Cycling A New Aquarium

[Tyler LaZerte]

I am currently cycling a 16 Gallon aquarium. As of now, it has two inches of ADA Aquasoil Amazonia, 2 inches of pool filter sand, a large driftwood piece, one bahai stone, a seeded sponge (has been used continuously for 2 years), and Fritzyme 7. I started all of this on Saturday and so far, I am reading no Ammonia and no nitrites. How soon should I expect to see Ammonia show up? It has been 3 days and all I am registering is Nitrates (which may be from the Fritzyme 7)  

[tonyjuliano]

I would have expected you would have seen a pretty big ammonia spike by now, Amazonia usually does that when first used, it’s to be expected.

if you don’t see ammonia in the next day or so, then I would begin to introduce it yourself.  This can be done by adding a small amount of fish food to the uninhabited tank (like you’re feeding normally), but a better way to add anhydrous ammonia drops. The advantage of the drops is that yiu can control the level to a much finer degree.  You want about 2-4 ppm ammonia, then stop dosing, this is the best level to start the nitrogen cycle, without it being too much, which will slow things down.

[RyanU]

If you have a seeded sponge with bb in it and no source of ammonia you would not see any. Only if you overload the already existing bacteria in the sponge and it can't keep up you will see an ammonia spike.

The one thing you need to be careful of is actually killing the already established bacteria on the sponge by not giving it an ammonia source to feed off. Fritz zyme7 loss like bacteria in a bottle so they is just more bacteria that don't herbs a food source. 

What was the stock of the tank that that sponge was taken out of?

If I was you I would put a couple hardier fish in the tank to keep feeding the bacteria that are already there and Monitor close. It would be a shame to lose all that bacteria that you already  have. 

[Tyler LaZerte]

@tonyjuliano Do you think I should add a bit of Aquasoil on top of the sand to introduce the ammonia?

[RyanU]

Sorry I missed the Amazonia part. It's possible that the bacteria are consuming the ammonia that is being given of by it

[tonyjuliano]

Just now, Tyler LaZerte said:

@tonyjuliano Do you think I should add a bit of Aquasoil on top of the sand to introduce the ammonia?

No.  I would try the “ghost feeding” route.

[Tyler LaZerte]

The tank was a friend's and he has guppies, shrimp, and ramshorns. 100s of ramshorns 

[Tyler LaZerte]

1 minute ago, RyanU said:

Sorry I missed the Amazonia part. It's possible that the bacteria are consuming the ammonia that is being given of by it

I hope that's the case 

[tonyjuliano]

Just now, RyanU said:

Sorry I missed the Amazonia part. It's possible that the bacteria are consuming the ammonia that is being given of by it

If that was the case, he would see nitrite production. 

[Tyler LaZerte]

1 minute ago, tonyjuliano said:

No.  I would try the “ghost feeding” route.

Okay. I have krill, flake food, frozen brine, and algae wafers. Which would you recommend and how much?

[RyanU]

Even if he has both nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria

[tonyjuliano]

Flake food, just a pinch daily

[Tyler LaZerte]

Just now, tonyjuliano said:

Flake food, just a pinch daily

Alright. I'll do that. I have a baby rabbit snail. Do you think I should wait to move it out of QT until I am sure the new tank is cycled?

[tonyjuliano]

9 minutes ago, RyanU said:

Even if he has both nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria

Nitrosomas bacteria are responsible for converting ammonia to nitrite, nitrobacter converts nitrite to nitrate.  It usually takes longer for the nitrobacter to colonize than the Nitrosomas.

Cycling a tank usually takes weeks, not days.  If you do a fishless cycle, without seeding the tank with bacteria from an established source, then 4-6 weeks is not unusual.

Even if it’s seeded, it’s not going to be immediate.

And nothing happens unless there is ammonia to start it off.

Edited May 18, 2021 by tonyjuliano

[Tyler LaZerte]

@tonyjuliano Do you think I should move my baby rabbit snail over to the new aquarium to help out with the cycling process?

[tonyjuliano]

2 minutes ago, Tyler LaZerte said:

@tonyjuliano Do you think I should move my baby rabbit snail over to the new aquarium to help out with the cycling process?

Ammonia and nitrite are toxic to snails too (just not as toxic as they are to fish).

I’ve seen snails survive lots of conditions that would kill any fish, but why risk it?

 I would leave him be.

Edited May 18, 2021 by tonyjuliano

[Tyler LaZerte]

Just now, tonyjuliano said:

Ammonia and nitrite are toxic to snails too.  I would leave him be.

I know it is. I'll keep it in QT 

[tonyjuliano]

2 minutes ago, Tyler LaZerte said:

I know it is. I'll keep it in QT 

Completely unrelated...

Copper, in any form and even in small concentration, is deadly to snails. Seachem flourish contains a minute amount of copper.  It’s usually a level that won’t do harm, but I’ve seen someone wipe out every snail in their tank by overdosing with that product.  Many times, with many things,  “more is not better”.

[Tyler LaZerte]

1 minute ago, tonyjuliano said:

Completely unrelated...

Copper, in any form and even in small concentration, is deadly to snails. Seachem flourish contains a minute amount of copper.  It’s usually a level that won’t do harm, but I’ve seen someone wipe out every snail in their tank by overdosing with that product.  Many times, with many things,  “more is not better”.

Oh yes. I had a friend that had a colony of painted fire reds. He used too much flourish and lost every single one. It was very sad. I'd be using Easy Green anyways. 

[tonyjuliano]

5 minutes ago, Tyler LaZerte said:

Oh yes. I had a friend that had a colony of painted fire reds. He used too much flourish and lost every single one. It was very sad. I'd be using Easy Green anyways. 

Not to sidetrack this thread, but many people use copper to purposefully eradicate snail populations.  I’ve never understood the “snail hatred” that can be present in this hobby, I always want lots of them.

Edited May 18, 2021 by tonyjuliano

[Tyler LaZerte]

@tonyjuliano No I totally agree. I love snails! I plan to have them in this aquarium. The problem people have is that they feed to much sand ramshorns or MTS breed in droves because there is an ample food source. If you know how to correctly measure your food, you won't have that "overcrowding"  

[BaRanchik]

26 minutes ago, tonyjuliano said:

Not to sidetrack this thread, but many people use copper to purposefully eradicate snail populations.  I’ve never understood the “snail hatred” that can be present in this hobby, I always want lots of them.

I used to love them until 1 single pond snail sneaked into my tank on a plant. 1 month later I had the whole substrate covered with snail poop, and the whole glass covered with babies.

[Tyler LaZerte]

@BaRanchik Your plants probably enjoyed it! 

[SWilson]

Girl Talks Fish has done a great video on different methods for cycling a tank. 

it is a 3 part series. 
you could maybe get a few ramshorns from your friends tank too? To help with the cycle. 

Edited May 18, 2021 by SWilson

[Tyler LaZerte]

@SWilson When he gave me the seeded sponge, a few hitchhikers came along with it; two pink ramshorns and 5 painted fire red shrimp! I was surprised to see them because they weren't suppose to come with but it's a happy accident for me! I put them all in the QT Tank and am thinking about adding them to the main tank but I don't know. I don't want to put the Painted Fire Reds in there because I plan on putting Blue Dreams in the main tank so I don't want colors mixing and breeding.