Cycle

Hello all, I'm very new to fishkeeping and have already run into a problem. I know there's a lot in here about Cycling, but can't find anything that quite answers my problem. I bought a Juwel 180 ten days ago and chose to cycle the tank fishless, but am worried that something has gone wrong. The Ammonia in the tank never peaked in the manner I expected, and the Nitrite seems to be stable for the past 3 days (there is zero Nitrate). I expected that the Nitrite would peak, or at least be unstable at this point and begin to see some Nitrate in the tank. I had high levels of phosphate, so did two partial water changes in the past few days to help prevent algae growth. There are three plants in the tank for the past few days (I read that they can be good for Oxygenating a tank whilst it is cycling?). Apart from throwing in some fish food every now and then (feeding the tank?), I have pretty much left the tank to itself.

I'm almost afraid to ask, but is there a chance the Cycle could have stalled? If so, is there anything I could do except start again?

Also, since I introduced the plants I have noticed a few small snails in the tank. Should these be seen as a pest or can they keep a tank healthy (eating algae etc.)

Look forward to your reply,

Xaribdis

Its been years since i cycled a tank but if u want to speed up the ammonia build up maybe bye some ammonia from ur LFS. I usually add a prawn to the tank,.. how long has the tank been cycling, 3 days? Ur nitrate Levels will eventually rise.

As for the plants, there are specific plants which are good for oxygenating the water,, others not so much. do u know what the plants are called? Some plants wont last very long in a cycling tank...

As for the snails... some people see them as pests, some dont, it rly depends on which type of snil u have. Cud u describe the snail?
I always keep snails i my tanks.. but some i view as pests.

The tank has been Cycling for the past ten days. I just did a water test and here are the results for the past three days:

DAY........Ammonia.......Nitrite......Nitrate
.8.......0.5ppm........0.4ppm..........0
.9.......0.5ppm........0.5ppm..........0
.10......0.4ppm........0.5ppm..........0

Although the cycle seems to be going in the right direction, it seems to be going slower than I was told it would and wonder if this is a sign that it could be stalling? In particular, the Nitrite doesn't seem to be doing anything. I was told to expect the Nitrate to be appearing by now.

The plants in the tank are Egeria densa, which seems to be doing ok and a Microsorum pteropus, which isn't doing quite so great. The main reason for adding the plants were to absorb some of the phosphates. I had that tested on Saturday anf it was rather high. Even still I seem to be getting a green fliament-like growth on some of the leaves. Quite worried this could lead to an algae growth before I even have a fish! I hate to jinx myself, but sounds a lot like the description of 'Beard Algae'.

The snails are very small, about one to one-and-half mm in size. The shell seems to be transluscent towards the head and brown towards the back end. The shell itself is small conch-shaped (although all water snails could have that shape for all I know!) and the body is a concrete-grey colour.

Thanks for the help so far. Any other comments are much appreciated.

Thanks for the advice- I'm living in Smithfield in Dublin city centre, so if anyone could 'donate some gunge' that would be great. Is there anywhere else on this forum I can pose that to people?

I'll start picking out the stray snails too as I see them. Will I need to stir them up from the sustrate or will picking them off as I see them cull their numbers enough to keep them from becoming a problem? Also, when I eventually get around to adding Tropicals, is there any fish that particularly like to gobble up these little shelled critters?

Im not to sure what snails u have... Prob ramshorn snails which i hate! Loaches are good snail eaters... i have clown loaches and they Decimate any snail pop. If u get them u will eventually need a bigger tank, and u need around 4-6 min. emmm Assasin snails... But their best at eating Malaysian trumpet snails...

I mean the snails wont be a problem as long as u dont overfeed the fish... they do eat fish waste and decaying plants and algae. And if u feel u have to many u can place a peice of lettuce or spinnach in the tank at night and in the mornin it will be covered in snails, its much easier then picking them out. This keeps pop under control.

Ok, that's good advice, doesn't look like I should be worrying too much about them yet so.

Any ideas about the tank cycling? Not even sure if it has even started yet by what JohnH said. Is there anyone in Dublin that would be willing to lend a Newbie some filter gunk? I can drive anywhere in the Greater Dublin Area if there would be someone so kind.

Hi there,


I just live across the bridge from you in The Liberties. Send me a PM with your No. and I can arrange to give you plenty of 'gunge' and maybe some used filter media first thing tomorrow.

Dave