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Originally Posted by Silock
Maintain what? The bacteria are in the filter and substrate, not the water, right? It's temperature matched when it goes in, so it shouldn't be shocking anything.
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Corrent, the bacteria adheres to surfaces. However, by doing such massive water changes you're depriving those bacteria of ammonia (I know, it's a catch-22. That's why they call it a "cycle") and potentially changing water parameters like dissolved organic compounds, gH, kH, and other things that are important to allowing the cycle to finish.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Silock
Just checked again, and ammonia is down to 1 ppm or below. Nitrites still pegging the 5ppm mark, and did so almost immediately upon adding the drops to the testing vial. I'm guessing that the Start Right did SOMETHING, whether adding to the ammonia eaters that I already had, or what, because there's hardly any explanation for it dropping so quickly all of a sudden after not dropping at ALL for so many days.
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Actually, cycles work that way. They run and run and all of the sudden - bam - finished. It's possible that the Start Right worked but there's also volumes of anecdotal and scientific evidence that it doesn't.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Silock
Should I do another water change with some Prime, or just add Prime, or leave it alone?
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Prime detoxifies nitrite. I'd add your Prime and otherwise leave it be. It sounds like you're nearing the end which is good news.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Silock
Air pump only has one outlet, which is why I bought the large bar. It's giving a ton of surface agitation, probably too much. The air bar covers 80% of the length of the tank. It looked like the current produced was stressing the fish, as the Tetras lost their red, and were hanging out on bottom of the tank to get away from the bubbles, as was the betta. I have it turned off for now until I can get a regulator to slow down the bubbles.
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Hmmm...I've not experienced fish being stressed from "too much" air, especially Tetras, which generally love as much current as you can give them. My guess would be that their discoloration and lethargy is due to the tank cycling but I guess anything is possible.