# I think I destroyed my tank.....



## holly12 (Apr 21, 2011)

So..... as most of you know, I am having trouble with my cycle being stalled, but was also having a problem with the start of some BBA.

I had been over-dosing with Excell to kill the BBA, from recommendations by people on this forum. Didn't notice a change whatsoever in the "grey fuzzies" but did notice the water was getting a bit cloudy.

I was recommended to take the decor out and clean the "fuzz" of manually...... when I lifted the decorations out, all the fuzz fell of into the water, and now I can't see a thing in the tank!!!!! 

I don't know if my filter will filter all that junk out or not, since the water was beginning to get a bit cloudy a few days prior to this, and the filter wasn't helping!

I did, however, do another media squeezing into the tank from an established one, and threw an established filter sponge into the bottom of the tank to hopefully re-start the cycle again.

What do I do about the cloudiness? Let it settle then gently siphon the fuzz off the top of the gravel? (NOT deep vac' or that will suck up the good bacteria.) OR, do I empty the tank, rinse everything, and start the whole process again? (I'm going into week 7 here!!!!) 

It's a fishless cycle - no animals or plants yet. The only thing left in the tank after taking all the decor out is gravel, fake plants (will be replaced by real when cycle is done) and the old filter media from an established tank sitting on the gravel. Heat is at 86 degrees and I've got an Aquaclear 30 (sponge, carbon and biomax), plus a mini filter (for Nitrazorb - NO media in it at the moment, it's just helping with aeration,) and an air stone to help with aeration.

Sorry for the long post. Any suggestions?


----------



## Rob72 (Apr 2, 2011)

i hav no idea holly, just wanted to say sorry about hte big problem hope you get it figured out, im gonna be starting on this weekend fishless cycle, wish you the best of luck
Rob


----------



## holly12 (Apr 21, 2011)

Thanks. Good luck to you! I hope it goes better for you than it has been for me!


----------



## Scuff (Aug 10, 2010)

Let the mulm settle, then vacuum it off of the surface of the gravel. Refill, treat with a water conditioner, and keep on keepin' on with the cycle.


----------



## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

Yeah do as Scuff suggested.Thats really all you can do for now.

Good luck,Holly,I hope it cycles soon for you!


----------



## holly12 (Apr 21, 2011)

Thanks! That's what I was hoping I could do. (Hopefully it does settle and doesn't keep floating!) It's getting pushed around and around by the filter at the moment..... argh!

I was really thinking I had got a handle on this tank, and now I've got a big grey mess! *sigh - at least I've learned, so the 36g should be easier!


----------



## Scuff (Aug 10, 2010)

It's all a learning process, and thankfully you didn't have anything living in there. Turn your filter off to let the stuff settle, otherwise you're going to have a hell of time sucking it out.


----------



## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

If you can keep the filter media wet,turn the filter off long enough to let the stuff settle.Should take it about twenty minutes at most.then vac it out.That should not affect your cycle at all.(the filter being off for a bit)


----------



## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Or....just let it stay. That stuff won't affect the cycle. If you plan to do a water change after the cycle completes, just make it a light gravel vacuum and it's clean.

Looks like the Excel did a really good job if all that stuff just fell off. Destroy the tank? lol!


----------



## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

It really doesn't hurt to do a good vac as right now most of the bacteria is in the filter. Me personally would shut off filter vac all the water out and do a light vac of the gravel then refill, dose with dechlorinator then turn filter on.


----------



## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

And look at the bright side....you'll have the record for the longest fishless cycle the site has seen....to date, lol. j/k


----------



## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

Wow,a stack of mods,lol.

And woohoo to Holly for holding the record!!

Kidding,we love ya!


----------



## holly12 (Apr 21, 2011)

Woo-hoo! We need a badge for my status for longest fishless cycle, lol!!!

I guess I'll see how it's doing tomorrow, and then decide it I'll vac' it then or wait for the cycle to finish.

When I dosed my tank with ammonia, the next day it would always be down to 1-1.5ppm ammonia. I dosed it yesterday one final time, (after taking the Nitrazorb out Thursday), but it's only gone down to about 2.5ppm this time. I think I shall stop dosing for a while. (Was just dosing and testing as per jrman's advice for after taking the Nitrazorb out.) *Ugh! Stupid cycle! It's the cycle from hell! Lololol! Can't wait for it to be over so I can move everyone over to this tank, take down the 10g, and set up the 36g. Thought I'd have the 20g done in 5 weeks max.....lol, how wrong I was.

