So I’m doing a QT on a new fish (smallish flame angel in a 10 gallon). For doing QT I usually keep a bunch of inorganic filter media (bio balls, cut up fabric sock) in the DT sump and then put it in the QT hob on setup (and throw away after). This has typically worked well.
Did that, and for some reason after 10 days I don’t appear to have anything resembling a cycle. Ammonia consistently shows at ~0.4 on the Red Sea (total, so the toxic ammonia is much lower) and before I started doing water changes nitrates weren’t showing at all. A new seachem badge (that AFAIK measures the toxic ammonia only) is now consistently on yellow.
So I’ve been doing a 50% water change each day, which isn’t the worst thing for my tank as this means a 5% daily water change and then I use the tank water for the QT 50% change, but definitely not something I was planning on.
As a control I checked the DT water using the Red Sea test, and it unsurprisingly came back as zero testable ammonia.
Any ideas why the cycling didn’t work? The bio balls and sock cuts have been in the DT sump for months, so it seems highly unlikely they’re not colonized…
Did that, and for some reason after 10 days I don’t appear to have anything resembling a cycle. Ammonia consistently shows at ~0.4 on the Red Sea (total, so the toxic ammonia is much lower) and before I started doing water changes nitrates weren’t showing at all. A new seachem badge (that AFAIK measures the toxic ammonia only) is now consistently on yellow.
So I’ve been doing a 50% water change each day, which isn’t the worst thing for my tank as this means a 5% daily water change and then I use the tank water for the QT 50% change, but definitely not something I was planning on.
As a control I checked the DT water using the Red Sea test, and it unsurprisingly came back as zero testable ammonia.
Any ideas why the cycling didn’t work? The bio balls and sock cuts have been in the DT sump for months, so it seems highly unlikely they’re not colonized…