# Need Help on Cycling My Tank



## baishui (Jan 7, 2014)

I am still cycling my 2nd tank. It's a 10G tank, with Fluval Plant Substrate, and a sponge filter (with a power head), and I put the heater around 80F. I added plants, and a bio filter media (from my first tank). In the beginning, I don't have any pure ammonia, so I dropped a lot of fish food. In a few days, I can see 0.25 ammonia, nitrites @ 1, and trace of nitrates, too. Then, I found Old Country ammonia from Home Hardware, and I added a cap into the tank. Turns out it's too much, cause the ammonia is quite above 8. Then, I've made two 50% water change, and ammonia is around 3 or 4 right now.

The question is, before I put in ammonia, I noticed a layer of oil on top of the water. It's not much, I didn't pay much attention. In the past two days, that seems to get thicker. And when I do the water change last night, I can also see many small bubbles on the tank walls (the part above water line).

And this layer of oil really doesn't seem right. What is it? What can I do about it?

Btw, the tank is an used one, there were algae stain on it and I cleaned it. Other than that, everything is new.

Thanks


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## Tino (Sep 10, 2012)

I don't think the added ammonia was needed if you already had used bio-media.
Used bio-media and 2 weeks usually does it for my tanks, unless I want to really speed things up then I throw 2 or 3 feeder fish and I'm good to go in 3-5 days or so.


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## colio (Dec 8, 2012)

That oily slick is likely residue from you! When you put your hands in the aquarium if you have trace amounts of soap or other things on your hands, you can get that. I have been told it is harmless. 

I don't think your ammonia going to 8ppm during a cycle is so bad. My last cycle I over added and got quite a bit higher, and it worked out fine. Granted, if I recall correctly this is a bit of a controversial issue, how much ammonia is to much. 

At any rate, as far as I know the slick on your tank is nothing to worry about. A pain to remove though. You can try dropping a scot towel on the top of the water and lifting it oggg. It is supposed to take the oily stuff away, though I haven't always had much lukc (I put my hands in my tanks waaaaay to often so have seen this a few times). 

Best of luck!
Colin


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## baishui (Jan 7, 2014)

Thank you so much, Colin. I was really worried about it, and now I can just relax and wait for the cycle to complete.

Thanks to Tino, too!


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

you can use a container and remove water from the top by putting it in the tank and lowering it until the surface water flows in and remove some that way to.

you can also take a power head like a maxi jet, put a bottle on it stuff the bottle with floss and cut out notches and have the intake at the top of the tank and it will work as a surface skimmer, got this idea from DIY Joey.

You probably could have put a couple fish in the tank with using used media right away. I have multiple tanks so I am able to seed enough to basically instantly cycle tanks when I need.


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## mistersprinkles (Nov 4, 2013)

You DO want to use ammonia. What you did moving biomedia over from your last tank was correct. 

Use a syringe to dose the ammonia and figure out how much it takes to get a reading of 4ppm. Just keep maintaining a level of 4ppm (by adding more ammonia now and then) until, after 24 hours, you get 0 ammonia 0 nitrite and a nitrate reading of anything other than 0. Now you're ready to fully stock the tank.

Adding things like fish food etc isn't necessary and could grow fungus.

The surface oil slick is a combination of residue from you and proteins etc leeching out of the fish food you put in. You can get rid of it with bubbles (air pump) or you can use a surface skimmer like the Eheim Skim 350.


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## baishui (Jan 7, 2014)

Thank you all for your help. I just tested again, although ammonia is still around 4, nitrite has increase to more than 5, and nitrate above 40. PH is at 7.4. All seems good, I guess I just need more patience.

I used paper towel to cover the water twice, and the oil layer is much less now. Will do the same again tomorrow.

Thanks again, everyone! You guys make me believe I can do this!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## mistersprinkles (Nov 4, 2013)

baishui said:


> Thank you all for your help. I just tested again, although ammonia is still around 4, nitrite has increase to more than 5, and nitrate above 40. PH is at 7.4. All seems good, I guess I just need more patience.
> 
> I used paper towel to cover the water twice, and the oil layer is much less now. Will do the same again tomorrow.
> 
> ...


If you're getting nitrates the tank is cycled. You just need to get it up to a certain capacity so it can support a tank full of fish.

Depending on how much media you moved over, it'll support a certain number of fish right now. You would know better than us how many, based on how many fish you had in the donor tank, and what percentage of biomedia you moved over.

By getting it to a point where it can convert 4ppm of ammonia to nitrate in 24 hours, you can be assured that it's ready for a full load of fish.


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

nitrates is a good sign that things are on the way. But I have a small concern that by the time the cycle is complete, the nitrates are going to be very high. I suggest a 50 percent wc before the next day you add ammonia.

Cycled means that the bacteria have built up enough to keep ammonia and nitrites at 0 with a consistent ammonia source.

shouldn't be long now.


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