3 weeks into fish in cycling.

[BBradbury]

The Tank Cycling Process

Hey guys. It's about the 5th week now. It seem like nitrites aren't registering on my water test.

My ammonia is around .25 - .50 with daily water changes. Nitrites aren't registering and neither are nitrates. It's the 5th week so it seems really odd to me. Any suggestions on why?

Hello D...

Just be patient. The cycling process can take a couple of months. The ammonia bacteria is still working to make nitrites. In time, the microscopic "nitrite" bugs will start converting the nitrites into nitrates. There aren't any bugs for removing nitrates, so that's your job. You remove those with large, weekly water changes.

Get some plants into the tank during the next water change. Planting is a little easier with the water level down. Plants love nitrogen rich water.

Keep checking for ammonia and when your test shows a trace, then change out 25 to 30 percent of the water. This will be enough to get the water chemistry back into the "safe zone".

Keep pluggin' away.

B

 

[librarygirl]

I agree, every tank is different. Once ammonia starts rising more slowly then nitrites typically appear. Have you tested your tap water for ammonia? Try to keep it as you are, .5 at the highest, until it starts processing the ammonia on its own. Not overfeeding and vacuuming the substrate regularly can help things too.

 

[Doodles_one]

Thanks for your advice guys. I went to my LFS yesterday and explained it all and the guy there said because I have a cheap hang on filter it sounds like the filter just can't handle it. So I'm going to go there next week and pick up an underwater filter.

Thanks

 

[rotorhead22]

What kind of filter do you have? This is one of the most important factors for a healthy tank especially when you are trying to cycle it. I don't hear of many people with UG filters. I have one on my 55 gallon with 2 Aquaclear 50 powerheads in reverse flow mode. I like UG filters although I supplement my filtration with HOB filters. The flow rate in your tank should be about 6 to 1 the volume of your tank. The larger the amount of waste (lots of fish or bigger fish) the higher the filtration and flow rate required. Hope this helps.

 

[Doodles_one]

Mines a HOB filter. Aqua one branded. So basically. The bigger the flow rate the better? Can you go too high or will any do?

 

[rotorhead22]

The filter in conjunction with powerheads on UGF should have a combined flow rate rated at 500 - 650L / hr for your 65L tank. Overfiltration is always better. You can look up the specs on your filter and find out the rating.