Newbie Question

[iwantmorecash]

Hi
I hope this is not a stupid question. I was planning on a fishless cycle, but coulnd not find any ammonia any where and LFS said "I didnt need to do that and the internet was confusing me and that was th sillyest thning they had herd"
They advised me to run the tank with no fish for a week and add the "interpet filter start " as directed (this came with my tank add ever 2 days)

My tank is river reef 94l with sand, bog wood and a few plastic plants.

On 30th July i tested my water with API test kit (all readings were 0, PH was 6.5)

I then bought 5 Zebra Dinos and 4 platys

I have since tested the water twice (today and on 31st) all readings are still zero

I have fed the fish granualr food, just a pinch of food twice ( they ate it all within a minuite)


My question is today the water has gone cloudy.... im not sure why can any one shed any light on this...

And after reading other posts on here people say that the ammonia leve should ony get to 0.25, how do you check this as the lowest colour on the API test is 0.6 ....

thanks in advance.

Matt

 

[sjolliff]

Dont listen to your LFS,
it sounds like your tank has not started to cycle,
if your doin a fishless cycle you need to buy a bottle of pure ammonia 9.5%w/w
i got mine from boots £1.75 for 500ml

the cycle stuff like stress zyme and nutrafin cycle contains dead bacteria and does not work.

 

[Forestpisces]

The lowest on the API test is 0 then 0.25 it is the yellowish card.

I think you may have your cards confused.

 

[iwantmorecash]

The lowest on the API test is 0 then 0.25 it is the yellowish card.

I think you may have your cards confused.

Sorry have jsut checked my kit again and its Nutrafin
http/www.seapets.co.uk/products/aquarium...r-test-kit.html

sorry, i just asumed it was the api one

 

[Forestpisces]

Read the pinned fish in cycle thread at the top of this section, it will tell you all you need to know

 

[OldMan47]

Please keep a close eye on your ammonia and nitrites. The dodgy internet advice you are getting, the silliest thing you LFS has ever heard, would be to keep both the nitrites and ammonia at lower levels than you can detect. If you do not decide to do that by using massive water changes as needed, you can go back to that same store and buy more fish when yours die. I think they would tell you that everyone loses a few fish at first and it is to be expected. With the silly advice, I don't ever lose mine right away though.

 

[mickspark81]

IMO an lfs that tells you that adding ammonia for a fishless cycle is a stupid idea shouldnt be in the business. Its done to stop you damaging/killing the first fish you put in your tank..

Dont forget..your lfs is a business and wants you to buy more from them

Im very lucky as my local lfs is brilliant and actually tells me not to buy things from his shop until the time is right...Sometimes travelling a little further to find a good aquatic centre is deffo worth it

good luck

 

[iwantmorecash]

IMO an lfs that tells you that adding ammonia for a fishless cycle is a stupid idea shouldnt be in the business. Its done to stop you damaging/killing the first fish you put in your tank..

Dont forget..your lfs is a business and wants you to buy more from them

Im very lucky as my local lfs is brilliant and actually tells me not to buy things from his shop until the time is right...Sometimes travelling a little further to find a good aquatic centre is deffo worth it

good luck

thanks for all the advice .... my main worry was the ammoni as the lowest sign on my test kit is 0.6, but i am daily testing and if this cloudyness has not inproved tonite i will do a bit of a water change..

mickspark81 where is you local shop , as i am not to far from liverpool?

 

[mickspark81]

my lfs is a place called "stanley road pets and aquatics" its in bootle..The shop itself is only quite small. However...They import fish weekly or every 14 days. I usually go down and look at the list they have. Then i order my fish. (once the fish arrive in shop they wont sell them for minimum 3 days to let them settle in)

If you give them a ring they can tell you what fish are on the list and what fish they have in stock and have ordered.

The main owner is a guy called manny and he is very very helpful

Their phone number is 0151 9224452

 

[GoGators]

IMO an lfs that tells you that adding ammonia for a fishless cycle is a stupid idea shouldnt be in the business. Its done to stop you damaging/killing the first fish you put in your tank..

Dont forget..your lfs is a business and wants you to buy more from them

Im very lucky as my local lfs is brilliant and actually tells me not to buy things from his shop until the time is right...Sometimes travelling a little further to find a good aquatic centre is deffo worth it

good luck

My LFS is the same way. I got a 1 hour lecture on overfeeding my first trip in. Before they will sell you a fish that needs a mature tank the owner will ask everything about your tank. The more expensive the fish the more he asks. The best part is there is not 1 dog, cat, bird, or reptile in the place, fish only.

 

[iwantmorecash]

Right still all going well, but all my tests showing nill, can this be correct...

I changed 10l of water last night
also my temp seems to have gone up a degree since i changed the water.... ive not touched the heater.

 

[OldMan47]

With a pH of 6.5, your cycle can take a very long time. Sooner or later the fish load in the tank, and the food that your fish didn't eat, will add up to some ammonia that you can measure. When that happens, it is time to do a large water change. This can go on for weeks with a fish-in cycle until the nitrites start to be produced by the ammonia eating bacteria. When you see nitrites instead of ammonia, or even with the ammonia at first, there may be some nitrates start to show up. Until the nitrites begin to be seen, there is really no reason to test for nitrates. The nitrates come from processing nitrites. It is still very soon to be detecting ammonia if you have nothing that can measure less than 0.6 ppm and you are not overfeeding.

 

[iwantmorecash]

Have been doing regular tests on the tank and still all readings are nil

Tonite i decided to test the PH and it had gone up to 8.5 ( last test was 6.5 )

i did a 25% water change to try and alter it ........
any ideas why tank ph has gone up so much and why i am still reading nill on all the tests.


am i doing any thing wrong.

Thanks

 

[arobinson1984]

Do you have any type of wood in your tank? if so what type?

I believe mopani wood raises PH

Andy

EDIT - Just read you have bogwood which is wierd as that normally lowers PH

 

[Matt_northants]

What are you testing for? Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate? Without testing for all three it is impossible to tell how the cycle is progressing.

Do you know what material your substrate is based on? Silica or calcium carbonate? Silica will not affect the pH but calcium carbonate will, it will raise it.