Cycled yet?

[Aqualady40]

Okay I been doing a fish-in cycle for 6 weeks and 5 days. My tank size is a 55g which occupies 1 opaline gourami, 1gold gourami, 1 blue (3 spot) gourami, 4 tiger barbs, 1 green tiger barb, 1 albino tiger barb, 1 rubber lip pleco, & 1 redtail black shark. I would test everything everyday with API Master kit...for the last 1-2 weeks I have had off the chart nitrites (would do 75% water change everyday to lower them) and for the last 2 days they were .50, then today 0...my nitrates I believe are 5.0 and have been that for 3 days now. Am I cycled???
Another thing, If your tap water has ammonia in it (straight from tap is 0.5 and when tap sits 24 hours it is 1.0) will my nitrates be able to get the ammonia to 0 since my source has it in it????

 

[lyric112209]

Doesn't look like nitrites are at 0

 

[Slagrunner]

My water has trace ammonia , and i use zeo carb in my canister, You can throw a packet in your HOB filter too i do that on my 20gallon. Another good solution is RO/DO water filter to make your water, if price isnt a concern. My LFS sells it though at about 3 cents a gallon. I would say your tank is cycled but continue to watch for another week to be on the safe side. As far as the water changes i would do 25% spaced out an hour at a time not 75% in one shot. That big of a water change significantly changes water temp, ph, etc etc.

 

[Aqualady40]

so Lyric what you think the trites are???? they are definitely not .25 and what about my ammonia question???

 

[Aqualady40]

My water has trace ammonia , and i use zeo carb in my canister, You can throw a packet in your HOB filter too i do that on my 20gallon. Another good solution is RO/DO water filter to make your water, if price isnt a concern. My LFS sells it though at about 3 cents a gallon. I would say your tank is cycled but continue to watch for another week to be on the safe side. As far as the water changes i would do 25% spaced out an hour at a time not 75% in one shot. That big of a water change significantly changes water temp, ph, etc etc.

Okay thanks for advice to rid ammonia trace....does the zeo carb remove the trace ammonia for you?... the water change is total in a day....but I did always retest once PWC was completed for the day and Ph was same while ammo, trites, and trates would be lower. I was cautious with temp also........you guys on here have taught me well...

 

[BobandBecca]

I would say that you are right there another day or two and you cycled just keep testing. Doing a fishin cycle like that was fun when i did it, i was sad when it was all over now i just test every other day. I always have .25 ammonia, i can never get it to zero and have 0 ammonia in my tap water.

 

[tamtam]

I would give it a few more days just to be sure. Sometimes it can seem find for a day or so and you will have a little spike. I usually give 5-7 days before deeming it cycled. lol. Just keep an eye and see how it goes.

As for the ammonia I wouldn't add anything to deal with it. It's a pretty common thing to have ammo in your tap water. Just use some PRIME for water changes and your BB will be able to convert it by the time the PRIME wears off in 24-48 hours. No need to buy extra products. PRIME is awesome.

 

[Aqualady40]

I would say that you are right there another day or two and you cycled just keep testing. Doing a fishin cycle like that was fun when i did it, i was sad when it was all over now i just test every other day. I always have .25 ammonia, i can never get it to zero and have 0 ammonia in my tap water.

Yes it has been kind of fun...it gave me something to do every morning...I guess its time to turn some attention towards my 40B, I been waiting for the ammonia to start dropping (doing fish-less cycling). I just purchased a 5 gallon to be a qt but I somehow bought 2 guppies...lol....the guppies are cycling it for me until I get my 20H up and running (which will be their home).

Any suggestions about seeding filter media from the 55g to the 40B?

 

[tamtam]

I'm currently seeding some media for my 30 in my 20 gallon. I can't manage to fit the filter for my 30 on the 20 so I just stuffed my 20 filters as full as I could of media and will leave it be. It's been running for a few weeks like this. This way I can move over the added media to the 30 when I have it set up but don't need to worry about removing too much BB from my 20 to mini cycle. It takes a few weeks to properly seed though.

If you can't do similar than you could take a little media from your 55 but it may cause a mini cycle. OR worse case you can do media squishing/squeezing in your cycling tank with the established media.

