Help Cycling Forever

[FishNewbie]

I need some advice. I am new to this whole thing. Yes I realize now I made a big mistake. I bought a 20 gal tank about 2 months ago. I added 7 platies, 5 guppies. They seem to be doing fine. I even have little fry. however mytank seems to be forever cycling. my amm. is 1.0 Nitrites 0 Nitraes 0 PH 7.2 temp 79. I do water changes as needed to keep my amm under 2.0. The fish do not seem to be stessed, but I thought by now it should be cycled. Do I need to let the amm spike really high before the cycle starts? I did add some Bio Spira to the tank not sure if that will help at all. Does doing water changes duringthe cycle hurt or stop the cycle. I am really at a loss. I don't want to lose any fish. I would like to get thsi tank cycled. I want to get another tank after the holidays. Any help Please. Thanks

 

[mark.w.jones]

As you are finding, cycling with fish is a big pain in the ass. But I wont go on about fishless cycling as Im sure you already know for next time which is cool. You've already hit the nail on the head. There is a fine balancing act between allowing enough ammonia in your tank to allow bacteria to grow and not allowing too much ammonia to build up for too long incase you damage your fish. Cycling with fish also takes much longer than without and you can't fully stock from the beginning as ammonia will keep building up too high, too quickly and you will inevitibly lose fish.

There are no hard and fast rules. I cant say to let your tank build up to 4ppm ammonia B4 changing water because it depends on so many things. Your fish will certainly be less healthy than those going fresh into a fishlessly cycled tank.

Im afraid it's a case of sticking with it. The best thing you could do to speed things up is to get hold of mature filter sponge, floss and media from friends or possilby LFS. This will almost instantly provide most of the bacteria needed depending on the size / stocking of tank it came from.

 

[Aprilia997]

Your tank is not that far gone. Make sure to do small water changes without disturbing the gravel. Your tank is stocked at a level where the ammonia is not going to reach a dangerous level overnight so dont fret over it. I have never used fishless cycling and over the last 30 years I have not lost any fish during the intial cycle time. Feed the fish normally but take care to not over feed. Take out ten percent of the water every three days and do not disturb the gravel because the new bacteria settle there first. If the tank is a twenty gallon tank siphon out one two gallon bucket and no more or less. It greatly helps to treat the water to be added with declorinator before pouring it into the tank.

 

[Nerwign]

I agree you should do small water changes often.

The whole purpose of the bacteria is to take Ammonia out of the water. If you provide this service for your fish by doing water changes, it isn't really hurting them, it just means it will take longer before you can do water changes less frequently.

I would do small frequent water changes for 3-4 months and you should have a pretty good bacteria culture built up by then.

-Nerwign

 

[FishNewbie]

Thanks everyone for your replies. Keep them coming. Can't wait to get this tank cycled. I want to get another tank after the holidays. I found 2 tiny fry the other morning, i guess the others got eaten , oh well the 2 i have are in a net breader. I don't know if they are guppies or platies yet.

 

[FishNewbie]

Ok I just tested my water again, can anyone tell me if I am on the right track? Hopefully I am. Temp 79 PH 7.2 Amm 1.0 Nitrite .25 Nitrate 5.0. I thought that amm and Nitrite need to be 0.0 before I see Nitrate readings. Also the water is still a little cloudy any advice? thanks