Challenges of the Cycling Process

[Vinny]

Heh ... Well, My 10 Gallon (Planted.. although still adding more plants ) Tank has been up and running for close to Three weeks now, and it is currently undergoing the grueling process of Cycling.

It is currently home to one Dwarf Flame Gourami, and has been going smooth up until now.. I have hit a road block.

After testing frequently throughout the Cycling process, I have began to think that I should just let the tank take care of itself, for the ammonia levels were 0, and I thought I should let nature take its due course (by cycling without doing WC's)...

Although today, I found out my ammonia levels are near .50. The Nitrite and Nitrate levels are 0.... but its the ammonia level that are really worrying me.

I now think differently; I think I should take control and possibly do a Water Change, for I of course could not see my little Gourami take a turn for the worse as a result of my lack of judgment.

Also, I included some pictures (see the links, pictures wouldn't load... I think my water level in itself is too low, for there is at least two inches of air between the top of the tank and the water surface.

http://s206.photobucket.com/albums/b...urrent=Two.jpg
http://s206.photobucket.com/albums/b...rrent=Tank.jpg
http://s206.photobucket.com/albums/b...nt=Gourami.jpg


So my question is, How shall I go about doing Water Change's (is there a routine of daily WC's that I should follow until my Ammonia levels are O ppm?)

Also, when doing the Water Changes, should I add more water than I take out in order to make up for the low water level?

Thank you, I know my question is quite long he he... I'd appreciate the advice.

[mousey]

your tank looks very pretty right now but you have 2 plants that are not really true aquatics. The silver in the middle is just a house plant and it will eventually die under water.
Also the "bamboo" which is not a true bamboo will also die unless you get it's leaves out of the water. The roots will be ok in the water tho.
Because you only have one small fish in there it seems to be taking the ammonia a bit more time to build up and it seems that everyhting is progressing as it should. Before you are finished you will see a lot higher reading. Gourami's are not the best choice for cycling either.
You can go buy some biospira if it is available in the country you live in.
Or you can buy some Ammo Lock or preferably Seachem PRime and use that in the water to make the ammonia non toxic. Also every couple of days when the ammonia gets really high you can do a 30- 40 % water change Making sure the water is treated and the same temperature as the tank water.
Also get a bunch of hornwort- it will love the ammonia. Once the ammonia is all gone the hornwort will not grow quite as fast.
If you can't get the PRIME you can add a little salt to the water to help the fish thru the nitrite stage.
If you can find the site on ABOUT.COM they used to have charts and graphs plus advice on how the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate occur at approx what day of the cycling process. Very interesting too.
Cut the feeding back on the fish as the ammonia gets higher.

[Betta1]

As mousey said a gourami probably wasn't the best choice to cycle a tank but whats done is done. For future reference most people on this site are adimant about fishless cycling, in short you use pure amonia (no surficants) or a raw shrimp to produce ammonia in the tank and begin the process of building up beneficial bacteria. After adding fish you will get mini-cycles where the tank has a period of time to catch up between the current level of bacteria and the new bio-load of ammonia, this is why you don't add alot of fish at once because the ammonia spike can cause alot of stress.

For your current situation what you can do is keep testing your water and do water changes to lower ammonia, this unfortunatley is only a temporary solution and will cause your cycle to take longer to complete though it has the benefit of not letting your ammonia spike as high.

If you can find yourself some "Cycle" it will probably help your gourami survive and speed up the cycle process, the way I use cycle is add only a cap full every day or every other day. Don't add the whole bottle as it's simply a waste of money, by doing this you dump a ton of bacteria in the tank which quickly dies as there is SO much bacteria and so Little ammonia that theres no way to feed all of it.

A personal side note: When I hear someone say they have a "planted" tank I tend to think of the full nine yards, good lighting heavily planted and more then likely CO2. It appears that you've got the lighting that came in your kit which is quite low lighting, 1-3 watts per gallon is considered low light 3-5 is medium and anything over 5 is high. I had a decent amount of plants in my 29g and considered it planted until I started to look through the freshwater plants section. As well I know better having seen my friends planted 55g rainbow tank.

I've had bamboo in my 29g community tank for at least 6 months without any leaves above the surface and they're doing just fine, though they've barely grown if at all

[flamingo]

This thread is over a month old.

[Betta1]

oops, just getting practice and brushing up for my job at the pet store =D

with any luck another reader will find this thread usefull