Do I have enough bacteria in my tank?

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Discuss all topics related to freshwater and planted tanks.


zambize
 
Posts: 401
Joined: Mon Feb 25, 2008 9:14 pm

Do I have enough bacteria in my tank?

by zambize

I have a new tank and want to do a fishless cycle. My current tank is around 12-14 weeks old. Does it have enough bacterial growth in it to make it worthwhile to borrow some of the gravel, plants, and a filter pad from it to jump start the new tank?

My parameters are still somewhat bizarre at:

.25ppm Ammonia
0ppm Nitrites
0ppm Nitrates

I'm stopping by the pet store tonight to buy a Nitrates test. My current test is the API drip test.

Thanks,
Zambize


spongebob4460
 
Posts: 603
Joined: Fri Jan 25, 2008 8:37 am

by spongebob4460

Zambize your parameters still confuse me... where are your nitrates... you had some then they leave them they come back then they leave, very odd. You definitely should be cycled by now... and have more than enough bacteria to transfer to a new tank (as long as you are producing nitrates means you are balanced with beneficial bacteria). If you are upgrading you will need a few days for the bacteria level in your new tank to reach cycle.

I would test nitrates with a different liquid drop test and see what you get... the only problem i had with this ever was when i was measuring nitrate incorrectly. Lets see what happens.

Spongebob


spongebob4460
 
Posts: 603
Joined: Fri Jan 25, 2008 8:37 am

by spongebob4460

oh i just reread... if you are only partly transporting stuff and not everything, then your cycle will take much longer, but still be shorter than starting with nothing obviously. I think it will cut your cycle down to a couple of weeks.


zambize
 
Posts: 401
Joined: Mon Feb 25, 2008 9:14 pm

by zambize

Thanks, I'm going by PetsMart today to see if they have a Nitrates-only test. The ammonia comes and goes too between 0-.25ppm. I just can't imagine. I don't think I'm doing anything weird and I have a light bio load.

I'm not transferring everything over to jump start my tank because I read that it can shock the existing tank, and god knows this tank doesn't need shocking...

And just so no one's confused...I'm not male, just wanted to straighten that out since there have been some references to me being a guy. I don't care, but didn't want anyone to feel lied to.

Zambize


spongebob4460
 
Posts: 603
Joined: Fri Jan 25, 2008 8:37 am

by spongebob4460

The ammonia changes are normal depending on how well you clean and how often you feed, I wouldn't worry much about the ammonia unless it starts to peak over .50 ... ideally you want zero... but at this point we need to figure out why nitrates are zero, it just doesn't make sense unless your cycle restarted which i don't think it did. Lets see what the new test says.... ma'am :)


zambize
 
Posts: 401
Joined: Mon Feb 25, 2008 9:14 pm

by zambize

Maybe I'm wrong, but I fully expect 0 ammonia because I do a water change 25% every 7-10 days. I feed once a day sparingly and I have two Penguin 150s with extra filter pads on this little 28 gallon tank. I really stir up the substrate when I vacuum. Maybe...*maybe*...I'm trapping to much gunk in the plants? I'm densely planted with artificials and I don't dig them up with every vacuum. Although I do vacuum the leaves.

Ms. Zambize


spongebob4460
 
Posts: 603
Joined: Fri Jan 25, 2008 8:37 am

by spongebob4460

im looking at your pic... so the wood and the plants dont move when you vacuum? If not, how do you vacuum the substrate beneath them, as they take up quite a good amount of substrate area?


Zambize4899
 
Posts: 499
Joined: Sun Feb 24, 2008 4:35 am

by Zambize4899

Well, I haven't been vacuuming under the plants and wood. That sounds sort of stupid now though. I got so little gunk just vacuuming the more open spots I just didn't think about anything significant being under anything. I guess I should move everything every time I vacuum? Newbies...

I got the Nitrates only test. It did show a trace of Nitrates, but it was less than 5ppm. Certainly not 20-40ppm....

And for my ongoing high pH I got some peat moss. But it includes plant food...couldn't find any plain peat moss. Is this ok or am I returning it to the store?

Sigh....

Zambize


spongebob4460
 
Posts: 603
Joined: Fri Jan 25, 2008 8:37 am

by spongebob4460

You only need to vacuum the substrate every other water change with your fish load, in my opinion. The other time you can just change out the water. But definitely you need to be moving the plants and wood to get underneath.

As for the nitrates, it seems it was your API liquid, maybe something was wrong with it... the nitrates you are showing is good, as long as there are nitrates you don't have to worry... and 20-40 is bit too much, if you show that much you need to do a water change.

I don't know much about peat moss, sorry. But that could be a reason for your ammonia... if there are no live plants, this food is decaying and turning to ammonia most likely.


Poetic_Irony2267
 
Posts: 297
Joined: Fri Aug 10, 2007 8:42 pm

by Poetic_Irony2267

this could be the issue, if you go to a greenhouse they will have sphagnum peat moss with no chemical plant food additives, the other thing you can do and i recommend before adding the peat moss, soak it thoroughly in the nylon and then squeeze it out and do this two more times, what will happen is you will get all of the plant food or chemical ferts out of it and it should be safe to put in the filter.

Do I have enough bacteria in my tank?

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