# Advice before I do this?



## holly12 (Apr 21, 2011)

K, so, for those of you who have been following my cycling and cloudy tank problems: It has been sitting since Sunday and is still uber cloudy.

I was going to do a light gravel vac' and change about 20-30% of the water.

*1.* I don't want to mess up the cycle, but should I squeeze out the filter? (Not sure if the reason the water isn't clearing up is because the media is clogged...)

*2.* Putting new water in is going to lower the ammonia in the water... do I re-dose after putting new water in, or leave it alone? (It's been stuck at 2.5ppm for the last 2-3 days, with NitrIte stuck at 1ppm for 4 weeks.)

* Any other tips or advice would be welcome. I'm planning on doing this, this evening.

Thanks!


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## holly12 (Apr 21, 2011)

No tips? I guess squeezing the filter media is ok then.....aaaand, since I tested it before changing the water, and the tank has somehow LOST its ammonia eating abilities, it's a 2.5-3ppm ammonia, (haven't dosed in a few days now, and it was at 2ppm the other day.... no clue why it would be _going up_....any water used to top up the tank is ammonia free. There are NO chemicals or anything used near the tank.) And the NitrIte is still at 1 ppm.

I'll test the water a couple hours after the water change, and see if the numbers drop in a few days.

Seriously thinking about draining the tank, scrubbing things down, getting new filter media, and starting from scratch! This is getting ridiculous! I mean, how does a cycle go _backwards_?!


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## holly12 (Apr 21, 2011)

K. Removed most of the water. I'd say close to 90%.... it was all a disgusting grey with floaty things in it. I mean, the bucket I use for WC is white.... and in the bucket this water was disgustingly grey. The filter was disgustingly gunked. Had to squeeze the media out in the dirty water because the normally white sponge was a charcole grey from all the junk! I left all of the slime in the filter though.

So, pretty much all new water. Put conditioner and the LFS brand of 'cycle' - can't hurt right - Will test the params' tomorrow and then start re-dosing the tank and see if we can get this cycle going again.


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## Scuff (Aug 10, 2010)

Good luck, Holly.


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## sondre (Jun 1, 2011)

Good luck Holly !

Its interesting how different people get different results with cycling,you was into week 7 and still cycling . My cycle finished in 11 days . Big difference ! 

Would be great if we could work out the DO'S AND DONT'S so others could learn from us and get it done quicker .


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## Pigeonfish (Jun 23, 2011)

Hope everything works out :3


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

Personally, I would wring out the filter media as you suggested, and re-dose ammonia after the PWC.


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## holly12 (Apr 21, 2011)

Gizmo, you changed your name! I was confused for a minute and thought someone stole your pic! Lol.

Thanks everyone! 

I did a 90% WC last night and wrang out the media in the dirty water. It was disgusting! The tank looks a million times better than it did. It's still a bit cloudy, but I wasn't able to get 100% of the crap out of it, and I think it's still settling after the refill. The only things in the tank now are the gravel and the old sponge from the 10g... it's just floating around.

I tested the water just now, and it's reading: .50ppm ammonia, .05-.10ppm NitrIte and 20ppm NitrAte - which is present in our water source, (usually at 80ppm)

Since the first time I started the cycle it took 2 tsp to get to 4ppm ammonia, I'm just going to dose 1.5 tsp because it's already at .50ppm.

NO Nitrazorb will be going into the tank until the cycle is finished and the final 50% WC is done. I'll put it in about 24-48 hours before the fish go in. It's worked that fast in the past, so fingers crossed!

*Deep breath in.... and here we go....


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

Holly, this could have been posted in one of your other threads, its getting hard to keep up with it when there are so many of them.


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## holly12 (Apr 21, 2011)

LOL! K. I'll stop posing in this one and keep it to the "ammonia not going down" one.


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