Tank Won't Cycle

[Steve Thornton]

I'm a beginner, and this is a new 60 gallon tank. My pH is 6.0-6.2, and
ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite are all ZERO and have been for almost two
months. The tank has two aquaclear 300 filters running. A few live
plants.

I started with 12 glowlight tetras in the brand new tank. One died the
first day, but since then they've gotten very fat and (apparently)
happy. I feed them a good pinch of food every other day.

I change about half the water not quite once a week, about every ten
days.

After about six weeks, I went to LFS to ask them what's up, but they
didn't seem concerned. They did say if all my levels were zero I could
up the bio-mass a little, so I threw in a dozen neon tetras, very small
ones. Again, a couple died almost upon impact, but the rest seem to be
doing OK. I'm a little worried that the much larger glowlights are
taking their food from them.

Now it's been eight weeks, and still not a glimmer of ammonia.
Perplexed, I am

--
Steve T.

[Michi Henning]

"Steve Thornton" > wrote in message
ups.com...
>
> Now it's been eight weeks, and still not a glimmer of ammonia.
> Perplexed, I am

You have plants in the tank and, for a 60gal, only a minute fish load.
What's most likely happening is that the plants absorb what little
ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate is produced in your tank, so you see
all three values below the threshold of measurement of your test
kits. Chances are that your tank is already cycled, but that you
have only a small bacteria population in your filters.

So, there is nothing to worry about. But, as you increase the fish
stocking level, do it slowly, adding a few fesh every five or six
days, until you have your tank stocked with what you want. That
way, you give the bacteria in your filters a chance to catch up
with the increasing amount of waste. While you are stocking
up, its a good idea to keep an eye on your water values every
three days or so. Once the tank is fully stocked and stable, it's
usually sufficient to check every 2-3 weeks or so (assuming
nothing else unusual is happening with the tank).

Cheers,

Michi.
--
Michi Henning Ph: +61 4 1118-2700
ZeroC, Inc. http://www.zeroc.com

[js1]

On 2005-01-15, Steve Thornton > wrote:
> I'm a beginner, and this is a new 60 gallon tank. My pH is 6.0-6.2, and
> ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite are all ZERO and have been for almost two
> months. The tank has two aquaclear 300 filters running. A few live
> plants.
>

http://honors.montana.edu/~weif/firsttank/cycle.phtml

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If I wanted to do that, I'd vote." --Duckman