Congrats jrman and Maj on becomming mods! (I feel a little left out, lol.) jk.


----------



## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

I think we can arrange a badge for ya....


----------



## sondre (Jun 1, 2011)

Oh Holly,i can imagine how frustrating this is for you . 

Cant give any advice to you cos i am newbie to this hobby.

But hopefully you will finish cycling soon


----------



## joevw007 (Jul 6, 2011)

start over. clean everything by rinsing in the sink and use new water. put the filter from an established tank in and let it sit for a few days. dont leave the light on this time =P


----------



## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

joevw007 said:


> start over. clean everything by rinsing in the sink and use new water. put the filter from an established tank in and let it sit for a few days. dont leave the light on this time =P


I would advise against washing things in the sink because the chlorine from the tap water will kill off any bacteria that might have already set up shop. Instead I would either rinse with tank water during an overhaul, or as many members mentioned, just leave things as they are and let the tank work itself out with little tweaks like PWC's and leaving the lights off.


----------



## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

Do a beaslbob build? 

cloudy water ---- kill the lights, kill the filters and (as stated above) let everything settle down. then suck out what settles down.

Try a filter with diatomous earth (old timeie bag filter or water polisher type media).

Stop adding the ammonia and in a couple of day add a fish. Seems like the ammonia is actually being consumed now so it might be time anyway. But don't start feeding for a few days.

The grey stuff from what I have heard my be some type of fungus (or sponge?) but also could be some form of cyano. If the later the lights out will kill it. In either case some fish my help by eating it.

The cloudiness needs to settle down (no circulation) and die off (lights out) for the water to clear. I suspect after all this you may have a whole lot of phosphates which are not consumed by the fishless process but are with live plants. Hence can result is algae/cyano blooms.

still just my .02 


(and coming from one who has (and will) never use a fishless cycle.)


----------



## holly12 (Apr 21, 2011)

Thanks everyone. So far, the tank is slightly clearer than it was yesterday, (but not by much). I'm thinking this is the last week. If it's still this bad by Friday, I'll take the water out and re-fill with clear water after lightly vacuuming the gravel surface. If it starts to settle by Friday, I won't change the water until the end of the cycle.

Still gonna' be testing to see if the Ammonia will drop to 0ppm, as well as the Nitrites. If not by Friday, again, will do the WC and then dose and see what happens.


----------



## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

holly12 said:


> Thanks everyone. So far, the tank is slightly clearer than it was yesterday, (but not by much). I'm thinking this is the last week. If it's still this bad by Friday, I'll take the water out and re-fill with clear water after lightly vacuuming the gravel surface. If it starts to settle by Friday, I won't change the water until the end of the cycle.
> 
> Still gonna' be testing to see if the Ammonia will drop to 0ppm, as well as the Nitrites. If not by Friday, again, will do the WC and then dose and see what happens.


Wow, the insomniac makes an early appearance....


----------



## Scuff (Aug 10, 2010)

jrman83 said:


> Wow, the insomniac makes an early appearance....


Shouldn't you be running 53 miles right now? :fish5:


----------



## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Scuff said:


> Shouldn't you be running 53 miles right now? :fish5:


I do that in the morning.....only 15 today.


----------



## holly12 (Apr 21, 2011)

jrman83 said:


> Wow, the insomniac makes an early appearance....


What? I'm confused, lol. I was up till 1am on the chat here last night..... is that what we're talking about?


----------



## Scuff (Aug 10, 2010)

You and Susan dominate the late-night posting.


----------



## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

holly12 said:


> What? I'm confused, lol. I was up till 1am on the chat here last night..... is that what we're talking about?


lol, you're always up until 1-3am...thus, insomniac. You don't always start posting this early in the evening. I think you and Susan rule the early am hours on here.


----------



## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

Thats because I only get 4 hours of sleep and take naps.


----------



## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

Susan,just because you like cats doesnt mean you need to sleep like them,lol.

By the way,I think we are sposed to make Holly a "longest cycle,evar!"badge,right?


----------



## Pigeonfish (Jun 23, 2011)

majerah1 said:


> Susan,just because you like cats doesnt mean you need to sleep like them,lol.
> 
> By the way,I think we are sposed to make Holly a "longest cycle,evar!"badge,right?


