# fish in cycle problems!



## Canadian731 (Jun 25, 2013)

So the story is this, on a whim I decided I wanted a 10g tank. Bought everything for it set it up let it run for 48hours and started dropping fish in weekly with the advice from the pet smart employees who said that was how it was done, fast forward 4 weeks my tank isn't cycled and I'm about $200 in, one fish died (sick from store) and a add died from a final infection due to a broken leg.

If there is anyone in the Vancouver area with some used filter media from an established tank I would appreciate it very much if I could use it to build up the bacteria colonies in my tank, I would ask pet smart but I know a lit of their fish come with ich and other diseases so I am hesitant.


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## dino (Aug 29, 2011)

bio in a bottle is great stuff one is called stability and its not to expensive


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

Off the shelf: prime for reducing effects of toxicity, stability or cycle to speed of the cycle process.

What kind of filter do you have, a small hob? Also what are the water parameters, ammonia, nitrite, nitrates?


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## GaryR (Sep 16, 2012)

Canadian731 said:


> one fish died (sick from store) and a add died from a final infection due to a broken leg.


Well there's your problem! The fine people at Pet Smart gave you a puppy to put in your fish tank.


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## charles (Apr 21, 2010)

if you are running a sponge filter, you can buy one of my established sponge or if you don't have a sponge filter, you can buy the a sponge filter with a established sponge from me. But you do need an air pump to run it.


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## Steve (Mar 27, 2013)

If you cant get any used biomedia from someone and can't afford to buy something like nutrafin cycle, you can perform daily water changes of like 50% to help reduce the levels of ammonia/nitrites which may help to keep the fish alive while the tank cycles. What fish/how many do you have in the tank? 10G tanks are quite tough to start up (especially if this is your first tank).


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## Canadian731 (Jun 25, 2013)

My parameters are 

Ammonia: 0.35
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates:0
Ph: 7.4

The filter I'm currently running is a hang on the side cartridge filter for a 10g I plan to upgrade to an aqua clear 30 once I order off amazon. I do have an a air pump its the tetra whisper 10


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## Canadian731 (Jun 25, 2013)

Also, I bought some of the nutrafin cycle and am on my second dosing today


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

For 4 weeks that's weird, I would have expected nitrites for sure. Have you been controlling the ammonia with water changes?

What is your bioload, out of curiousity?


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## Canadian731 (Jun 25, 2013)

AQ advisor says I'm a tad overstocked for the adult sizes but I'm moving in a month and plan to upgrade to a 29 or 33gallon

2 guppies, 2 mollies, 4 neon tetras, 1 adf and a golden mystery snail


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## Steve (Mar 27, 2013)

Have you looked through the equipment classified section for filters? If you're planning on upgrading to a 29/33 gallon tank I'd highly suggest you go for a used AC50/70 over a new AC30 (I assume the used price would be about $20-30 for a used filter which is probably cheaper than a new AC30). You'll be able to have a higher bioload tank and depending on the member you may also be able to get some biomedia from them


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## Canadian731 (Jun 25, 2013)

I've looked a bit and even made a post hopefully something comes from it, thing is its a joint thing with my girlfriend
And she doesn't want to spend any more money on it so it would be just me going in on it and after last time I'm hesitant to spend over $200


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## Steve (Mar 27, 2013)

Yeah, fish keeping can definitely be expensive. If you're trying to be as cheap as possible you may want to look at a sponge filter from Charles. He's an awesome guy to deal with and has a lot of experience and good advise. Since you have a pump already the sponge filter probably wouldn't cost you a lot. I'm not sure if the snail would try to use it to climb out though, I haven't kept snails in ages


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## Canadian731 (Jun 25, 2013)

Well I'm currently looking at a aqua clear 300 (70) used of course. He doesn't climb past the water line


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## Canadian731 (Jun 25, 2013)

UPDATE: day 3 of nutrafin cycle and I think my tank is finally cycling! Did my test today and I'm hoping everything is where it should be my water parameters are Ammonia .25-.50ppm , pH 7.4 , nitrites .25ppm , nitrates 5ppm also was wondering what you guys would suggest to run as a filter for a 40gallon setup as my girlfriends friend has one she is willing to give to us for free


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## Steve (Mar 27, 2013)

What are you planning on stocking your tank with? Knowing that would help decide what kind of filter you will want/need. If you're undecided between a smaller and bigger filter I'd almost always suggest a bigger one but it really depends how heavily you plan on stocking the tank and what not.


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## Canadian731 (Jun 25, 2013)

Well I was looking at a used flu val 4 plus or an aqua clear 70 (300) and a 250w top fin heatee


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