Was ready for fish. Hope I didn't mess up

**Marshel** · 07-17-2012, 02:19 AM

I used the fishless cycle program. I have been returning to between 0 and .25 on ammonia daily for the the past week and a half. Nitrite went from off the chart to 0. Nitrate has been running in the 40 to + 40 range. As I understand it, a water change should help this.

I had play sand as the substrate and told I won't like it. Today I did a 50% water change. I added shell substrate to the sand. The tank will contain African Cichilids. I was told that I wanted the shell substrate. The water is now cloudy, which isn't surprising.

The shell product is Nature's Ocean Bio-Activ Live Agarogonite http://www.reefsand.com/ I hope this doesn't mess up my cycle.

Sorry I couldn't make a direct link or if it is not allowed.
Concerned about using a marine product for freshwater. Was planning a 80 mile round trip, to a good fish store, tomorrow to stock my tank. Maybe I should wait till Weds. What do you think? I will be leaving from work to go to the store so won't be able to take a water sample before hand if I go tomorrow.

**Shootemz** · 07-17-2012, 02:25 AM

Originally Posted by Marshel

I used the fishless cycle program. I have been returning to between 0 and .25 on ammonia daily for the the past week and a half. Nitrite went from off the chart to 0. Nitrate has been running in the 40 to + 40 range. As I understand it, a water change should help this.

I had play sand as the substrate and told I won't like it. Today I did a 50% water change. I added shell substrate to the sand. The tank will contain African Cichilids. I was told that I wanted the shell substrate. The water is now cloudy, which isn't surprising.

The shell product is Nature's Ocean Bio-Activ Live Agarogonite http://www.reefsand.com/ I hope this doesn't mess up my cycle.

Sorry I couldn't make a direct link or if it is not allowed.
Concerned about using a marine product for freshwater. Was planning a 80 mile round trip, to a good fish store, tomorrow to stock my tank. Maybe I should wait till Weds. What do you think? I will be leaving from work to go to the store so won't be able to take a water sample before hand if I go tomorrow.

If It has any type of bacterial killers/ removers, your cycling could have been in vain, but it could be that the bacteria from those shells is a different type that you had and so started an algae/bacteria bloom, or they are leaking sediments and should be washed correctly. most likely sediments. Rinse the substrates first.

**Shootemz** · 07-17-2012, 02:29 AM

also read the description of the product, and it says instate ammonia cycling, you need bacteria for a real cycle, and i could have just removed all the ammonia.

**Marshel** · 07-17-2012, 03:04 AM

Thanks. Unless I get anyother advise, I will put off getting fish till Thurs or Fri. I will continue dosing the tank nightly with ammonia and see if it returns to 0 the next day.

**pjaldave** · 07-17-2012, 05:19 AM

I am not sure how you're getting 0-.25 ppm of ammonia when you did a fishless cycle.

Anyways, what is your current parameters?

**Lady Hobbs** · 07-17-2012, 08:49 AM

If you are going to be stocking african cichlids, it's especially important that a tank be cycled first because with those fish, they are stocked several right from the get-go due to their aggression. But if you are seeing ammonia or nitrites at all, then the tank is still cycling.

Have you been dosing the tank daily with ammonia? Not knowing how much you are dosing, it should be dropping to 0 within several hours. I think it wise that you do hold off for a few more days to play it safe.

On your sand......I haven't a clue! I don't know what it would hurt other than it will not live anymore. I think I would have just gotten some crushed coral to toss in there. If you added it without rinsing it, you may want to do some large water changes and rinse it that way.

**Aeonflame** · 07-17-2012, 12:12 PM

Fishless cycling is simple. There is very well written article you will find at the bottom of Lady Hobbs's post that explains it in much better detail than I can here. If you can get just a little bit of established media from a healthy tank this will speed up the process considerably. The cloudiness is either particulate from the substrate or a bacterial bloom common to new tanks. Either way it is nothing to worry about.

**Cliff** · 07-17-2012, 12:22 PM

As you added a live sand substrate product intended for a marine tank, you are going to get another nitrate spike as there is going to be a lot of die-off from the marine bacteria and other "live" things in that substrate as they can not live in fresh water. That could be were your ammonia readings are coming from as well. As Aeonflame has stated, that would also be were your cloudiness has come from and really isn't anything to worry about right now.

I would suggest completing a very large water change and gravel vac followed by bringing your ammonia back up to 1ppm. If your ammonia and nitrite levels are at 0ppm 24 hours after dosing, then you ready for fish. If not, continue with the fishless cycle process (link below in my sig)

**Marshel** · 07-18-2012, 12:54 AM

Thanks all:
Current Parameters: as of tonight
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
PH 8.4
Nitrate 40

I dosed the tank with 1 TBS of ammonia last nisht as I have been doing every night fo the past week and a half. 1 TBS of ammonia puts me at 1.0 ppm.

**Lady Hobbs** · 07-18-2012, 01:44 AM

Sounds like the problem has corrected itself but I have to ask, what size tank is this? I'm thinking that perhaps you should be adding a larger dose of ammonia to make sure you have enough bacteria to support the amount of fish you will be adding all at once.

I'm hoping this is at least a 55 gallon because anything less is really not suitable for africans and over 55 would be even better.

Just checked on back posts. I see this is a 55 gallon. I would actually be bringing the ammonia to 2-3 each day to give a good bed of bacteria.