I just made this in a couple seconds.











;D


----------



## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

I like it!!


----------



## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

Perfect!


----------



## holly12 (Apr 21, 2011)

LOL! So, how do I post it to my signature with the title under it? hahahahahaha!

and jrman: you really run 53 miles a day? seriously?! You must be one solid block of leg muscles!!


----------



## Rob72 (Apr 2, 2011)

holly glad its getting alittle better for you, hopefully each day will get better and better for you


----------



## pjones (Jun 5, 2011)

Here is one...


----------



## holly12 (Apr 21, 2011)

Ooooo! That works too! (I think Susan and I should also get "Rules the early am forum" as well, LOLOL!) 

And in my defense, I see jrman, Maj and scuff on her in the wee early hours too, just no posting.... are you lurking? ;D


----------



## Russell (Jun 20, 2011)

Holly has mentioned lightly vacuuming or surface vacuuming so that she won't suck up the beneficial bacteria she's trying to culture. Is it really necessary to be concerned about sucking up bacteria with a gravel vacuum? I assumed they were pretty sticky and adherent to the gravel and consequently that her problem might benefit from a vigorous vacuuming if she is not going to tear down and start over. Thoughts from the more experienced aquarists?


----------



## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

It won't remove the bacteria, but it will remove all the mulm that is under the gravel and that harbors bacteria also.

Nope its not the longest cycle I have seen. I seen one that took 2 1/2 months to cycle. Each cycle will vary from tank to tank. It can happen in a week or it can happen in 2 months.

You can take 2 tanks side by side, same size, everything exactly the same when you start the cycle. They would complete cycles at different times. Maybe days or maybe weeks.

Bev, I just have poor sleep habits due to health, and puppies keep waking me up.


----------



## holly12 (Apr 21, 2011)

I've screwed up my sleep cycle! I stay up too late, which makes it impossible to get up early, which makes it impossible to get to sleep until really late the next night.... it's a vicious cycle. Even if I get back on track during the week, I wreck it again on the weekends. I can also sleep for 12+ hours. I've always needed a lot of sleep. My mom had to keep flicking my feet when I was a baby just so I'd stay awake long enough to eat, lol.

As for my tank cycle, that's a different story, lol. I'm really hoping that when I do the 36g, it will be much quicker! (It should be, since I've learned a bunch of things NOT to do!!)

*So, as I was about the stuff floating around the tank: It's all settled now, but the tank is still incredibly cloudy..... is it supposed to do that? I'm hoping that with the 50% WC after the cycle is done that it will help clear it up. I'm really hoping my filter isn't overloaded and can't filter all the floaties out....


----------



## joevw007 (Jul 6, 2011)

[email protected] said:


> I would advise against washing things in the sink because the chlorine from the tap water will kill off any bacteria that might have already set up shop. Instead I would either rinse with tank water during an overhaul, or as many members mentioned, just leave things as they are and let the tank work itself out with little tweaks like PWC's and leaving the lights off.


But if you're starting over you are adding new water and water treating chemicals to the tank, meaning when you put the plants back in the tank the chemicals in the freshly added water will get rid of the small abount of chlorine on the plants. I was only suggesting that if she is redoing the whole tank and adding water conditioner to the tank. And normally that small of a dose of chlorine won't hurt anything (at least in my experience).


----------



## joevw007 (Jul 6, 2011)

Russell said:


> Holly has mentioned lightly vacuuming or surface vacuuming so that she won't suck up the beneficial bacteria she's trying to culture. Is it really necessary to be concerned about sucking up bacteria with a gravel vacuum? I assumed they were pretty sticky and adherent to the gravel and consequently that her problem might benefit from a vigorous vacuuming if she is not going to tear down and start over. Thoughts from the more experienced aquarists?


I am not super experienced but I agree with a vigorous vacuuming of the gravel to remove the fungus/algae. From my knowledge of bacteria, it is deep in the cracks and poures of the gravel, and vacuuming it completely will remove MOST of the bacteria but bacteria reproduces exponentially and after a few days should be back to normal. More of the bad stuff you remove the better, the bacteria will reproduce quicker than anything else in the tank. So as long as there is a teeny tiny bit of bacteria it should grow back quickly. Hope this helps


----------



## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

You should always see me unless my PC restarts.I never sign out,lol.


----------

