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So if I understand correctly that a high PH and a high temperature can contribute to the toxicity of ammonia, would it ever make sense to lower them a touch for a tank that was cycling?

I have goldfish, so they are able to live at a wide range (I hear). Would it make sense to try nudge the PH down a bit for the time it's cycling?

If one could keep the temperature around 68 or so (not that I see a way of doing that) would that help as well?

Does the ammonia establish a biological filter regardless of the PH in the tank?

Just curious. My ph is a bit high (7.8) but not too high for goldfish. If it would make cycling easier to lower it a touch I would love to do that.

Thanks for any ideas.

Melissa

The stress of altering the ph combined with the stress of cycling the tank is surely just asking for a case of ich. I'd leave well enough alone and just let the cycle get on with what it needs to do.
If anything I'd suggest getting Cycle or Biospira to dose the tank with.

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Babelfish should i add some cycle to my tank to help it cycle more?
my paremetERS ARE
- ammonia 1.0 1.5ppm
-nitrite .5 ppm
nitrate .1(maybe higher as i added some water from a tank which is cycled to this one, was this a good move)
pH 7.5
i was just wondering if i should help the bacteria(nitrite colony) get going w/a littlwe bit more "cycle", or let it do its thing?
i have 2 1" Red Zebra Cichlids in the tank and added some Ammo-Lock to the filter which already had some carbon to make it less toxic but i didnt want to change any so the bacteria colony could grow.should i add some more "cycle"?

Melissa,

Adding Cycle or a similar product to accelerate the cycling of your tank is an excellent idea. Adding water from your other aquarium did not hurt.

However, if you use AmmoLock, you will get false ammonia readings when you do your water tests. The product binds the free ammonia in your water but does not eliminate the ammonia. I would trust Cycle or BioSpira to accelerate your tank.

__________
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If you have gravel in your matured tank you can also gently scoop some and put it in your new tank to speed up the cycling process, or alternatively you can put some of the filter media from the matured filter in the new one.

I would also recommend using AmQuel+ rather than AmmLock if your tank is still cycling as AmQuel+ will also detoxify nitrites (when you get to that point) and AmmLock will not. You can use your AmmLock for routine water changes and keep the AmQuel+ for use in an emergency.

As far as the temperature, I believe bacteria reproduces faster at higher temperatures. So, lowering the temp. may slow down the cyle process.
"Seeding" the tank with water, substrate, and filter material from an established tank will reduce the cycle time considerably. Any new tanks I set up generally cycle within a week when I use "mature" filter pads and tank water. I personally don't like water conditioners that reduce ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates (i.e. Amquel+). They can reduce the oxygen content in the water, which can slow bacteria growth, in addition to stressing fish. I think it's better to perform frequent (daily), small (30%) water only (no vacuuming) changes with water from an established tank in order to control the ammonia and nitrite levels. I've used "stresszyme" which claims to speed the cycling process. I don't know that it helped, but it didn't hurt.