Thought I did everything right???

I have wrote here several times over the last few weeks... and I was taking all the advice I could get, but something is wrong...

First question. does lighting affect the biological filter? Here is why.

I have a 29 gal tank, with gravel substrate, heater, HOB Aqua clear filter. I did a fishless cycle, where I went thought the whole process, and ended up with 5 ppm of nitrates, 0 each of ammonia, and nitrite.

Then I added fish. Last time I did the fishless cycle, I was able to add a tank full of fish at once (I added enough ammonia to build a large bio filter). I figured I could do it again. Well, after adding 4 tiger barbs, 2 mollies, a pleco, an upside down cat, and a black ghost... I had a mini spike of 0.25 to as high as 1 ppm of ammonia. I managed that with water changes. It seemed to be getting better, even had nitrites which means my bio filter was growing. Well, a few days ago, my ammonia spiked to 8 ppm, and I have 0 nitrites and nitrates. I have not changed anything, except leaving my light off more often because of the ghost liking the dark. I have lost all of my fish (even though 2 were sick, and I think 2 died from the stress of all the water changes), except for the pleco, the cat, and amazingly the ghost.

I am going to add alot of plants, but unfortunately the only place I can get them from is petsmart, and last time they all died, and I even had anacharis, which are hard to kill. I have no idea why they died. I am also going to beg my LFS for some filter media from theirs. I hate to do that cause of diseases, but I am at the end of my rope. It took 6 weeks for the fishless cycle, and I have been dealing with this now for about 2-3 weeks. I want this cycling to be done without losing my remaining fish. And now it seems I am starting all over.

I am using ammo lock to keep the ammonia from killing my fish. I am worried about when the nitrites spike... how do I keep that from being toxic to my fish? Could my filter be crap? Thanks for any help.

There is a right and wrong way to do a fishless cycle! 5 or 6 drops of pure ammonia per gal. (5ppm), @ 80º, seeded with filter media from an established tank should take from 10 days to 2 weeks to cycle, enough bacteria for a full bio-load. After adding the starter ammonia, *NO* more ammonia is needed. Some of the sites you will find on the net will tell you to keep adding ammonia daily untill the cycle is over. Trouble is, by adding ammonia daily, you could end up with what is called, a never ending cycle! ... Now that there is fish in the tank, best thing to do for high levels of ammonia, nitrite, or nitrAte is water changes. Stop with the ammo lock, you will have to do a lot of water changes through the nitrite part of the cycle anyway! .......... Frank

What about Java Moss? I swear you could drop a small atomic device in a tank with that stuff and at least SOME of it would survive. Some think it's a weed, but I love it...such a lovely deep green and shy fish/fry love it. The only caveats is that it tends to clog filter intakes and grows like crazy requiring clipping, lest it take over the entire tank. Because of this, you can usually find someone who will send you a clipping through the mail if you can't find it at the LFS.

Hi Frank, Thanks for replying. I did my ammonia until it reached 8 ppm (Unintentionally - I wanted 5, but stuck with 8 when it reached that high). That is why I figured I was good to go with a full tank of fish, cause last time I did the 5 ppm. Why do you say stop with the ammo lock? It says it does not interfere with the biological process, does it slow it down? My problem is, one day I killed 2 fish cause I ended up doing 3 water changes in one day cause the ammonia was way to high, and I really stressed out these two fish. I have amqel plus for when the nitrites hit... it says it removes them as well...

Thanks for any info.