I started with an aquarium fully stocked with fish as a present. It was not cycled so I have since then removed the fish and quarantine them and medicated them with Seachem Copper because they had ich. So my DT has two anemone, one whisker coral, two emarld crabs, and one peppermint shrimp that I can not place in my quarantine tank. I need help my question is I place 50 lbs of live rock that skyrocketed my ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels. a few days and the ammonia has reduced to .50ppm and nitrite is still able to calculate so I am assuming 5+ppm, Nitrate has gone down to 40ppm. Do I have to add ammonia to keep cycling the tank because I removed the fish the source of the ammonia or is the ive rock considered the ammmonia source? Thank you.
Cycling Question
- Thread starter Orbela
- Start date
- Tagged users None
Waters
"...in perfect isolation, here behind my wall."
The first thing you need to do is remove the inverts from your DT if possible. The ammonia and nitrites will kill the remaining inhabitants. Yes, you could do constant water changes or use products like ammonia block but it is just going to prolong your cycle (the water changes for sure...not sure about the ammonia block). That being said, I would just continue to ghost feed the tank until the cycle is complete. The die off from the live rock will certainly help also. I am just curious though.....how did you end up with a fully stocked tank (both fish and inverts) as a gift that wasn't cycled?
The Live Rock is your Ammonia source, no need to add anymore.
Waters- my girlfriend went to petco and bought me a aquarium for my birthday would of wished she had consulted me before hand.
I have a question ever since I qt my fish they have been dying daily only left is the clown fish what could of possibly killed them all the level are 0 of ammonia nitrite and nitrate in the qt?
Where can I place the inverts safely? I don't have another tank that is cycled and my qt has seachem copper
I have a question ever since I qt my fish they have been dying daily only left is the clown fish what could of possibly killed them all the level are 0 of ammonia nitrite and nitrate in the qt?
Where can I place the inverts safely? I don't have another tank that is cycled and my qt has seachem copper
Waters
"...in perfect isolation, here behind my wall."
Oh, ok....I was just curious. I can't believe PetCo sold your girlfriend a new tank with all of that livestock :-( Anyways, regarding your fish dieing in your QT, how did you acclimate them? Are you running an airstone or something else to break up the surface of the water? What size QT tank are you using? How many fish did you have in there? Have you been monitoring the levels of copper?
As for your DT inverts, if you don't have any other tanks available, your only options are to either see if somebody can take the livestock for you temporarily or try one of the products designed to remove ammonia. Unfortunately I don't know a whole lot about how they work....for example how (or if) your cycle will still complete while using the product? Maybe somebody else can answer that.
Yeah they did and when I tried returning the fish they said no because the water was not cycled I was mad, so I return the equipment that I could return and bought a quick fix at my lfs but most my lfs won't take the fish even if I pay. Which is weird because I was told most would. Yes I am running a air stone but I wasn't when my blue tang died. I am using a 10g. I had 5 less than an inch big. Yes and they where in the safe levels. I have stopped since the fish with ich has passed away. I did acclimate I was using a syringe dripping ever 2 minute a few drops took about 2 hours
Last edited by a moderator:
Got it
I have question my ammonia=0ppm, nitrite=less than .25ppm reason I'm saying this is because it's blue but fused with purple the colors of 0ppm and .25ppm not sure it my be false positive. Nitrate is 40-80ppm but I know my lvls will lower with water change. My question is if I do a water change will my nitrite lower as well? Thank you
I'd leave it until your sure your Nitrite is 0, then do your water change, and you'd be all set. Your Nitrates are eating up the Trites at this point, and that is what your waiting on, enough bacteria in Nitrates to stabilize the system.
Waters
"...in perfect isolation, here behind my wall."
I would wait maybe another week just to make sure everything is stabilized but technically, yes, you can add fish once your ammonia and nitrites reach 0.
After you've cut the Nitrates to under 30, then yes you can add fish.
What can be leading cause of the nitrate so high? Or is it normal and when it finishes cycling it will drop? I don't want to change water and have the nitrate go up what can be a cause of nitrate build up?
Okay so my tank got to 0ppm-ammonia 0ppm-Nitrite and 5-10ppm-Nitrate. So I acclimted my clownfish with the drip method for 3 hours. A few hours later I test my water parameters again after checking it was ~.025ppm-Ammonia 0-Nitrite and 5-10ppm-Nitrate. My question is my clownfish going to be okay? is this normal does my tank need to catch up on to the new bio-load? if so does it take a while? I add Prime before placing my fish in the tank. Also my clownfish goes crazy if I turn off the lights I know it is common for people to turn of the light to acclimate the fish in there but my clownfish seem to not enjoy the darkness should i just continue using the light or turn them off?
