Tank cycling for about almost 2 weeks

[Alex j]

I have fluval spec v 5g and I thought the cycle was going ok. As of now the ammonia at 0. Nitrite about 10. Nitrate about 60. Ph is around 7. (Sand substrate with plants dragon stone ) did 40% wc yesterday with prime and another dose of fritz fishless fuel (5 drops) and fritz zyme 7 (less than 1/4 cup) don't know if I need to wait more for nitrites to go down and do nothing or continue with water changes. I know it takes longer for them to go down. I do have algae now for the past few days. On the sand plants rocks and the water a bit green. Also starting to see a lil hair algae. I'm working on decreasing the amount of light. I do notice growth on my plants tho. 

[Fish Folk]

In my view, the key is how robust your bacterial colonies are inside your filter. The generally accepted bacteria cycle understanding is that one species of bacteria converts your Ammonia into Nitrite. Then, another species converts your Nitrite over into Nitrate. As long as you're getting heavy Nitrates, it seems like you have both going. Remember that both are aerobic. Increasing the oxygen will help boost your aerobic  bacterial colonies. The two dense locations for these are probably within the Bio rings, and within the Bio Sponge itself:

Add air to the _intake_ where water is drawn into the filter -- set an ayirstone there. Or, alternatively, if you can figure out a way to jam some air down inform above, that may help. If you have an especially equipped LFS, you might persuade them to let you buy a new sponge filter, and then trade it for a duplicate model already cycled in on of their aquariums. If I ran a fish store, I'd offer this to customers all day long. Instant cycle!

 

[Alex j]

Yes I have done alot of research. I didn't mention I do have biomedia from another tank in the new one. Aquarium co op did tell me the cycle is going and wait longer. I do know nitrites take longer to go down than ammonia. I guess I was just checking...I need more patience? Lol

[BeeGryphon]

On 3/22/2023 at 5:35 AM, Alex j said:

I guess I was just checking...I need more patience? Lol

This was the hardest part for me 😆 All and all it took my tank about 3 weeks so hopefully you're almost there!

[Alex j]

On 3/22/2023 at 11:10 AM, BeeGryphon said:

This was the hardest part for me 😆 All and all it took my tank about 3 weeks so hopefully you're almost there!

Ya thanks I know patience is the most important thing we need. I know it was towards the middle of the cycle. I'm sure it'll get there. As for my poor plants they got algae and my java moss on my dragon stone is growing but it's fuzzy!

[BeeGryphon]

On 3/22/2023 at 8:18 AM, Alex j said:

Ya thanks I know patience is the most important thing we need. I know it was towards the middle of the cycle. I'm sure it'll get there. As for my poor plants they got algae and my java moss on my dragon stone is growing but it's fuzzy!

I had a big problem with that too (probably too much light at first when my plants hadn't established yet). I don't mind the algae and mostly let it grow undisturbed for my snails, but was worried it would make it hard for my plants to photosynthesize so I used a soft toothbrush + siphon to keep them kinda clean.

[Alex j]

I used a toothbrush too. Even tho I couldn't get it all off. And cleaned the sides of the tank too. Looked good until it all came back like I never cleaned. Wow algae grows super quick

[nabokovfan87]

On 3/22/2023 at 3:55 AM, Fish Folk said:

In my view, the key is how robust your bacterial colonies are inside your filter. The generally accepted bacteria cycle understanding is that one species of bacteria converts your Ammonia into Nitrite. Then, another species converts your Nitrite over into Nitrate. As long as you're getting heavy Nitrates, it seems like you have both going. Remember that both are aerobic. Increasing the oxygen will help boost your aerobic  bacterial colonies. The two dense locations for these are probably within the Bio rings, and within the Bio Sponge itself:

Awesome sketch FF!

So the main thing I will say is that the tank and the setup for what you're doing is sound and everything should be going well. The media you have is stuff I've used personally for a very long time and didn't have any issues with it working. It's been the preferred media for me until I changed over to a different brand that had other stuff that came with the filters.

If anything, add an air stone to the back compartment or double check that the pump itself is set to maximize flow through the media. Increase oxygenation would help to increase the bacteria in the filter chamber.

Setup videos on a tank like that, I think there is no one better qualified to show off or to enjoy than Pecktec and his channel.  He's probably setup one of those tanks a few 100 times for people and recorded it at least 50 of them.

The nice thing that all you really need to do is change water, add load, add air, and wait. Beyond that it's purely just a matter of when and how complete (how strong) is the cycle in your tank.

I think the best advise we have for you is just double check flow and wait it out. You're already doing everything right in terms of tweaking the light for the algae and that's the only real concern I see.

As a comical sidenote, verify you removed the media from the plastic.  Sometimes people forget about it and it does happen on those tanks a bit. 😂

[Alex j]

On 3/22/2023 at 12:40 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Awesome sketch FF!

So the main thing I will say is that the tank and the setup for what you're doing is sound and everything should be going well. The media you have is stuff I've used personally for a very long time and didn't have any issues with it working. It's been the preferred media for me until I changed over to a different brand that had other stuff that came with the filters.

If anything, add an air stone to the back compartment or double check that the pump itself is set to maximize flow through the media. Increase oxygenation would help to increase the bacteria in the filter chamber.

Setup videos on a tank like that, I think there is no one better qualified to show off or to enjoy than Pecktec and his channel.  He's probably setup one of those tanks a few 100 times for people and recorded it at least 50 of them.

The nice thing that all you really need to do is change water, add load, add air, and wait. Beyond that it's purely just a matter of when and how complete (how strong) is the cycle in your tank.

