Fishless Amonia Prob?

[Red Tar]

My tank has been up and running for about a week. I have a few live plants in it but no fish. In the past week I've use some PH Decrease and Proper PH which have broun=hgt the level down to about 7.2. I've alos used 2 capfulls of Aqua Plus tap water conditioner and I have Aqua Clear's amonia correcting packet in the filter. It is testing about .50 for amonia but I've yet to introduce fish. I'll try a 25% water change to day. Any other suggestions. Why would I have an amonia problem if I don't have any fish in to start the Cycle?

[Alf]

2 possible resons. 1] Something with your live plants when you put them in. Could have had something with it that is now decomposing. 2] could be your tap water. HTH

[Red Tar]

Thanks, I'll do some plant trim and make sure eveyone is nice and green and then do the water change.

Is there any reason I can't use stainless steel utensils in the aquarium to trim plants? (like scissors or exacto knife?)

[Alf]

No problems at all. I use them in my Sw setups all the time.

[Red Tar]

Hmmmmm. About 2:00 yesterday I did a 20% water change and trimmed most of the brown parts of the plants off.
PH was then at 7.5, so I added one pakcket of Proper PH 7.0.
At 5:30 the Ammo was at .25, I took out the Aqua Clear, Ammo-Rid packet from the filter because I think it was screwing something up.

This morning PH was still 7.5, Amonia was up to .5 and nitrite have been consistent for several days at .25.

I thought it was cycling based on amonia from parts of the plants maybe dying but the Nitrites have been holding. Water remains a little cloudy.

Any advise. I'm inclined to leave it be and just monitor the tests until Monday unless it gets real cloudy to see what changes occur since I don't have any fish in it yet.

[Alf]

How are you treating the water that you use for water changes before it go's in the tank? It sounds to me that your cycle has started and could take some time to finish. Not sure what fueled it. waiting and testing should give you signs of that the cycle is taking place. What kind of test kit are you useing? could be the kit.

[Red Tar]

Thanks for asking, good questions.
I let replacement water sit overnight after having been put into a bucket with force so it agitates. No airstone in it until I find a quieter air pump. I put a capful of Aqua Plus Tap Water Conditioner although I'm not impressed with it. I'll use it up and experiment with something else.

I've asked around, I think some of the live plants had some weak spots (small brown areas) most of whch are now trimmed off but some still remaining. This "decay" probably started the cycle, I also used Biozyme which is supposed to help it go through the cycle and build bacteria. So I'm just letting it go through it's paces and monitoring with water changes if necessary. The only bad part is everyone in the office constantly asking me when I'm getting fishes.

I'm using Tetra Test for PH, and Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Dry-Tab for Amonia and Nitrite (also I have a Tetra Test kit for Nitrite and I'm comparing the two once in a while but they aren't way out of line which each other.

The water remains hazy, more so each day and I'll do another water change tonight before I leave. The stats for the last few days are:

Temp constant at 73-75
PH holding at 7.5 even when I use Proper PH 7.0
Nitrite Constant at .25
Amonia has been moving. Tuesday it went up to about .3 and then .5 on Wednedsay, so I did a 20% water change and it went down to .25 but back up to .5 by Thursday morning. This morning (Friday) it is about .6 with water increasingly hazy. I'm hoping that the nitrites will go up by Monday to show the cycle moving.

So what are your preferred test kits?
Also, I know you don't do live plants but I'm looking for a treatment for the plants when I bring them home from the store before I put them in the tank.

Would I have been better off with a filter with a bio-wheel instead of an Aqua-Clear? Since there is no underground filter, I'm thinking that the bacteria isn't forming and circultaing.

[Alf]

Well sounds like your doing all the right things. A for what ever reason the tank is in a cycle. The cycle will slow down by doing water changes. But you may want to continue because of the plants I am not sure how they will react.

As for the test kit I use the dry tab with my SW tanks and I have been very pleased with them. I only use it for PH and Ammo. I use fast test for Alk. and I use others that you realy don't need for FW. I ask because there are many kits that have faulty readings, but i don't think your having a problem with that.

For your PH problem I belive if you checked with your Local Water Dept. that it sounds like you have hard water. You may need to use a water softer in order to get th PH down. Also adjust your water change water's PH before adding to the tank. This will also allow you to dose it up, let it settle, then test it. This will show you how much you need to dose each water change. Just some thoughts to help out.

As for the Bacteria it will grow on everything in the tank. The Filter pad in the aqua clear should house enough Bacteria to continue the cycle. I have never used a BIO- wheel so i can not comment on them. In the Marine hobby I advise people with Bio-Wheels to turn them into algae scrubbers. :D