How do I get my aquarium to cycle?
I need serious help. I set up a 46 gallon aquarium at the beginning of June and can’t get it to cycle. Unfortunately, I have listened to advice from 3 different pet shops, and all 3 had different answers. I initially ran the aquarium for a week, then my local pet shop told me to add bacteria and 2 goldfish, which I did. Of course the ammonia climbed, as it should have, so next, 2 pet stores told me I had to perform frequent water changes, preferably some every day, which I did-about 2 gallons every morning, which kept the ammonia at about .5 ppm. Fish stressing from ammonia. I kept this up until a couple weeks ago. I had a Tetra Whisper filter and could not figure out how the bacteria filter would grow in that setup. The NEXT pet store told me the filter was no good, so I switched to an Aqua Pure three-stage filter which includes sponge material for the bacterial colony. They said my frequent water changes were keeping the aquarium from cycling and that I should stop it until cycling had occured. They also suggested I add Bio-zyme every day for a week, which I did per the instructions. They told me it would cycle the aquarium in a week. Nope, still no cycling occuring. Ammonia has been at 1.0 ppm for a week now and I am afraid I am going to lose both my fish. What the heck am I doing wrong?? Where should I go from here?
In response to the first answer-has the bacteria had long enough to grow, since I switched filters a week ago? Or does it exist on all surfaces, not just the filter?
Tagged with: ammonia • aqua • bacteria • couple weeks • frequent water changes • gallon aquarium • goldfish • google • pet shop • pet shops • pet store • pet stores • script type • sponge material • stage filter • surfaces • tetra whisper • text javascript • what the heck • whisper filter
Filed under: Water Filter System
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Wow, this is a doozy. Okay.
You should probably just look for a "fishless cycle" guide on the internet. It’s too complicated for us to explain in an answer.
But first of all: I’d say don’t bother listening to pet stores. They usually don’t know what they’re talking about, sad to say. Most of them just want to sell more stuff. You can’t "add bacteria" since the "bacteria" solutions that they sell do NOT have live bacteria in them… it’d be impossible to keep the bacteria alive in that bottle of water… there MAY have been bacteria at ONE POINT but now they are no longer. Bacteria need a food source and half of them die in 24 hours without it, all of them are probably dead within a week. There’s nothing in that bottle that has been sitting on the shelf for months.
Luckily, some bacteria live in the water from the tap already. NOT MANY, but some. That’s why cycling usually takes 1-2 months. Sorry but nothing aside from putting mature filter media in the filter will make it cycle in a week.
I’m not sure about the filter… I had a Tetra Whisper Ex filter also, which I also decided was crap and I got an Aqua Clear filter, which is actually fantastic. Just one thing: make sure that your filter media does not include "ammo rocks" or anything that says it removes ammonia. That will starve the bacteria you are trying to grow to cycle your tank.
When you replaced your filter, unfortunately, you started all the way back at the beginning. So anything you did before doesn’t matter.
Do a large water change (10 gallons). Anytime you see the ammonia up so high, do a water change. The bacteria grow on the surfaces, not in the middle of the water, so water changes only help reduce the ammonia.
No more chemicals. Bacteria need oxygen and food to live, so store-bought bottled stuff is usually dead and useless unless its refridgerated. Even then it only lives a few weeks refridgerated.
Wait. Test daily, water change as needed and wait. Eventually the nitrites will kick in and the cycle will move along.
It’s going to take 4 to 6 weeks or longer for your filter and tank to cycle. I have a 30 gal and an oversize 50 gal. filter. With 2 common and 2 fancy Goldfish it took about 5 weeks for mine to cycle. You need to test your water every day for ammonia and nitrite. About every 3 days test PH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels. keep a log and write your readings down every day for organization. Do immediate partial water (20%) changes when you see your ammonia level get up to .50 ppm. Retest and ensure it has dropped to no more than .25 ppm. If not, change some more water out. Test your tap water! My tap water has about a .25 ppm ammonia reading as is, out of the tap. If ammonia level gets much over 1.0 ppm, for any length of time, your fish will likely be toast! It doesn’t take long for them to get "burned" beyond help. Once a week, lightly clean your tank and do a 20-60-20 water change. DON’T CLEAN THE FILTER! Draw/vacuum the water level down to about 20% level. Refill with tap water to about the 60% level, then draw it down again to about the 20% level, then refill back to it’s full level. Keep the tap water temperature in the same temperature range it has been in your tank while changing it. When you refill the final time, add a water conditioner per the manufacturers directions. I use NovAqua Plus. That’s the only thing you need to add. Chlorine is the bacteria’s enemy! I would also suggest you take the charcoal out of your filter and substitue more biological media in it’s place. Charcoal is really not needed unless you’re using chemically loaded water. It really is best to cycle your outfit using the "fishless" method first, before putting any fish in it. I made that same mistake too. But since you already have fish, you’re stuck doing it the hard way. You’ll know your tank has cycled when your daily testing starts consistently coming up with 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite levels on a daily basis. If you then add more fish, do so sparingly, one or two at a time, and in two or three week intervals. And go back to daily water testing and changes as needed, until your biological growth catches up. You can then change to checking it only occasionally (once a week or so, before cleaning) and probably will only need to clean and do 20-60-20 water changes twice, or maybe even only once a month on that size tank. You only need to clean your filter about two or three times a year. Then only clean it in used aquarium water, never tap water! Don’t rinse all the gunk out of it. Just the built up stuff. Leave some to help the bacteria recover from the cleaning. Lightly shake out your biololgical media in used aquarium water, don’t ever scrub it thoroughly or rinse it under the tap! About once a year you can change out the sponge, but let is soak in the aquarium for 4 or 5 weeks first. Whenever you make a change, i.e. add fish, change filter media, etc., always go back to daily water testing and water changes as necessary until your filter and tank recover their biological growth. Add new fish sparingly, one or two at a time over two or three of week intervals instead of all at once. You have to let your biological growth catch up and recover from changes like these or it will crash and burn! Lastly, DON’T OVERSTOCK YOUR TANK! Keep only as many fish as your outfit will adequately support! Hope this helps.