I think the best advise we have for you is just double check flow and wait it out. You're already doing everything right in terms of tweaking the light for the algae and that's the only real concern I see.

As a comical sidenote, verify you removed the media from the plastic.  Sometimes people forget about it and it does happen on those tanks a bit. 😂

Thanks that's good to know. No plastic. I have established matrix in an aquarium co op mesh bag and fluval bio media in another mesh bag. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 3/22/2023 at 9:30 AM, Alex j said:

Wow algae grows super quick

Yeah.... Especially when you put off that water change for tomorrow and it takes advantage! Crazy how potent some of the algae can be!

For ADA they have a steel bristle brush they use when the normal toothbrushes aren't stiff enough. I also use a kitchen sponge when need be for flat rocks and equipment that need be. I swear I lose that thing every time I need to use it. Even though it's literally, always right beside the tank in my bin of things.

[Alex j]

On 3/22/2023 at 12:55 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Yeah.... Especially when you put off that water change for tomorrow and it takes advantage! Crazy how potent some of the algae can be!

For ADA they have a steel bristle brush they use when the normal toothbrushes aren't stiff enough. I also use a kitchen sponge when need be for flat rocks and equipment that need be. I swear I lose that thing every time I need to use it. Even though it's literally, always right beside the tank in my bin of things.

I wish my plants would grow as fast as algae. Have to trim another leaf off my crypt wen I get home. But I saw new leaves already coming up and one on my crinum 

[nabokovfan87]

On 3/22/2023 at 9:58 AM, Alex j said:

I wish my plants would grow as fast as algae. Have to trim another leaf off my crypt wen I get home. But I saw new leaves already coming up and one on my crinum 

I totally agree.  Some do!  (Looking at you pogo).  A lot of plants do love to take their time, but that reward is special, unique, and it's really nice to go for that journey..... as long as the result is what you can appreciate.  When it comes to mine, I have had some anubias that went from being in a 75G tank, blooming, flowering, and I had a stump with a fern that I could not get to take off for years!  It just stayed stagnant for such a long time.  I moved house, moved everything to tubs and had the light on far too long without a rigid maintenance plan in place to care for the tubs. 

That led to algae creeping in, which led to plants rotting and a lot of death.  Since then it's been almost 2 full years trying to get them to regrow.  I've gotten them to "improve" by having a little bit of rhizome growth and then having the algae laden leaves and chunks of rhizome removed.  I moved a majority of those plants to a new tank with a very low light so I could basically block out the algae.  The goal was simply that I wanted to use ambient light for these low demand plants and let the algae die off.  It didn't work and the plants started to recede again.

Phase 3 of the project....  I now have no fish in the tank, algae all over the wood in spots, all over the equipment, but the bioload on the tank is much less.  I have improved the light and looking to improve dosing schedule.  Anubias has finally grabbed a hold of the wood, the roots finally look healthy and I am seeing all of the plants do extremely well now.  I bought a new fern from the big box store and it's doing extremely well compared to the one I had previously.  It's been a journey, sometimes plans work out in the end.  That's literally been the appreciation I had looking at my little anubias nana and nana petite this morning.  Looking at the new growth and how healthy they are compared to what they've been through. 

[Alex j]

On 3/22/2023 at 2:47 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

I totally agree.  Some do!  (Looking at you pogo).  A lot of plants do love to take their time, but that reward is special, unique, and it's really nice to go for that journey..... as long as the result is what you can appreciate.  When it comes to mine, I have had some anubias that went from being in a 75G tank, blooming, flowering, and I had a stump with a fern that I could not get to take off for years!  It just stayed stagnant for such a long time.  I moved house, moved everything to tubs and had the light on far too long without a rigid maintenance plan in place to care for the tubs. 

That led to algae creeping in, which led to plants rotting and a lot of death.  Since then it's been almost 2 full years trying to get them to regrow.  I've gotten them to "improve" by having a little bit of rhizome growth and then having the algae laden leaves and chunks of rhizome removed.  I moved a majority of those plants to a new tank with a very low light so I could basically block out the algae.  The goal was simply that I wanted to use ambient light for these low demand plants and let the algae die off.  It didn't work and the plants started to recede again.

Phase 3 of the project....  I now have no fish in the tank, algae all over the wood in spots, all over the equipment, but the bioload on the tank is much less.  I have improved the light and looking to improve dosing schedule.  Anubias has finally grabbed a hold of the wood, the roots finally look healthy and I am seeing all of the plants do extremely well now.  I bought a new fern from the big box store and it's doing extremely well compared to the one I had previously.  It's been a journey, sometimes plans work out in the end.  That's literally been the appreciation I had looking at my little anubias nana and nana petite this morning.  Looking at the new growth and how healthy they are compared to what they've been through. 

So glad your plants are doing better! My other tank I had driftwood with anubias attached and last week I took the driftwood out to gravel vac under it I left it out a bit too long the leaves dried. I put it back added lil ferts and just hope they get better. I know they hardy so well see

[Alex j]

On 3/22/2023 at 3:03 PM, Alex j said:

So glad your plants are doing better! My other tank I had driftwood with anubias attached and last week I took the driftwood out to gravel vac under it I left it out a bit too long the leaves dried. I put it back added lil ferts and just hope they get better. I know they hardy so well see

Just tested. Ammonia 0. Nitrates 60. Nitrites 50. Tad of chlorine showing. Ph seemed to lower a bit. Did top off water level with fritz complete. I don't know if algae has anything to do with chlorine or lowering ph