The Puffer Forum

I have been doing a fair amount of research into the cycling process

It shows!

Its great to know stuff in theory, but sometimes putting it into practice doesn't quite go to plan! Luckily this forum/site is brilliant for all sorts of information!

I got him some drift wood that was already in a established 55g at the petstore (the ones i trust not the one the puffer came from)

he's got like a hollow log almost tho he doesnt seem to like it yet.

my nitrites are spiking close to what i could say is out of contol. just needed another 50% change. im going to wait 30 mins before testing again.

nitrites went up .3 (puffy wasnt happy) he still isnt resting
ammonia lvls seem to have become stable at very low to none.

my alkalinity is also very low. no clue how to handle that

Don't worry about alkalinity. I have never tested for it, and I never will, until I have a reef tank.

okay good to know. just troubleshooting and checking levels still at this point.

Just woke up both ammonia and nitrites were dangerously high this morning. so i did a 50% water change. going to do another asap.

Should i just take puffy out and put him in with the other fish for now? these nitrites are getting out of control and is it possible to kill the fish with water changes? i check the temp and add conditioner everytime but still. Ive also added another dose of neutrafin cycle. I think this might be adding to the ammonia lvls true?

ammonia levels are rising again. im guessing my first thoughts that i might have had some sucess in the first part of cycling might have not been well founded.

Have you looked into an instant-cycling product like what's listed in the ER cycling article in our Library? Worked great for me. Don't use anything else though.

i have nutrafin cycle... doesnt seem to be working well. hard to tell with so many water changes. ammonia levels still havent stopped rising

Have not used Cycle, but have heard it doesn't work. Read the article on emergency cycling in the library. Use Dr Tims or even Tetra Safestart would be better I think. Think Biospira is for SW tanks. You're doing well to have kept him alive through this!

ive bought another 125gph filter. In addition ive left the old (small) filter and took out the carbon filter and replace it with another biomax pouch thing from my dads tank.

PUFFY STILL ISNT HAPPY!... I am not going to give up. Hes eating now. i had a crawfish in the tank thats gone now. he doesnt seem to be eating the snails. i havent found traces of snail shell. The snails are really small, smaller than 2cm perfect size for a small puffer ive read.

Just did another water change. nitrites read 0 before i changed.
ammonia is spiking again 0.2 maybe before i changed the water that time.

imma go buy that tetra safestart,is it possible to add to much of that stuff? cuz i just dumped the old one(nutra pos) into the filter. I tested it for all the stuff i could test it for and dumped it in(no ammonia or nitrite in it!)... if that dont work i could honestly say the product DIDNT WORK!!

Give that used filter from your dad's take a little time, a few hours, and it should really help.

the tanks all cloudy but ive got a good start i hope.i have one filter full of 4 month old biomax packs from my dads tank and another new high output filter(one to match my goldfish tank so i can switch filter medium).

If i switch carbon filter cartridges with the gold fish will that help? the goldfish do not have biomax meduim