Beginner hoping my fish survive.... ?

[archangelvk]

Hello everyone. So I started a 10 gallon tank on Oct 23rd. I didnt know about the Notrogen cycle so I bought 6 Harloquin Rasboras and 3 Green Corys. Then a couple days later I learned about the Nitrogen cycle and bought a water test kit. The first day I tested was on the 30th of Oct. Ammonia was 0.5 NO2&3 were both 0. For the last three days however my Ammonia is 1.0ppm while NO2 & 3 is still at 0ppm even with 15% water changes everyday. So my question is, how come my NO2 wont go higher while my Ammonia is still at 1.0? I know its not insanely high but are my fish going to die? and is it normal for a tank to be in its 2nd week of cycling and still not have any NO2?
Edit: I only feed the fish every other day and have 3 amazon sword plants in my tank as well.

 

[Fel]

Do larger water changes and feed less. Cycling can take a while especially without any seeded media.

Get something to detoxify ammonia as well, 1 ppm is enough to kill your fish.

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[archangelvk]

THanks for your reply. Will larger water changes slow down my cycle? And how large of a change are we talking about? 50% ?

 

[Fel]

The good bacteria your growing live on the surfaces of your tank, not in the water itself.

50% is about right, you need to remove the ammonia and 15% just isn't enough during this stage of a fish in cycle.

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[ScotJudd]

Hi.
Lowering your ammonia is essential to protect your fish but it will slow down your cycle as the ammonia source is reduced. Cycling without fish typically uses an ammonia level of 4ppm, so you can see that cycling with fish in the tank and a very low level of ammonia will slow the process down.
Don't get disheartened though, reduce your ammonia with water changes to ensure it stays at 0.25 or less and you will eventually get nitrite and then nitrate readings. One day you will have zero ammonia and zero nitrites and higher nitrates. At this point you are cycled. Reduce the nitrates to below 20ppm with water changes.
All cycling takes great patience but the end result is a healthy tank and healthy fish.
Keeping feeding to a minimum helps a lot in reducing the amount of water changes that you need to do to keep ammonia down to 0.25 in the early days.


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