Fish-IN Cycling

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First step for yourself or Noah is to contact your local municipality in charge of your water service. Expect to have to jump through some hoops to get anywhere but legally, if you request it, they will send out someone to take samples of your tap water for testing and report back with the results. There is no charge for this. You can also look up your municipality online- most have their recent water reports available to view. You can also contact the EPA's Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 800-426-4791 for more help.

As a last resort, you can also pay for a private company to test your water and use these results as proof there is an issue that needs to be addressed for public welfare if the water is in fact unhealthy for human consumption. Just realize what is considered acceptable for humans may not be healthy for fish.

As with anything with government, expect a lot of run around and having to talk to a slew of different people before you are able to receive any concrete answers or help. Good luck!

No stranger to the government and how they work as I spent a few years in the military so I am ready. I started today by getting in touch with my landlord and then the city water and sewage department. When I receive a call back I will request somebody to come out and check the water. Luckily, my wife and I have been drinking bottled water since day one, so we've somewhat avoided the crappy water here.

As it pertains to the tank, I think these orange home deport buckets are going to be my best friend. My wife's parents live about 10 miles away and have really great water.
 
Tested tank today 11/20

pH: 7.4
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: .25
Nitrate: 0 (possibly 5, max)

Another 20-30% wc is in order then?
 
Thanks for the info I will be checking into how to get this fixed! In the mean time I will keep buying RO water and testing it frequently.
 
Tested tank today 11/20

pH: 7.4
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: .25
Nitrate: 0 (possibly 5, max)

Another 20-30% wc is in order then?

No ammonia is a positive sign! If your fish appear stressed, I would do a wc. If you can not manage one right now, you can add a dose of Prime and see how your numbers look tomorrow.
 
Tank Chemistry

Tested tank today 11/20

pH: 7.4
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: .25
Nitrate: 0 (possibly 5, max)

Another 20-30% wc is in order then?

Hello Noah...

A water change of 25 to 30 percent is needed when you have a trace of ammonia or nitrite in the tank water during the cycling process. Test daily and do a partial water change when you have a positive test. The change will get the water back into the "safe zone" for the fish and give the good bacteria enough nitrogen to grow.

B
 
Hey guys, just wanted to fill ya in on the latest. The last week the water has constantly tested at 0 amonia, 0 nirtrite, 0 nitrate. Not sure what to make of it? My LFS said I could probably add another four small fish, what do you guys think?

I have also attached update pictures of my tank as of today.

Our tap waster is still testing high. We do not use it as all and get all of our water from our LFS which is RO
 
A bit odd to have zero nitrate but not impossible. I am wondering though if you are reconstituting the RO or cutting it with your tap? RO lacks any buffers or minerals necessary for fish health and your good bacteria which is a bigger concern than zero nitrate.

I personally would give your tank another week of steady zero ammonia and nitrite before considering adding a few more fish. :)
 
Thanks for the response.. Yeah seems odd to me too. Could the plants be doing well enough that they are keeping the water that clean?
 
Well, I would not use the word 'clean'. Theres lots of dissolved stuff we do not test for that accumulates or is utilized that needs to be addressed with weekly water changes. Yes, its definitely possible your plants are using any nitrate produced resulting in a zero reading. Heavy plant enthusiasts actually dose nitrate to keep it at specific levels for their plants but thats another topic altogether! :)
 
Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate are still 0. pH is between 7.4 and 7.6. I added some longfin leopard danios per my LFS advice, but ended up bringing them back because they chased my tetras around all day, non-stop.

Even when they were in the tank all the levels were 0. Not sure whats going on? Do I need more fish to get the ammonia higher?
 
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