cycling and ammonia

[HeatherW]

OK, I am probably overthinking this whole thing but here is my question. I am doing a fish IN cycle on my 20 gallon and 5 gallon. I am using the API master test kit and testing my water daily for ammonia and Nitrites. so far I am at a nice steady "nothing is happening" stage. my ammonia on my 20 gallon is holding at a nice steady .5 with 0 Nitirites. I am doing daily water changes on the tanks. When I had started this all out at the beginning I was told to test my tap water for ammonia. my tap PH was 7.4 and ammonia .5. I just retested from water sitting overnight (again) and the ammonia is testing between .5 -.7 from the tap. I know that once my BB get established the ammonia will read 0. when the tank was first starting I was getting a 0 reading for ammonia but now it is consitently at .5.

so here is my question. if I test the tank and it is at .5 do I need to do a water change? the water I am putting in is already at .5 so there is no benefit from doing a PWC right? my thoughts are now that I only need to do a PWC if my ammonia is over .5. does this make good logic sense?

I know later I will be doing PWC to get the nitrAtes down, but right now I am not even bothering to look at those and just focusing on the ammonia and nitrites as the nitrates will not show up until those start to cycle. am I missing something here or does my logic make sense.

thanks so much for all of your help!

 

[jlk]

I would say it depends on what water conditioner you are using. Hopefully, its Prime (or similar that helps detox amm/nitrite) dosed to the size of your tanks. If its not, i would switch to something that does help bind amm/nitrite. That said, these products only work for @24-36hrs. I have read that they may last as long as 48hrs but i would err on the side of caution. So, if your tank is reading .5 (as your tap water does), i would still change the water daily to make sure there is adequate conditioner working to bind ammonia/nitrite while your tank cycles. This will keep your fish safe & still allow the amm/nitrite to be available for your bacteria to utilize. Good question, by the way!

 

[HeatherW]

I would say it depends on what water conditioner you are using. Hopefully, its Prime (or similar that helps detox amm/nitrite) dosed to the size of your tanks. If its not, i would switch to something that does help bind amm/nitrite. That said, these products only work for @24-36hrs. I have read that they may last as long as 48hrs but i would err on the side of caution. So, if your tank is reading .5 (as your tap water does), i would still change the water daily to make sure there is adequate conditioner working to bind ammonia/nitrite while your tank cycles. This will keep your fish safe & still allow the amm/nitrite to be available for your bacteria to utilize. Good question, by the way!

right now I am using API Stress Coat. I have an order in for Prime but thought I would use up what I have first. It doesn't say anything about neutralizing ammonia or nitrites. that being said, do you still think I need to be doing daily PWCs?

 

[jlk]

right now I am using API Stress Coat. I have an order in for Prime but thought I would use up what I have first. It doesn't say anything about neutralizing ammonia or nitrites. that being said, do you still think I need to be doing daily PWCs?

I dont have personal experience with API stress coat but their website says it helps reduce ammonia levels (nitrite is not mentioned). So, it functions in a manner similar to prime/other ammonia detox products by binding free ammonia & converting it to ammonium. I would imagine the length of time its actively working for is in a similar range as well. At the very least, i would be doing water changes every other day with every day day being prefered. You may want to consider switching to Prime right now & finishing using the API product once your tank is fully cycled but this is just a suggestion. If you start seeing detectable nitrites while using the API product, you will really need to stay on top of your water changes as well. Hope this helps & dont hesitate to ask questions!