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?

Technorati Tags: 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

I was recommended by my local aquatic retailer to try using Chemi-Pure (5oz half unit as my tank is only 20 gallons) because I have been having problems with my water being cloudy and my Ph constantly dropping. I followed all directions given including "rinsing the bag lightly before putting in the filter" and now my water is a charcoal color! My fish seem to be doing alright but is this normal? Will it clear up quickly? I have baby mollies in there and I’m concerned for them now. Please help!
phew! ok good. Thank you. I have never seen it get like that before. I guess I will rinse it a little better next time lol.
Yeah I probably should have explained this issue I’m having a little better. I have had a literally perfect tank for about a year. I do regular water changes and check my levels frequently.I bought 2 mollies about 3 weeks ago and one of them unfortunately was pregnant.(did not want babies as they are so delicate) It seems like ever since then, my water quality has deteriorated. I can’t see it being overpopulated as most of my fish have died. I have never had a spike like this, I have been using PH up for the dropping issues. Currently all I have in the tank are 1 mollie, and 1 small neon danio, and the mollie babies. I am only seeing 5 of them.As far as the product I used, it was actually very inexpensive and I do trust the store I go to as they have tutored me over the past 2 years on my aquarium. They sell nothing but aquarium items. I don;t ever trust anyone at lets say Petco or any of those other chain type pet stores. the staffs are unhelpful and unknowledgable.
Oh and I bought a new canister filter today. the tank I have is a 20 gallon and this one filtrates up to 40 gallons.

Technorati Tags: aquarium, aquatic retailer, babies, baby mollies, canister filter, charcoal, charcoal color, danio, doing alright, google, mollie, neon, pet stores, petco, script type, spike, staffs, text javascript, water changes, water quality