My tank isn;t cycling

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Hi all,

I'm a neophyte aquarist. I have been reading this group for a while now
and really glean excellent info from it. I read a lot of Usenet and this
group is fantastic.

I have a new tank, 10 gallons, white gravel substrate, 4 plastic plants,
a bubbling treasure chest, whisper bio-filter. The Tank is
continuously at 74 F, ph betweeen 7.2 and 7.5. I have three Black Neon
tetras, 2 glowlight tetras and one Harl. Rasbora (they sold me three
Rasboras but the salesdroid at Petco was obviously clueless, or just
didn't care). For about three weeks I have been waiting for the nitrite
to rise. No dice. The ammonia is about 2.0 mg/L (ppm). I do 25% water
changes every other day. Why are these nitrifying bacteria not taking
hold? The nitrite with my aquarium pharm kit is 0 ppm.

The fish are very very active and frisky. I do two very small feedings
of Tetramin flakes every day; I siphon the gravel with the 25% water
changes. When can I exepect to see some nitrite?

Thanks all

Fred


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--
"Never put off till tomorrow what you can do the day after."
--Alphonse Allais

"Frederick B. Henry Jr." wrote in message
...
I should add that they sold me three Neon Tetras that all promptly died.
I told her I wanted Zebra danios to cycle the tank...she sold me tetras.
===============
I'm sure you'll get a refund or replacements. Wait until you tank
cycles,... and STOP vacuuming the gravel until it does.
--
Koi-Lo.... frugal ponding since 1995...
Aquariums since 1952
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
Aquarium FAQ are at: http://faq.thekrib.com/
~~~ }((((o ~~~ }{{{{o ~~~ }(((((o

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On 2006-04-07, ko57 wrote:
I wouldn't add anymore fish right now. My first tank took 1 month to
cycle, I wondered if it ever would-but it did. If it's been 3 weeks
since you are set up, you may want to cut back your water changes to
10% if you are doing them that often. Myself, I'd wait every 3 or 4
days, then do a 15% or so water change after checking my parameters.
Others who have been doing this longer than me might give you better
advice.


I keep doing the water changes because of the anxiety I have about
ammonia: I don't want any more dead fish

Probably Neon tetras were not the best starter fish.

I wonder, given that the bacteria grow on substrate and surfaces, that
changing water really hurts them? Should I just let the ammonia climb
really high??

fbhjr

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--
"Never put off till tomorrow what you can do the day after."
--Alphonse Allais

Frederick B. Henry Jr. wrote:
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On 2006-04-07, ko57 wrote:
I wouldn't add anymore fish right now. My first tank took 1 month to
cycle, I wondered if it ever would-but it did. If it's been 3 weeks
since you are set up, you may want to cut back your water changes to
10% if you are doing them that often. Myself, I'd wait every 3 or 4
days, then do a 15% or so water change after checking my parameters.
Others who have been doing this longer than me might give you better
advice.


I keep doing the water changes because of the anxiety I have about
ammonia: I don't want any more dead fish

Probably Neon tetras were not the best starter fish.

I wonder, given that the bacteria grow on substrate and surfaces, that
changing water really hurts them? Should I just let the ammonia climb
really high??

Noooooo! 2.0 ppm is already dangerous to your fish. I hope your pH
isn't too high. 0.5 - 1.0 ppm is usually plenty for a cycle so keep
changing water.

Out of curiosity, are you using Ammo-Lock for chloramines? Some people
say it interferes with a cycle. I've cycled tanks with plain AmQuel as
the chloramine treatment and it worked fine.

If you can, seed your tank with bacteria. BioSpira is the best by far,
but it needs to be handled well and kept refrigerated at the store.
Cycle and Biozyme work sometimes and might be enough to get things
started. If you have a friend with a healthy tank, ask for some old
filter media or a handful of gravel to introduce some bacteria in your tank.

As for starter fish, tetras aren't too bad although neons can be a bit
touchy since they're so overbred. Tetras are usually much better than
the platies or mollies many newbies choose.

--
Put the word aquaria in the subject to reply.
Did you read the FAQ? http://faq.thekrib.com

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On 2006-04-07, Altum wrote:

I wonder, given that the bacteria grow on substrate and surfaces, that
