ok, so i'm cycling a tank with a fish in (quite not by choice, i always do fishless cycles). i'm at about day 4 right now, and i'm having the hardest time keeping the ammonia down in the poor boys tank. i'm doing daily water changes, which lowers the level, but every night it's back up to 1 again. would replacing some or all of the water w/ water from one my established aquariums help or would it hurt. my 'donor' tanks all have pristine water.

any other tips for keeping his stress level as low as possible??

thanks for the help.

Buy some Bio-Spira. It's live bacteria culture. It cycles the tank overnight. Greatest product since sliced bread. Amazing stuff but expensive.

Respect
JET

i have some brand new bio-spira in my frig. $26. shipped overnight with icepack. let me know if your interested.

Sorry, I'm a little confused- do you have other healthy established tanks? If so you can seed the new tank with water, gravel or filter media from one of the cycled tanks. That should definitely jump start the cycle.

Put in a little media, gravel and ornaments from all your other tanks, sometimes the new tank will cycle instantly with this method. Just adding the water won't make any difference, the bacteria are ON things, not in the water.

Unfortunately,when using fish to cycle,sometimes it takes more than one water change a day to get it to a safe level.

salt will help the fish deal with higher then normal water levels......

Good suggestions.
Could you post your pH and water temperature?