# Just need some reassurance.



## ifinditunderground (Apr 6, 2013)

I've been a bit nervous about my tank, its been cloudy and smelling bad, fish haven't been very active or eating very well. I've been leaving the light off most of the time and have been feeding small quantities of food. Basically, just leaving it alone. The tank has cleared almost completely, fish are getting very active and are eating well. I was very worried about one fish dying, but even it is out and eating. Trying to watch chemistry, but I made a rookie mistake and got strips instead of the api master kit. Lesson learned there. There is a tiny amount of ammonia, a low level of nitrites and a low level of nitrates. I used stress zyme for bacteria. Everything looks great, am I on my way to a cycled tank? Or should I be expecting something bad to happen next? Thanks in advance.


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

I possibly fit second suggestion of your signature,but have to ask as I see no mention.What is your water change habbits.If your tank is new then some ammonia is the way it goes and that can only be corrected by water changes.
I can't speak for stress zyme ,I will defer to people who have used TSS or Dr. Tims one and only(if they have had documented sucess),but generally consider most bacteria in a bottle to be snake oil.There still is great question of how living bacteria survive in a sealed bootle that is not refridgerated.
If I buy pods in a bottle that are alive from my LFS the bottle top is open and they are kept in refridgerator(adding more fuel {by example} to how is any bottled bacteria alive?)
On the other hand I do believe that the bacteria that are in the bottle are mearely a "stepping stone" to help the arrival of the proper bacteria.
If you are fish in cycling then you need to test,and change water when the test indicate.As a general rule any ammonia,any nitrite are way more dangerous and deadly to your fish.Most think 1ppm of either is time to change water.Possibly 1.5ppm then you must change water or risk injurious conditions to your fish that could kill them immediately,or cause issue that are just about to gaurentee a much shorter,unhealthy troubled life span.
The % of water you change should reduce your nutrients(ammonia,nitrIte) by the same %.EI;50% water change 50% reduction in nutrients.If you have 2ppm ammonia 50% will get you to one,so then I would do another 50% taking you down to.5ammonia.
Water changes should be dechlorinated and of very close temp of the tank.
Hope this helps.


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## thabadassone (Apr 4, 2013)

if you have another established tank then adding a bit of your water from your established tank can help speed up the cycling process as well as squeezing out the filter pads from the old into the new tank(this may dirty the water but will help the new bacteria build up quickly.)if you dont have a second tank then adding live plants (floating kind if you dont plan to have a planted tank) will help keep the amonia and nitrate levels down a bit longer than usual.possibly saving some poor fish from a horrible fate.best to cycle without fish just using plants.


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## thabadassone (Apr 4, 2013)

to answer some questions fish can live 2-3 days with just minimal food to assist with keeping nitrates low and the water will remain cloudy until the bacteria is established .just remember to treat the water before you introduce it to the tank during cycling (if it is tap water) because the chlorine will kill any bacteria you have built up causing longer wait times till fully established.


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## zwanged (Nov 4, 2012)

Very little bacteria is actually in the water column. The bacteria is in the filter, on the surfaces of the tank + substrate, etc. You could try squeezing out some filter pads from the existing tank into the new tank to seed the new tank, though, and that may help.

-Zeke



thabadassone said:


> if you have another established tank then adding a bit of your water from your established tank can help speed up the cycling process as well as squeezing out the filter pads from the old into the new tank(this may dirty the water but will help the new bacteria build up quickly.)if you dont have a second tank then adding live plants (floating kind if you dont plan to have a planted tank) will help keep the amonia and nitrate levels down a bit longer than usual.possibly saving some poor fish from a horrible fate.best to cycle without fish just using plants.


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## ifinditunderground (Apr 6, 2013)

I follow you, time to go get a master test kit.


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## ifinditunderground (Apr 6, 2013)

I did add water from an existing tank, but the tank is a new setup and i have no neighbors that have tanks that I know of.


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