theredviking
New Member
So unfortunately for me, i am getting back into the hobby and things are not quite going smoothly.
i bought myself a fluval evo and every possible upgrade i could find that seemed logical at the time. the set up has gone great and im really happy with everything in that sense.
i used d-d dry rock {about 6kg} and carib sea arag-alive fiji pink (10lb)
1kg of aspect bio spheres to ensure i had ample surface area for bacteria and organisms to live off.
my intention for livestock i would say is fairly light as far as ive seen for some evos. end goal is:
yellow watchman goby
pink streaked wrasse
and potentially a royal gramma but i can give or take this at a later date. no rush.
so heres where my issue has potentially caught me out or i could be fine, im really not sure.
i opted to do a fish in cycle using my usual go to ATM colony. and a banggai cardinal that my freind gave me on his tank shutdown as lfs wouldnt take it as hed neglected his tank and it wasnt in the best shape missing fins etc and he couldnt find a home so thought ill give him a go and see if i enjoy having him instead of the royal gramma.
so its been 3 weeks since i added the inital bottle of atm colony and the fish at basically the same time.
ammonia went up to around 2ppm and then dropped in 24hours to 1.2ppm 2 days later nitrites shown up at around .2 so all pretty usual stuff for when ive previuosly used this method. fish happy and eating.
2 weeks in and tests were up and down around simlar levels nitrates slowly rising to around 2-3ppm so didnt feel a need for water change at this point and felt that could only upset the cycle. so i dosed another large bottle of atm colony.
now im at 3 weeks and ammonia is literally stuck at 0.8 and has been for 5 days. nitrites are present at 1ppm and nitrates are around 5-10 ppm but nitrites are present so who really knows. fish is happy and is in way better health than he was and his loving his food etc and showing no signs of ammonia stress. i feed every other day frozen variaties and he goes mental for them.
current levels as of last night:
PH 8.1
salinity 1.025
temp 25.2c- 26c on titanium heater and temp controller
ammonia 0.8
nitrite 1.0
nitrate 5-10
lights are off and room isn't very well lit at all to keep any nasties at bay for now as waiting to add pods etc after ammonia is 0.
tests are red sea all fresh and in date.
reading some of the new threads on here they say by day 10 its cycled and to progress slowly based on new science and others would say absolutely not it isnt cycled dont have a fish in there etc.
whats opinions on my current situation. im wanting to add pods etc. do i do a water change at this point or not? do i leave it alone and wait it out.
if anyone could shed any light on what they think has happened here i am happy to hear you out.
fyi: i accept fish in cycling is becoming more frowned upon and some will want to judge upon this fact alone but i have been keeping fish for a long while and cycled several tanks and never had an issue like this, if i had of had a situation like this before i myself would of moved over to fishless cycling. which i now have learnt and accepted.
thanks martin
i bought myself a fluval evo and every possible upgrade i could find that seemed logical at the time. the set up has gone great and im really happy with everything in that sense.
i used d-d dry rock {about 6kg} and carib sea arag-alive fiji pink (10lb)
1kg of aspect bio spheres to ensure i had ample surface area for bacteria and organisms to live off.
my intention for livestock i would say is fairly light as far as ive seen for some evos. end goal is:
yellow watchman goby
pink streaked wrasse
and potentially a royal gramma but i can give or take this at a later date. no rush.
so heres where my issue has potentially caught me out or i could be fine, im really not sure.
i opted to do a fish in cycle using my usual go to ATM colony. and a banggai cardinal that my freind gave me on his tank shutdown as lfs wouldnt take it as hed neglected his tank and it wasnt in the best shape missing fins etc and he couldnt find a home so thought ill give him a go and see if i enjoy having him instead of the royal gramma.
so its been 3 weeks since i added the inital bottle of atm colony and the fish at basically the same time.
ammonia went up to around 2ppm and then dropped in 24hours to 1.2ppm 2 days later nitrites shown up at around .2 so all pretty usual stuff for when ive previuosly used this method. fish happy and eating.
2 weeks in and tests were up and down around simlar levels nitrates slowly rising to around 2-3ppm so didnt feel a need for water change at this point and felt that could only upset the cycle. so i dosed another large bottle of atm colony.
now im at 3 weeks and ammonia is literally stuck at 0.8 and has been for 5 days. nitrites are present at 1ppm and nitrates are around 5-10 ppm but nitrites are present so who really knows. fish is happy and is in way better health than he was and his loving his food etc and showing no signs of ammonia stress. i feed every other day frozen variaties and he goes mental for them.
current levels as of last night:
PH 8.1
salinity 1.025
temp 25.2c- 26c on titanium heater and temp controller
ammonia 0.8
nitrite 1.0
nitrate 5-10
lights are off and room isn't very well lit at all to keep any nasties at bay for now as waiting to add pods etc after ammonia is 0.
tests are red sea all fresh and in date.
reading some of the new threads on here they say by day 10 its cycled and to progress slowly based on new science and others would say absolutely not it isnt cycled dont have a fish in there etc.
whats opinions on my current situation. im wanting to add pods etc. do i do a water change at this point or not? do i leave it alone and wait it out.
if anyone could shed any light on what they think has happened here i am happy to hear you out.
fyi: i accept fish in cycling is becoming more frowned upon and some will want to judge upon this fact alone but i have been keeping fish for a long while and cycled several tanks and never had an issue like this, if i had of had a situation like this before i myself would of moved over to fishless cycling. which i now have learnt and accepted.
thanks martin
