Need a little info.

horsetrader74 · 07-15-2010, 02:04 PM

I have a 36 Gallon bowfront tank and have recently emptied my tank of fish water gravel and decor. I switched to sand, added new decorations, water, but I left the filter contents intact. I made this switch 7 days ago. When do you think that the tank will cycle through. I check my leves everyday and there is no change. Also I want to build a great colorful community tank for my son. Any suggestions on fish with loads of color. Thanks and in advance I appreciate the help and suggestions.

Judge · 07-15-2010, 04:02 PM

Hi Horsetrader and welcome. Maybe more info would help out a bit. Exactly what are you using to cycle with? We recommend using pure ammonia and then continue as you are doing by testing water daily. Then you should be able to follow the cycle and see exactly where it is.

As far as colorful fish..way too many. Why not check out "tropical fish" online...let your son look too. There are hundreds of colorful fish with all kinds of personalities, Just make sure they will be compatible with each other. Planning is part of the fun in this hobby.

horsetrader74 · 07-15-2010, 04:17 PM

Thanks Judge. I am having a little trouble locating the ammonia. I live in a rural part of South Carolina and my LFS that I deal with is more than an hour away that is why I joined the forum. I had African cichlids in the tank previously and grew tired of them. I took all the gravel out, water, and decorations. I left the filter on the side of the tank still filled with water so as to try not to lose my good bacteria. I put sand in the tank with new decorations and filled the tank back up. I did use some of my fake plants from the previous setup. I turned the filter back on and i have continued to cycle the tank with the old filter pad and bio filter and everything that is in my filter untouched. Do you think this is good or bad.

Judge · 07-15-2010, 04:34 PM

Yea, I know..I live in the "boonies" but I found an Ace Hardware. They have big bottles of the stuff. Black and Red label...no surfactants, just pure ammonia.

horsetrader74 · 07-16-2010, 02:02 PM

I found a bottle of clear blue ammonia. It didn't have any bubbles when I shook the bottle. I work on a farm and the contents of the bottle smells just like wet nitrogen. Now what is the instructions for adding this to my tank.

Judge · 07-16-2010, 03:19 PM

Not sure what you have there...why does it smell like wet nitrogen, and uh pardon my ignorance but what does wet nitrogen smell like? Why doesn't it smell like ammonia, if that is what it is?? I would be very careful about what you put in the tank...as far as the cycle and how much to use, we have video tutorials on the subject and several articles on the topic. The videos have links at the beginning of each section and the article can be found on our front page. I hope this helps. Keep us posted.

ZeroSystem · 07-16-2010, 04:05 PM

It sounds to me like you might not need to cycle your aquarium again.. You changed out all the fish and decor/gravel but you didn't disturb the filter, correct? I'd say as long as you did this all in a single day, and didn't allow the filter to sit with the power off for too long you might be in the clear. Usually the majority of the good bacteria is on the filter media, so if the didn't dry out theres a chance you may not need to cycle. The only way to know for sure though is to test the water for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.

P.S. I don't know what wet nitrogen smells like either, but I'll bet it's pretty gross which goes for ammonia too. Nasty stuff!

horsetrader74 · 07-16-2010, 07:38 PM

I am sorry for my country ignorance but wet nitrogen has a very strong ammonia smell. It will almost take your breath. yes my filter and contents stayed wet. I have checked my levels everyday and i have never seen any change in my levels for one week. I will keep you posted. Thanks!

horsetrader74 · 07-18-2010, 09:27 PM

Well my levels are still the same. No ammonia, Nitrate, or Nitrite, and the PH is good. I saw a video on Youtube about cycling a tank in three minutes. He took the contents of a sponge filter and squeezed it in a cup and poured it into another tank. This is kinda what I did but I just kept the filter full of water and I would guess about 4 hours later I had the tank filled and the filter never lost any water out of it. As soon as I let the sand settle I plugged the filter back in and it has been running ever since. Could the tank already be cycled like Zerosystem suggested. Stuck Guessing........

ZeroSystem · 07-19-2010, 02:06 AM

I'm inclined to think that it is, however the lack of nitrates is still weird. A cycled tank should have some form of nitrates, even if at really low levels. Maybe those levels are higher than your test kit can read? It might be that after doing essentially a 100% water change plus removing all the fish that there isn't any waste to break down and therefor no nitrates.. but then that would mean that the bacteria wouldn't have a food source, and that wouldn't be good either. Not sure how long "hungry" bacteria can last.. I suppose you could try stocking the tank very lightly and keep a close eye on your test kit to see what happens. If nitrates start climbing then you're good, but if you get any ammonia or nitrite readings, you will have to cycle the tank again.