 

[Aqualady40]

I would give it a few more days just to be sure. Sometimes it can seem find for a day or so and you will have a little spike. I usually give 5-7 days before deeming it cycled. lol. Just keep an eye and see how it goes.

As for the ammonia I wouldn't add anything to deal with it. It's a pretty common thing to have ammo in your tap water. Just use some PRIME for water changes and your BB will be able to convert it by the time the PRIME wears off in 24-48 hours. No need to buy extra products. PRIME is awesome.

OKay, I been using prime from day one....also would you continue doing your daily routine such as PWC (if ammo/trites are present) until tank is deemed cycled?

 

[Aqualady40]

I'm currently seeding some media for my 30 in my 20 gallon. I can't manage to fit the filter for my 30 on the 20 so I just stuffed my 20 filters as full as I could of media and will leave it be. It's been running for a few weeks like this. This way I can move over the added media to the 30 when I have it set up but don't need to worry about removing too much BB from my 20 to mini cycle. It takes a few weeks to properly seed though.

If you can't do similar than you could take a little media from your 55 but it may cause a mini cycle. OR worse case you can do media squishing/squeezing in your cycling tank with the established media.

Okay for the last week or two I have been adding more stuff into my filters to give the bb more surface to grow which may have contributed to my tank becoming closer to being cycled....however the filters are not stuffed so I guess I could stuff them but how long would I leave the media in there before transferring to next tank?

 

[tamtam]

Okay for the last week or two I have been adding more stuff into my filters to give the bb more surface to grow which may have contributed to my tank becoming closer to being cycled....however the filters are not stuffed so I guess I could stuff them but how long would I leave the media in there before transferring to next tank?

You would need a few weeks. I'd probably go 3 at least if you have the patience just to be sure. The longer you can leave it the better. Depending how far you are into your cycle though it may or may not be worth it for you. Though there is never any harm in having extra established media around.

 

[tamtam]

OKay, I been using prime from day one....also would you continue doing your daily routine such as PWC (if ammo/trites are present) until tank is deemed cycled?

I would, or at least every other day.

 

[Aqualady40]

I would, or at least every other day.

Okay, great, thanks! One more question, I had recorded my barbs doing something that I was unsure of on my cell (mp4 file) and everytime I tried to upload on here (new thread) it says I am missing a security token...what is that?

 

[Aqualady40]

Here is a pic of today's results. When I have the tube standing in front of card my ph appears to be 7.4 but if I put it flat against card it seems to be 8.0. Which way is preferred to read results, away from card like in photo or flat against card?

 

[BobandBecca]

I'm pretty sure that the tubes should be flat against a white background. I think i can remember that from the directions that came with the kit. Also are you shaking your nitrates bottles really good before you use them, thats a huge part of it and shaking the test tube for a solid minute the let it sit for 5 minutes then check results.

 

[paytertot]

Here is a pic of today's results. When I have the tube standing in front of card my ph appears to be 7.4 but if I put it flat against card it seems to be 8.0. Which way is preferred to read results, away from card like in photo or flat against card?

If its flat against the card you get a shadow. So do it in a brightly lit room holding the tube slightly away from the card so that there's no shadow.

 

[Aqualady40]

I'm pretty sure that the tubes should be flat against a white background. I think i can remember that from the directions that came with the kit. Also are you shaking your nitrates bottles really good before you use them, thats a huge part of it and shaking the test tube for a solid minute the let it sit for 5 minutes then check results.

Yes and "how to test wasn't my concern nor issue" I just seem to have a little dilemma with the Ph result color "ONLY" nothing else all other tests colors I can distinguish whether the tubes are away or against the test card.

 

[Aqualady40]

If its flat against the card you get a shadow. So do it in a brightly lit room holding the tube slightly away from the card so that there's no shadow.

Okay, great, that is how I been doing it ...slightly away from card...I just wanted to be sure because whether away or next to card the ammo, trites, and trates aren't that hard to see what color they are but the Ph seems to be 7.4 away then 8.0-8.2 when next to card...I been recording results that were away from card though...thanks again

 

[Aqualady40]

If its flat against the card you get a shadow. So do it in a brightly lit room holding the tube slightly away from the card so that there's no shadow.

This is day 2 of checking to see if this long fish-in journey is over ......so far so good...