Cycle huh??? mass tank confusion

[kapo]

It's looking good, ammonia/nitrites starting to come down and nitrates rising! Seems to be on track.

We had white stuff in 2 of our tanks, not sure what it was, but our axies weren't in it; so just left it alone. Once our tank was cycled we did a partial waterchange which seemed to clear the residues of it up b4 adding ONE of our axies.

 

[lauren]

thats another thing, when its done cycling, can i just add my axie in there? and what about all the poop at the bottom how do you clean it?

 

[alex]

yes when its cycled your axie can go in there. you can use a siphon or turkey baster to get the poop out.

 

[joan]

Before you put the axie in the new tank, you should do about a 30% water change in order to reduce the nitrate levels.

A turkey baster is an axolotl's best friend. They work great for spot-cleaning poop

 

[lauren]

how do i make the water clear? its really foggy right now....there's a product for that right? Are they all axie safe?

 

[kapo]

which water, your tank water - the one cycling or the ones with your axies in?

 

[joan]

If you're cycling, the water will be cloudy. This should clear up.

 

[lauren]

yah the tank im cycling....it been real cloudy lately...anyways here are my levels

ammonia=0ppm
nitrite=5ppm
nitrate=5.0ppm

is the nitrate level suppose to drop?

(Message edited by axie_lover16 on May 29, 2006)

 

[lauren]

does adding tank decorations after the tank is cycled screw up the bio filter?

 

[sharn]

the decorations wont disturb anything

it looks like your nitrites going to drop soon and then its pretty much cycled once they get down to 0. you dont have very high nitrates though, not sure if they should be higher by now or not...

the cloudyness is just part of the cycle, a 'bacteria bloom', it will clear up in no time by itself

 

[lauren]

ammonia=0
nitrite=0.50
nitrate=20

thats yesterdays results

 

[lauren]

if I take out the rocks that are in there and put in sand is that gonna disturb it since thats where alot of the bacteria is growing?

 

[kapo]

Take the rocks out in sections. Everytime u take out a section of rock just add the sand to that area. If u do it over a few days, (ie a section a day or so) it may not disturb it as much. Just be aware that as you add sand it will take a while to settle (can be anything from a couple of hours up to a couple of days).

 

[lauren]

is there any way to get my nitrite levels to drop? its at about 1 or 2 right now...

 

[kapo]

if u have removed rocks and are adding sand, that will prob. have disturbed your cycle slightly, even if u haven't just leave it be (ie don't add any chemicals) it will eventually come down. Cycling requires patience more than anything else esp. as it gets closer to the end.

 

[lauren]

no i didnt remove anything and add sand, or add any chemicals. i figured it needed patience.

i want a prettty tank now! lol however i did add a tank decoration....as for the stuff thats on the side of the tank can you scrub it off?

 

[kapo]

That might explain the nitrite rise. You can use one of those floating magnet cleaners to scrub the stuff on the inside of the tank glass cleaner.

 

[lauren]

omg i hate this! my nitrite levels wont go down! Is there any way to get them down?

 

[alex]

no i dont think so, just gunna have to wait it out. they will go down soon.

 

[lauren]

ok my levels are finally down and my tank is finally cycled.

so my question is wats my next step? Can i put two axies in at once? (my tank is a 33 gallon)