How long do you think a mini cycle should last? I added 6 small rasboras 13 days ago and my tank has been slightly slightly cloudy since then. Ammonia has been roughly 1ppm since i've been doing 25% water changes every other day since then. My nitrates float around 2-5 ppm and my nitrites are zero. Ph is stable at 7.4 (yay!, it was the stinkin wood i tossed!).
Oh, and i only have two angelfish in there, two inches each (in a 20 gallon).
That wood is expensive. I'll take it sometime if you still have it ;) Someone else will need to answer this question as I have so many plants I think my tanks start and establish a cycle right away and I have way more filtration than any reasonable person needs.
A mini-cycle generally only takes a couple of days. Something else is going on besides the addition of the rasboras - the bacteria should have had more than enough time by now to catch up with the increased load. It looks like there is going to have to be some detective work on this one. I know we already covered alot of things last time so I will skip all those suggestions. I am still wondering about under your UGF. I have never owned one so I am not an expert on them, but I have read many times about people who lifted up their UGF and found all sorts of debris and junk under their tank. I think there was even a person on here who lifted theirs up and there was so much waste that his/her water turned black. Is this situation at all possible in your tank? You nitrates and nitrites sound excellent, but there is something in there generating ammonia.
I think miami is right here..something must be generating the amonnia. The only way your established bacteria population wouldn't adapt VERY quickly to th addition of just 6 fish is if you changed your filter media, AND did a 50% water change, AND disturbed all surfaces inside the tank. I can't imagine 6 fish would impact the chemistry so drastically on a well-established tank.
I have a suggestion. Try cleaning the gravel on top of the UGF the way I often do. It'll make the water almost black.
Turn off the filters and powerheads.
Use your hand and totally dig through the gravel to the plates and TRY to make the water filthy.
Now wait for about 10 minutes and let the muck settle on the bottom. There may be 1/4 -1/2 inch within 10 minutes.
As soon as you can see enough not to vacuum your fish or it's been about 10 minutes, use a gravel vacuum and without putting it into the gravel skim across the top and pick up just the layer of muck that's settled there. Try and vacuum without stirring it up again and you'll get so much more out than by simply digging the siphon vacuum into the gravel.
When you're done turn on the Biowheel but not the powerheads yet and let that filter suck up as much as it can until the water is pretty clear, and then clean that filter and turn it back on along with the other HOB filter.
I often do this process twice to get even more of the gunk, as in I will stir it all up again, let it settle, and vacuum.
Turn the powerheads back on and your tank will be a LOT cleaner.
Just make sure you TRY to make the water as dirty as possible with your hand in the gravel and get at all corners of the tank and then cut all water disturbance so the muck can settle on the top of the gravel. Then you can remove it pretty effectively. I bet this works for you. Just try and see. Having the tank get black for 10-20 minutes won't hurt your fish so don't worry about that. If there is any toxin spike it will be minimal as most of the ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates are already in the water column due to the UGF and the powerheads attached.
I will try this on the next water change... maybe tonight. I am as confused as you guys are on this, i just assumed it was the new fish. I will also kick up the power on my powerheads to the max after i do the cleaning, that way there is no chance of anything settling under the ugf. If its this ugf causing problems, I won't hesitate in removing it. I just want to be 100% sure, as its a pain to remove and offers another form of filteration for my tank.
Miami, I cleaned my ugf a few months ago when i changed to powerheads and it took my about a week to return the water to clear.... since then my ugf has a lot of flow through it, as i run two aquaclear 20 powerheads... i would imagine this is more than enough suction as each runs about 135 gph. I currently have each set to push about 100 gph, but i will increase it to full once i clean the water. I just dont want too much current as i keep angelfish in here.
Its wierd, before i added the rasboras my amm was near zero... but ure right, the amm shoots up rigth after a water change, so something must be dirtying the water. Well, it sure isn't the wood anymore! lol.
Are you registering any nitrites or nitrates? Remember I was telling you before about your bacteria colonies dying off when your pH dropped so low. If you had significant die-off then that could explain the length of this mini-cycle. If you are reading some nitrates though then this probably is not the problem.
I'll bet money that if you do the trick I explained your tank will cycle in a day. Just yank all decorations and pretend you're washing rice till you can't see in an inch. You'll be amazed at how much settles down and how easy it is to vacuum out. I am when I do it.
Miami, I have nitrates of anywhere from 2-5 ppm for the last two weeks, and zero nitrites for the last two weeks.
Peter, I did as you suggested, am typing this as I wait for the gunk to settle... and yes there was quite a bit... i have all my plants on one side and left as much room for gunk to settle as possible so that i can vacuum it. We'll see... hopefully not too much settles on the plants.
ok well i dont understand this one bit.... i have done 25% water changes every other day for the last 6 days (so 3 water changes)... i log everything... every parameter is great except ammonia...
Peter, i cleaned SUPER well last night, did exactly what you suggested.... and today my tank is just as cloudy... and my ammonia is at 1ppm, exactly where it was 2 days ago before i did the water change... my nitrates are at 5ppm, so no way im not cycled or going thru a mini cycle from the new fish load...
how does ammo go right back to where it was a day after a water change... unless i have too many fish for my tank... and my feeding is sparse, i didnt even feed yesterday or today... where on earth is this coming from!!??!! so wierd
im just gonna relax for two days and see what happens, maybe its out of my control.
How much gunk did you get out, and did it settle on top, and was it easy to suck out? My gravel is a lot smaller and it might act differently than yours.
