New tank conditions

Question
I have had my 20 gallon freshwater tank up and running for 3 weeks.  I have 2 guppies in there since week 1.  My setup includes a powerfilter, undergravel filter, powerhead, and multiple airstones.  My question is concerning the ammonia levels during the nitrogen cycle.  I have been testing the ammonia levels recently and they are at 3.0 ppm.  I have performed the weekly water changes (25%) as directed.  I test the nitrate and nitrite levels and they continually come up as 0.5 for nitrite and 0 for nitrate.  The pH is between 6.0 and 6.5.  At which point should the ammonia start dropping and the nitrite rise?  Should i perform daily water changes now or add ammo-lock?  Please help me along with the nitrogen cycle.  Thank you.

Answer
Good evening Jeff, thank you for your question.

Wow, that's awfully high ammonia levels for your guppies to be in - they do not appear to be bothered? I am not sure if you purchased the guppies to be starter fish, but if you intend on keeping the guppies, do know that they might not be as long lived and they may develop fin rot or some other difiguring ailment. Your setup sounds fine otherwise.

In your powerfilter, do you have biological media? This would be a sponge or ceramic rings, or a bio-wheel. If your filter is nothing but blue floss and a carbon cartridge, supplement your filter's biological filtration by adding some ceramic rings (Biomax by Hagen comes in its own bag, there ought to be a size that fits your filter even though they are intended for AquaClear filters) or a sponge, again one of the sponges for the AquaClear filter should work. This will give you more surface area hospitable to the beneficial bacteria, they are engineered to do just that.

The best way to cycle a tank is to use media or gravel from another established tank. I simply just take one of my hang-on power filters and switch it over to the tank that needs cycling, and voila! It is cycled in less than a week. If this option is not available to you, the next best thing to do is to get your equipment up and running and add a piece of cocktail shrimp OR a small pinch of flakes once a day to produce ammonia and feed the bacteria. This can take a couple of weeks, but you don't perform water changes until the nitrates start showing up - this delays the process.

In your case, your guppies need to have their water changed because the high ammonia levels are toxic to them. However the water changes do prolong the cycling process, just like ammo-lock, zeolite, or any of those ammonia arresting substances would. The very best thing you could do would be to remove the guppies, not perform any more water changes, continue to turn your tank on in the morning and off in the evening, and feed a pinch of flakes to the empty tank.

Right now, with every 25% water change, the guppies living conditions improve, but your tank's cycling is partially undone. That's the non-technical explanation, anyway!

If you can't remove the guppies, add BioSpira and follow the directions to cycle the tank instantly. This refrigerated product is the only one that can cycle a tank overnight. You'll then be free to add more fish right away. It can be purchased online at www.drsfostersmith.com but your LFS may even carry it. I would use the phone book to call around. Without BioSpira, your guppies will need water changes to stay alive, in spite of the setback they pose to cycling.

You are almost there, Jeff! Cycling isn't as difficult as it seems. Skim through this article, and check out the other articles at the Drs. Foster and Smith archive:

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?dept_id=0&siteid=6&acatid=266&aid=...

Good luck,
Nicole