The Puffer Forum

So my tanks been cycling for 3 weeks - a month now, I used the living bacteria that came with the tank, and occasional squishes of filter juice from my parents tank.

The Amonia is at 0
Nitrite 2.00ppm
Nitrate 20ppm

What else can I do to speed this up, Ive read that tetra safestart is a good bacteria, I wondered if this may give the tank a boost to help?
There are 3 plants in there which i dont know the names of, 3 small java ferns, some java moss and 3 marimo moss balls, I dont know how much difference these plants make but I thought I should mention whats in there.
What do you guys recommend.

I bow to RTR's infinite wisdom

Assuming that there are mo fish or other critters in the tank, how are you cycling it? Are you adding ammonia?. The nitrification bacteria require food - for the first group, generally ammonia. That first group oxidizes ammonia to nitrite (and get energy by doing so).

The waste product from that is nitrite - which you do show at 2.0 ppmm. The second requires group oxidizes that nitrite to nitrate. Plants in turn absorb and use the nitrate to grow .

So tell us what you have been adding, if anything, to feed the bacteria? If there is no ammonia, the first group of bacteria may be starved.

Have you done any water changes? Does you tap water show positive for ammonia?

A handful of plants is unlikely to be able to use the nitrate produced in a normally stocked stocked tank unless the the tank is well lighted and the plant coverage is 60-100% - that means that if you looked down on the tank from directly above it, 60-100% of the substrate would be covered by plants, making at least that much of the substrate invisible from above.

Can you give more detail on the tank and what you doing to it?

Basically I just followed the instructions on the bacteria trying to cycle the tank, for a brief period of three days i did add a couple of neon tetra to try to cycle the tank, but after discovering how cruel it was the neons returned to my parents community tank.
I wasnt actually aware I needed to add "food" for the bacteria, I thought it all came from the water, and so havent been adding anything.
Ive done a few water changes as instructed to by the LFS where ive been getting my water tested, as for the tap water showing ammonia im not sure, since its the LFS testing the tank water I havent had the opportunity to test plain tap water.
The plants no where near cover 60%
The tank is a interpet Fishpod 64litre http://www.watergardeningdirect.com/aca ... -Kits.html The filter in it is a 500litre internal power filter.
All ive been doing is turning the lights on for 12hour a day, and adding the filter start living bacteria that came with it every couple of days, as per instructions on the bottle.

The bacteria do need food (in the form of ammonia) to survive & reproduce. Some people use neat ammonia daily, others pop in a piece of prawn or something to rot. Have you read the article on cycling on here?

I read the emergency one, and the silent cycle one I wasnt aware there were more, but ive now found them and am reading, I shall read them but in regards to the prawn or something to rot, do you let it rot completely or only leave it in the tank for a certain amount of time?

I read the articles and went looking at the supermarket for ammonia, I didnt find any so I got some raw prawns and chopped one up and put it in the tank, I'll keep looking for ammonia but until i find it the prawns will help right?
How long do i leave it in there?
Should I have cooked it first?

I got my bottle from a little hardware shop - you can also get it on e-bay, its only a couple of pounds. As the prawn rots, it will produce the waste that the bacteria need to feed on - so it can be left there indefinately. The ammonia would be easier because you can add measured amounts & record your levels daily. My tank took almost 4 weeks to be ready to add my puffs, so hopefully you are patient!

I know ive gotta be patient, but its soo hard, after rushing in and buying them they live in a community tank, at first they were fine but ive noticed fins have been trimmed and nipped on other fish in there so im hoping it gets done asap. At the same time I dont want to just dump them in a toxic enviroment.

Im about to order a water testing kit, this is the sort of test kit I need right? http://www.charterhouse-aquatics.co.uk/ ... -1091.html
Any reccomendations on the brand of test kit?

That one you picked, api, is the one I use. I have been told they are very accurate.

Is the water in the community tank the same as in the puff tank (I assume both FW?), if so, could you not just use some of the media from the established tanks filter & pop it in the new tank?

& yes, API are good quality test kits.

The community tank has only been up and running for maybe 3 months at most, and since its not my tank I didnt want to steal the filter media, and risk a mini cycle in that tank possibly killing parents fish, if that happened Id never hear the end of it and probably be told my tank has to go The downside to living with parents lol

Also parents have noticed the nipped fins too and are waiting on me getting the puffs out, If I was to buy some Seachem Prime would this make the water safe for my puffers while it cycles? I ask this because its description says "Prime™ detoxifies nitrite and nitrate, allowing the biofilter to more efficiently remove them."


EDIT
API fresh water master test kit ordered, should be here wednesday, having a little trouble tracking down a liquid ammonia source, shall try b&q tomorrow, unfortunately my little town doesnt have the stereotypical "pokey" hardware store

Cycling with shrimp is sooooo gross. Best to clean out the rotting pieces now, in case you might miss some of it later. You don't want that. If you are going to cycle this way, put the shrimp in a stocking for easy removal of the rotting flesh.

How does my seachem prime idea sound?