Yes, I know I said "stoopid!" lol.

This is more just a rant -

I did a 60% WC yesterday on my 36g tank because the ammonia had spiked to .50ppm. A few hours after the PWC, the ammonia was down to 0ppm.

This morning, Mike fed the tiniest bit of food - he felt bad for them - and tonight after work the ammonia is up to .10ppm. (UGH!)

We are going away from Thursday night to Sunday evening, so I'm worried the tank may spike while we are away. I plan on doing a 30%-40% WC tomorrow right before we leave and then dose the tank with AmQuel to help lock any ammonia away, since I won't be home to change any water. I'm hoping that doing that, plus the 2.5 days with no food will keep the ammonia down. (We will feed them before we leave, since they will be getting no food all weekend.)

*Sigh* I hope that works! I'll be heart broken if I come home and all the fish are dead and the tank is one huge ammonia spike.

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dang holly thats no good, how far away are you gonna be from teh house, hope alll goes good wish you and mike the best of luck and no dead fish when you come back

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What happens if you get scared half to death, twice?

Holly why don't you just don't feed the fish till you get back. It won't hurt them. I have seen people go away for a weeks time and no one to feed the fish.

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Thanks Rob! (We'll be about 2 hours away.)

Thanks too Susan. I think maybe we will skip feeding them tomorrow as well. I'll do a 30% PWC and then not feed until we get back Sunday. I'll test the water Sunday and probably do another PWC, since that's tank maintenance day anyway.

*Breaks my heart though... they Cory's are always going up and down the glass looking for food - they seem so hungry, I've been feeding so little.

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Not sure how you all feel about adding live bacteria but it would do some good IMO.

Good luck! Hopefully everyone is alive and very hungry when you get back on Sunday!

Thanks everyone!

I do use a Biological/bacterial supplement... it says 'live' but since it's not refrigerated, it's more like live enzymes - not actual bacteria - but I use it with every water change, so I dosed a little extra.

I also did the 30% WC, and dosed some AmQuel to lock any ammonia that rises while we were gone. All that, plus the conditioner/stress coat and bio' supplement should be enough. Everyone seemed happy when we left.

*Fingers crossed!

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What supplement are you using?

I was using "Cycle" but I found that the "Big Al's" brand had the exact same ingredients and was a lot cheaper.

Any tips on a better one?

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Keep an eye out for a product called aquarium complete all in one. Claims it instantly cycles new tanks. I didn't use it from start but when I put it in, within 24 hours I had 5ppm nitrate that increased, zero ammo and zero nitrite. Bacterial bloom cleared in 48 hours. Tank is completely cycled and crystal clear. I don't know where you can find this product if at all in Canada but from my experience it is awesome.

Really would have thought your tank would have cycled by now, how long has it been running?

Oh, it cycled! It cycled at 3 weeks!

It was able to handle 4ppm ammonia in 24-48 hours.

After the big 60% WC from the .50ppm ammonia, the ammonia only rose to about .05 - .10ppm in 48hours, so I did a 30% WC and put in some AmQuel Plus (just because we are away and I wouldn't be there to do a WC if the ammonia spikes again.) So, I'm hoping that the fish peeing and pooping their last meals from Wednesday will be enough to keep building up the Nitrifying bacteria, but the ammonia won't spike since they aren't eating from Thursday to Sunday. (We'll see when I get home.)

I have to replace my one female gourami by Wednesday of next week, so I hope that won't cause a huge spike (called the store - she died within the 5 day guarantee and they said I could wait a week to replace her since the tank was spiking and we were going away).... the other 4 Rasboras and 1 Julii won't be added for a few weeks - not until I'm sure everything is settled!

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I have a feeling what you wrote isn't what you meant, but if you're really saying that you had less than 1 ppm ammonia, I don't think that's enough to qualify as a spike, is it?


What you're saying there is one half part per million. 0.5 is one half. Or did you mean 5.0 ppm?

And this is saying that it's one tenth part per million. I think you might have meant ten parts per million instead, but wanted to verify.


To clarify, I'm not trying to be a smart butt, just making sure.

Nothing can instantly cycle a tank. The bacteria colonies need time to be created and that takes time. Not saying it can't speed up a tank already in process, as some people tend to believe these products actually work. I believe the jury is still out on them though. I doubt the company can produce outside testing of their product to prove it.

There used to be a product called bio sphere that did have live bacteria in the bottle, but had to be kept refridgerated and didn't have a very long shelf life. Then they went and changed it so it isn't as good as it used to be.

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I couldn't agree more. What happened to me though is as explained. Not sure if you read my weird cycle post or not but something strange was happening. I think my plants were taking in the nitrates but I still had a presence of ammonia and I had bacterial bloom. I thought what the heck and added this stuff. Water cleared and I had a strong presence of nitrate. To this day nitrates are strong, like 10 to 20ppm and noire bacteria bloom..... I have a small spike of ammonia when adding fish but doesn't last long before it reads zero.

I don't know what to say but I am happy to recommend this product. I don't believe it will instantly cycle a tank though. Even if this is what it claims.