changing water really hurts them? Should I just let the ammonia climb
really high??

Noooooo! 2.0 ppm is already dangerous to your fish. I hope your pH
isn't too high. 0.5 - 1.0 ppm is usually plenty for a cycle so keep
changing water.

That's why I have been doing 25% water changes almost every day, but I
worried that was also possibly removing bacteria. My pH is around 7.3.

I realize ammonia stress/injury can happen even if the fish look
healthy, but they are acting very chipper.

Out of curiosity, are you using Ammo-Lock for chloramines? Some people
say it interferes with a cycle. I've cycled tanks with plain AmQuel as
the chloramine treatment and it worked fine.

I'm just using AquaSafe. Does that do the same thing as Ammo-Lock? I
put 1/4 teaspoon for 2.5 gallons. I use two 2.5 gallon buckets
(new/dedicated) to do the water changes.

If you can, seed your tank with bacteria. BioSpira is the best by far,
but it needs to be handled well and kept refrigerated at the store.
Cycle and Biozyme work sometimes and might be enough to get things
started. If you have a friend with a healthy tank, ask for some old
filter media or a handful of gravel to introduce some bacteria in your tank.

As for starter fish, tetras aren't too bad although neons can be a bit
touchy since they're so overbred. Tetras are usually much better than
the platies or mollies many newbies choose.

I will definitely look into some seed bacteria. I keep checking the
ammonia and nitrite once or even twice a day.

Thanks for the advice

Fred

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--
"Never put off till tomorrow what you can do the day after."
--Alphonse Allais

On Fri, 07 Apr 2006 14:17:06 -0000, "Frederick B. Henry Jr."
wrote:

I wonder, given that the bacteria grow on substrate and surfaces, that
changing water really hurts them? Should I just let the ammonia climb
really high??

Keep your ammonia down with partial water changes. You've been doing
25%? I would be doing 40 or 50%, but others may do more or less. Stop
vacuuming your gravel - your bacteria is establishing itself on your
filter, your gravel, your diving doggie and treasure chest and any
other objects in the tank. I'm reviewing the stats on a ten gallon
that just finished cycling yesterday - I see that I never let the
ammonia exceed 1% and did 50% water changes whenever the ammonia
reached 0.5%. I seeded the tank with a ripe filter sponge from another
tanks and kick started it with 15 ml of my own human made liquid
ammonia and urea. Two healthy platies have done fine in there
throughout the cycle, they didn't seem to mind the golden shower, and
the tank was fully cycled in 8 days.


-- Mister Gardener

"Frederick B. Henry Jr." wrote in message
...

I keep doing the water changes because of the anxiety I have about
ammonia: I don't want any more dead fish

This is just my opinion - but I do the same thing with a cycling tank. I do
enough water changes without touching the gravel or filter to keep it at a
non-lethal level. If it goes too high the fish will suffer and die.

Probably Neon tetras were not the best starter fish.

I wonder, given that the bacteria grow on substrate and surfaces, that
changing water really hurts them? Should I just let the ammonia climb
really high??

Only if you want dead fish. :-(

--
Koi-Lo.... frugal ponding since 1995...
Aquariums since 1952
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
Aquarium FAQ are at: http://faq.thekrib.com/
~~~ }((((o ~~~ }{{{{o ~~~ }(((((o

"Mister Gardener" wrote in message
news
On Fri, 7 Apr 2006 10:26:51 -0500, "Koi-Lo"
wrote:


"Frederick B. Henry Jr." wrote in message
.. .

I keep doing the water changes because of the anxiety I have about
ammonia: I don't want any more dead fish

This is just my opinion - but I do the same thing with a cycling tank. I
do
enough water changes without touching the gravel or filter to keep it at a
non-lethal level. If it goes too high the fish will suffer and die.

Probably Neon tetras were not the best starter fish.

I wonder, given that the bacteria grow on substrate and surfaces, that
changing water really hurts them? Should I just let the ammonia climb
really high??

Only if you want dead fish. :-(

And the dead fish would provide plenty of ammonia for the nitrifying
bacteria. (picture of smiling smart aleck goes here.)

-- Mister Gardener
========================
It's kinder and cheaper to do your "golden showers" number for
ammonia.......
--
Koi-Lo.... frugal ponding since 1995...
Aquariums since 1952
Aquarium FAQ are at: http://faq.thekrib.com/
~~~ }((((o ~~~ }{{{{o ~~~ }(((((o