Ive Almost Had Enough

[phoenixgsd]

long story please bear with me i started in december a fish in cycle (i didnt know any better untill i joined here)with just 4 fish, after reading on here about cycling i aquired a filter from a recently shut down tank which i thought would help the cycle, i use prime, its fairly well planted and i do daily water changes of 50-70%, yet, when i got fin rot and lost my fish my tank was empty for 2 weeks and i still had ammonia readings of 0.25ppm and so the water changes carried on, i was then given 3 fish who are still doing very well despite the problems, i am getting more media but cant help thinking my low PH isnt helping, our ph is 6.4 which is great for kettles and washing machines but obviously not for cycling, will the constant large daily water changes eventually get me there, do i have a faulty test kit (API liquid one) i have never seen nitrites but nitrates are now present, even though ammonia wont drop, please someone help before i forget it completly

 

[ZoddyZod]

have you compared a water sample to that of bottled water, to be sure you are getting a 0.25ppm reading?

do you know the ammonia level out of the tap?

do you know the nitrate level from the tap? If the tank reading is higher - there is a bacteria colony present

 

[phoenixgsd]

have you compared a water sample to that of bottled water, to be sure you are getting a 0.25ppm reading?

do you know the ammonia level out of the tap?

do you know the nitrate level from the tap? If the tank reading is higher - there is a bacteria colony present

yes have tested tap and bottled water both 0ppm for ammonia but not tested for nitrates, will do that now

 

[henriko]

where are you mate,if your close to liverpool,id come over an give you a hand,if not im sure someone will be near you

 

[phoenixgsd]

tap water nitrates are the same as the tank 5.0ppm

henriko im way down on the south west coast of devon

so any suggestions as to what i can do?

 

[Le0n]

just wait it out, I had a problem with my fish in cycle where the ammonia just stayed at 0.25 for absolutely ages and then all of a sudden one day nitrites appeared. not long after that the cycle was complete.
i actually stopped water changes to see if the ammonia level would increase but it did not, it just hovered at 0.25

edit : just thought I would mention my tap water tested at 0 ppm for ammonia

 

[Tizer]

what filter have you got?

If you take a reading of 0.25 ammonia, then don't do anything about it, does the ammonia continue to increase? say, another 24 hours later, perhaps to 0.50? If it doesn't increase, its a faulty test reading and your ammonia is actually zero.

If ammonia is being processed, it will process it all, not leave it at 0.25 and if carries on going up past this, then yeah, you need to carry on with the water changes.

I did a fish in cycle on my 240 litre, out of choice, coz im a freak and i enjoy doing water changes. It took me 6 weeks in total. 3 to get ammonia processing to zero, 2 to get the nitrite processing to zero and another week to get out of the habit of doing water changes.

 

[phoenixgsd]

what filter have you got?

If you take a reading of 0.25 ammonia, then don't do anything about it, does the ammonia continue to increase? say, another 24 hours later, perhaps to 0.50? If it doesn't increase, its a faulty test reading and your ammonia is actually zero.

If ammonia is being processed, it will process it all, not leave it at 0.25 and if carries on going up past this, then yeah, you need to carry on with the water changes.

I did a fish in cycle on my 240 litre, out of choice, coz im a freak and i enjoy doing water changes. It took me 6 weeks in total. 3 to get ammonia processing to zero, 2 to get the nitrite processing to zero and another week to get out of the habit of doing water changes.

i have 2 because im paranoid, one old one i got from a shut down tank and a new one which has been running beside the old one for about 6 weeks they are both fluval u1, i have left a water change for 24 hrs as suggested and it did rise to 0.50, so have been doing large changes every day, will new media bump start if my cycle has stalled, which i'm inclined to think it might have, i am really loosing faith and patience surely it should be done by now it was before christmas

 

[Tizer]

new media only removes any good bacteria that might be growing on the old stuff. you are doing a fish in cycle, so there is no such thing as a "stall" at least not with all those water changes.

are the sponges clogged up with gunk? have you ever drained out some water, taken the sponges out and given them a quick squeeze in the water and put them back? clogged sponges = low flow rate = low oxygen supply to bacteria = lack of growth etc etc.

 

[phoenixgsd]

new media only removes any good bacteria that might be growing on the old stuff. you are doing a fish in cycle, so there is no such thing as a bump start.

are the sponges clogged up with gunk? have you ever drained out some water, taken the sponges out and given them a quick squeeze in the water and put them back?

yes i have done this with both sponges as a plant fell apart and made a awful mess, both filters are giving a good outlet flow, i have read and re-read threads here on the subject and have tried several suggested things, even emptying the tank completly when empty, re washed the sand ect but things are still the same, the only thing i thought it might have been was the tank has been resealed, could the sealent be a culprit?

 

[nigsy]

tap water nitrates are the same as the tank 5.0ppm

henriko im way down on the south west coast of devon

so any suggestions as to what i can do?

I'm in Bideford - If you need mature media, and are nearby??

 

[Tizer]

new media only removes any good bacteria that might be growing on the old stuff. you are doing a fish in cycle, so there is no such thing as a bump start.

are the sponges clogged up with gunk? have you ever drained out some water, taken the sponges out and given them a quick squeeze in the water and put them back?

yes i have done this with both sponges as a plant fell apart and made a awful mess, both filters are giving a good outlet flow, i have read and re-read threads here on the subject and have tried several suggested things, even emptying the tank completly when empty, re washed the sand ect but things are still the same, the only thing i thought it might have been was the tank has been resealed, could the sealent be a culprit?

Does sound like something is up! doubtful the sealant would hurt it, they should have used aquarium safe stuff.

 

[phoenixgsd]

Does sound like something is up! doubtful the sealant would hurt it, they should have used aquarium safe stuff.

agreed, something is amiss but what, the previous owner bought the tank second hand already sealed, he had coldwater fish in it quite sucessfully untill he upgraded, or so he said

 

[phoenixgsd]

do i persivere with the water changes, will it eventually get there?

 

[snazy]

To be honest, I've noticed around here similar stories where when the Ph is low people get a stalled reading of ammonia and all of us again suggesting the usual thing: test may be faulty, tap water may have ammonia, etc...

What dechlorinator are you using? Another reason for this could be because your tap water has chloramines that get broken down to chlorine and ammonia. Try a better dechlorinator may be.
If the Ph is so low and depending on the temperature the tank is at(the low the better) 0.25 ammonia reading should be mostly non-toxic so you may try to just stop doing water changes to see if it clears up.
If there were no fish in the tank I would have said raise your Ph but this is not an option now.