Not Cycling Tank?

[khial]

added the harlequin rasboras saturday and 2 tiger barbs and a ruby shark this afternoon

these were new fish, not the ones that the previous owner of the tank had

 

[the_lock_man]

There is some research, which is being discussed in another thread which says that the bacteria don't die if starved of ammonia and oxygen (and indeed left to dry out), but the length of time taken to "awaken" depends on the time they have been left dormant.

I've always thought the same as bmonki, but if this research is valid, then you may well have some decent bacteria in the filter still. But you need to test the water to be sure.

 

[khial]

hi, have just been to pets at home and had a water test, everything showed up perfect, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate all spot on...

it is an oversized filter (fluval 205 in an 80-100 liter tank) so im guessing it had plenty still left in it and this means im fully cycled?

 

[leighton_87]

Don't want to be the bearer of bad news but I would guess that a ruby shark would cause havoc in a 80-100 litre tank.

Tiger barbs are also likely to be a problem in groups of less than 8

 

[the_lock_man]

hi, have just been to pets at home and had a water test, everything showed up perfect, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate all spot on...

it is an oversized filter (fluval 205 in an 80-100 liter tank) so im guessing it had plenty still left in it and this means im fully cycled?

May well be. You need your own tests though. My idea of "spot-on" may be rather different to the non-specialist staff member at P@H. My idea of "spot-on" is 0ppm ammonia and nitrate, and somwhere below 40-60ppm nitrate. Next time you get them to test, get them to tell you the actual numbers, not just "yeah, mate, that's spot-on"

Oh, and what Leighton said? He ain't wrong. Did the guy at P@H recommend them?

 

[khial]

oh yes i agree, the lady did the test right infront of me, and it was all at its lowest, ammonia 0ppm, nitrite 0ppm and nitrate 0ppm,

i thought this was hard to believe but as she did it infront of me a cant really argue with that, i also used my own ammonia testing kit and got the same result with that,

just seems too good to be true as its only been running for 4-5 days, but like i said before the filter must have enough bacteria in the media for a 200 liter tank.


these fish were from a seperate shop and trust me i will not be going back there, she didnt exactly push them in my face, ive kept a black red tail before and asked if the ruby would be ok and she said they would be fine same with the tiger barbs , i felt like taking all there fish just looking at there tanks, quite poor really, didnt have much knowledge either, im no expert but i think i knew more than she did!!

 

[the_lock_man]

0ppm nitrate is a worry. If your filter is cycled, then you should see a nitrate reading - mine is around 40ppm normally, I know others on here level off at 20ppm. It largely depends on the tapwwater nitrate level.

 

[khial]

the nitrate test was a medium to a darker shade of orange, just checked the chart online and it says your right basically, somewhere around 20ppm it would of been....

i tend to forget things quickly