# Mini Cycle? Need Help!



## Brian762 (May 18, 2010)

Ok, here is the story. Last week (june 23rd) i went to the hospital because my gf gave birth to my daughter. I knew i wouldnt me home for 2 to 3 days so i bought a automatic fish feeder. The weekend before i bought a new ac 110. I have a 55 gal tank with 3 juvies and planted. well i came home on saturday to a mess in my tank. the auto feeder dumbed so much food in the tank that the whole bottom of the tank was covered with pellets. My small juvie was barley alive. so instead of spending time with my new family, i had to do a water change immediatly. i did a 70% without testing my params cuz i knew everything had to be sky high and the needed fresh water. then i did another 90% WC about 3 days later. well it is now 3 days after my last WC and the fish are doing a lot better. i decieded to check my params and i was shocked at my results. Ammo=.25 ppm Nitrites=5.0 ppm Nitrates =30 ppm Is my tank going thru a mini cycle? also, i loooked at my plants today and some of them are turning brown looks like they are dying. WTF please help!

I forgot to write that i have an already established penquin 350 on there as well.


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## Plowboy (Apr 9, 2008)

Did you add the ac110 to exhisting filtration, or replace the old filters with the ac110. Getting rid of all the old filters will put ur tank into pretty much a full cycle.

All you can really do is vac the tank as well as you can to get all the uneaten food out, keep up on water changes, and add some salt to the tank to help with nitrite poisoning. If you didn't bomb your cycle by removing all the old filters to replace them with a new ac110 your water params should clear up pretty quick.

I'm not sure what's going on with your plants.

How's your new daughter doing? Do you have a name picked out?


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## Brian762 (May 18, 2010)

Sorry I edited my post after i realized i didnt mention my established filter. i didnt remove my excisting filter. it is still on there. I thought salt make it worse or maybe that is with ammo. So i have an established penguin 350 and a 2 week old ac 110.

she is doing great! thanks for asking. we named her Violet after my gf grandma.


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## Plowboy (Apr 9, 2008)

The plants won't be huge fans of the salt, but you don't need much of it to prevent nitrite poisoning. 3-4 tablespoons would be a great plenty.


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## Brian762 (May 18, 2010)

Cool thank you!i will add some salt tonight. should i still do weekly WC or should i be doing it more frequently? i want to make sure that the new ac 110 cycles.


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## Plowboy (Apr 9, 2008)

I would prolly do 30-40% changes every couple of days until it clears up if you have time to. If you don't have that kind of time I wouldn't get too worried if you got it vac'd out pretty well.

I still don't have a clue why ur plants would be dying. I didn't think ammo and nitrite bothered them at all. Hell, I thought some healthy, growing plants actually consumed some ammo and nitrites. If you list the plant types I'm sure there is someone here that can help.

I'm glad to hear Violet is doing well.


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## Brian762 (May 18, 2010)

Thank you so much you have helped me out tremendously! All my plants are swords.


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