, that's how they work so them being present does stress the fish, weakening their immuse systems and potentially making them go down with one of the many things the med dose not treat. Broad spectrum med = too weak to be of any benefit, so that isn't realy a "preventative"

Bacteria in the bottle products won't hurt anything but your wallet. All baateria in them is dead by the time it gets to you. It is in hermetically sealed containers, stored at room temperature, or warmer in Wearhouses, so they have no Oxygen supply and have not swithced to a dormant state. This kills them via Oxygen starvation. Also, only a select few contained the correct filter bacteria to begin with They will not up-set the tank, but they won't realy help it either.

Anyhow, getting back on-topic...

dinotheelite, there is nothing wrong with what you have done so far. You are not yet readying the tank for fish though... Have a read of This Thread to see where to go from here. If the method Gabriel describes takes your interest, take a look at This Thread to see the work involved if you do it properly, and bear in mind that you will only be starting with a maximum of 1" of fish per 5gallons for the first month using this method, preferably less fish and possibly a longer wait before adding more...

General recomended reading (might be worth a look for a refresher session Gabriel?)

Cycling, what it is...
The beginner resources center in "New to the hobby", for maintanance, common trouble shoots and other "background info"

HTH
Rabbut

Hi there just want to say thanks for all the info, its really come in handy - wish me luck!

 

[rabbut]

Good luck

 

[Inchworm]

Hi dinotheelite

Welcome to the forum!

I'm going to move your thread over to the New to the Hobby section. Please continue to post about your progress. The members here will be happy to guide you through the various stages of cycling and help you get off to a good start.

Best of luck with your new tank!