Havent been able to try the bamboo yet, but that will only take down nitrates as far as im aware.. I use Api liquid test kits for all my tests. I am honestly doing 40-50% water changes EVERYDAY for the past few days and after each change it still shows up nitrite 5.0
nitrate 40
ammonia 0
I cant really change more than that casue i will have to turn my filter off ect cause of how low the water is. Once i get this tank fully cycled i will def be getting gava mosss and what not, i dont really syphon the sand casue its very light and i end up syphoning up all the sand itself, i only go along the top for poo ect. i feed him cod worms so there really isnt much of a mess to clean now. I just dont understand it. How is he alive and active and healthy with test results like that?? espically it being like that 2 months! this must be a rare case cause i have serched all over the internet and no where talkes about the problem im having for so long. I have only one idea left as to why the levels will not budge. When i 1st setup the tank i had live plants, they all died and each die as they where dieing they lost alot of leafs ect,. The tiny bits got into the filter pad same with the beef heart. Could it be casue of that , that maybe that all that gunk could be causing this? If so would it just be worth it starting over... i really want to avoide this cause when it was in the ammonia phase bubbles did get stressed out alot. Anyway more advice is need >.< i really cant find my answers on the net
Sher, i'm a bit confused and befuddled by this last response.
With a quick look over the string of posts here, you have been advised -
* Do daily changes of about 20-25% - above you state you are doing 50%
* Clean your sand more often - You dont want to because......
* Use some plants - You dont want to because.......
Can i just say, try some of the things that have been suggested, you've benn given some good advise in good faith, yet seem to have "excuses" (cant think of a different word) of why it wont work for you
Just try and see how you go.
Besides anything else, you said yourself that your axie doesnt seem to be stressed by the readings? So why are you so stressed? Frankly, for a tank that is still cycling, the readings don't seem that bad to me. If you are keeping up with 20-25% water changes and watching your axie carefully for streee, then i dont think you have a big problem yet
It does seem to be a long time for a tank to cycle, but maybe (just maybe) you are doing too much fiddling around and the tank just cant complete the cycle?
I buggered up about a month ago - i accidentally left my filter off for nearly a week.
When i noticed it, i had a dilemma - do i turn it on straight away, or leave it off until i can deal with it properly? I could not deal with it straight away, i had to wait until later that day , so , i turned it on.
Big mistake. Straight away i knew i'd done the wrong thing due to the horrid stech that came from the water coming out of the filter - i can only imagine what it was like for the poor old axies!
Anyway, i cleaned it all up, got rid of the smell after a coule of days - and i wathced the parameters very carefully for a week or two just in case the cycle crashed.
It was a little up and down, i obviously caused a mini - cycle - i spent two weeks fiddling with the water trying to get it perfect agaian.
After two weeks of this i thought - bugger this! it's ridiculous, the axies are fine, the water is a little up and down but pretty good overall - LEAVE it alone! So i did, i didnt touch it for 2 weeks, just watched the axies for any signs of stress.
Last night i tested the water and EVERYTHING was EXACTLY where it should have been, PH, amm, nitrites, nitrates, gh, kh, just perfect!
So - moral of the story, maybe you need to take a breath, watch the tank carefully, but dont stress and let it do it's thing.
Bren
