Day 6 Of Cycling Water Results

[katgrl]

Hi everyone

I'm on day 6 of cycling on my 29 gallon aquarium.. Started process with tetra Safe Start and 5 buenos Aires tetras, temp at 79.. Have piece of Driftwood from one of LFS tanks..have fed fish every day flakes and some days frozen brine shrimp.. I've been testing water every day and I'm not sure if these test results seem normal.. My ammonia for example seems to be 0.. Maybe .25, nitrite and nitrates definitely look 0 and ph is reading 7.4.. Please see attached pics and please let me know if this seems normal.. Am I cycling normally? Thank you in advance

 

[katgrl]

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[katgrl]

Sorry another few questions.. Would you suggest I get an air stone? Also I've noticed a lot of people recommending seachem prime so I wanted to get ( I currently have Aqueon prime) and also wanted to get some sort of plant food for my 1 plant.. Does this seem ok?




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[OwduaNM]

Congrats on the new tank! It looks to me like you have some nitrites. Based on your results I think your tank hasn't had enough ammonia to really get started cycling.

Were you able to get any kind of seeding media, I.e. a wet/used filter pad or some gravel from an established tank?

I would recommend to test daily. If nitrites goes any higher do a water change immediately. If ammonia spikes, also do a water change. If nitrates are climbing that's ok until it gets above 40 or 60 ppm.

As for getting an air stone, you only need that if there's no other way for your tank go oxygenate. What kind of filter are you using? If it's an overhang on that pours water into the top of the tank you are fine.


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[Caliban07]

Hi everyone



I'm on day 6 of cycling on my 29 gallon aquarium.. Started process with tetra Safe Start and 5 buenos Aires tetras, temp at 79.. Have piece of Driftwood from one of LFS tanks..have fed fish every day flakes and some days frozen brine shrimp.. I've been testing water every day and I'm not sure if these test results seem normal.. My ammonia for example seems to be 0.. Maybe .25, nitrite and nitrates definitely look 0 and ph is reading 7.4.. Please see attached pics and please let me know if this seems normal.. Am I cycling normally? Thank you in advance

Hi. You are right at the beginning of your cycle and so you have quite a while to go. The API test kit has a low ph bottle too. If you are at the lower end on the ph high test (which you are) then you need to test the ph with the other bottle because you might be lower still.

Seachem prime and water changes will keep the fish safe as the ammonia starts to rise. Ammonia will still show on the chart with prime but it will be in a non toxic state whilst using it.

Flourish excel is a source of liquid carbon. You may not need an additional carbon supplement although I would recommend purchasing it. Seachem flourish will give the plants some 'food' too and together with the waste from the fish you should have enough nutrients for one plant.

That looks like a fluval filter? I would buy the spraybar attachment and mount it on the back wall pointing slightly upwards. This should provide enough oxygen. Although your current 'splash' effect will do the same job, the water movement is not as effective as it could be.

Hope this helps.


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[plantnoob]

Either you're just starting to cycle or you're done cycling. My entire cycle lasted just a few days after seeding from an established tank. But that was when I was increasing ammonia to over 4 ppm. If you got both kinds of beneficial bacteria with your driftwood from the established tank and your 6 tetras are producing just enough ammonia for the bacteria to handle, you might be in good shape as long as you don't add too many fishes at one time.


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[plantnoob]

But definitely monitor the tank for a week or two before you buy anything.


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[katgrl]

Congrats on the new tank! It looks to me like you have some nitrites. Based on your results I think your tank hasn't had enough ammonia to really get started cycling.

Were you able to get any kind of seeding media, I.e. a wet/used filter pad or some gravel from an established tank?

I would recommend to test daily. If nitrites goes any higher do a water change immediately. If ammonia spikes, also do a water change. If nitrates are climbing that's ok until it gets above 40 or 60 ppm.

As for getting an air stone, you only need that if there's no other way for your tank go oxygenate. What kind of filter are you using? If it's an overhang on that pours water into the top of the tank you are fine.


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Hi ? Thank you so much for feedback.. I did add a piece of driftwood from local petstore's tank.. So I'm hoping that is adding beneficial bacteria and helping out ? I have the Flyval 206 and it hangs on top and creates bubbles.. I keep looking at the test samples and don't seem to see any nitrite or nitrate readings.. I'll post again the sample from tonight.. Would you suggest I add another bottle of tetra safe start?


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[katgrl]

Either you're just starting to cycle or you're done cycling. My entire cycle lasted just a few days after seeding from an established tank. But that was when I was increasing ammonia to over 4 ppm. If you got both kinds of beneficial bacteria with your driftwood from the established tank and your 6 tetras are producing just enough ammonia for the bacteria to handle, you might be in good shape as long as you don't add too many fishes at one time.


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Hi? Thank you for feedback.. Since I've started cycling.. I haven't really read any readings for ammonia or anything else.. I've fed fish every day And do have that piece of driftwood from lfs tank in there and 1 live plant .. I haven't changed or added any water since this process started and the fish seem happy enough swimming around mostly together although there is this one guy that looks a little different and sometimes breaks apart from group.. I'm wondering if maybe I should add extra bottle of tetra safestart or just keep monitoring for now.. Thank you again for feedback


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[plantnoob]

I'd be afraid of what gets introduced in the tank through that bottled stuff. Fish break away from the group all the time. That's no reason to suspect that something is wrong. If you see ammonia and nitrite rise, that'll be your cue to act - water changes, prime etc. otherwise nothing you can do about fish behavior or even death. Sometimes, the shock of moving from the store to a new environment will kill them, even if you did everything right.


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[katgrl]

I'd be afraid of what gets introduced in the tank through that bottled stuff. Fish break away from the group all the time. That's no reason to suspect that something is wrong. If you see ammonia and nitrite rise, that'll be your cue to act - water changes, prime etc. otherwise nothing you can do about fish behavior or even death. Sometimes, the shock of moving from the store to a new environment will kill them, even if you did everything right.

Thank you again for advice.. I'll keep an eye on water levels and keep testing.. Just found it weird that it seems like 0 ammonia or maybe I'm misreading it and it's .25.. Also thinking maybe in supposed to have 6 tetras instead of 5.. Didn't know if they preferred to be in groups of 6... Thank you again


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[plantnoob]

Well for schooling fish, the larger the school the better. They find strength in numbers and are generally less stressed and healthy. Even in small tanks, a larger school of few varieties is better than minimum school sizes of more varieties. 5-6 is the minimum. 10-12 is better.


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[plantnoob]

Updates?


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[katgrl]

I'd be afraid of what gets introduced in the tank through that bottled stuff. Fish break away from the group all the time. That's no reason to suspect that something is wrong. If you see ammonia and nitrite rise, that'll be your cue to act - water changes, prime etc. otherwise nothing you can do about fish behavior or even death. Sometimes, the shock of moving from the store to a new environment will kill them, even if you did everything right.


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Hi- thank you for checking in...actually things have changed..

I performed a 50% water change yesterday and used Seachem prime and seachem Flourish Excel. My ammonia readings yesterday were really high but nitrates and nitrites were still reading at 0. I don't understand why it didn't start to cycle and don't understand how to continue the cycling process at this point. Do I add another bottle of tetra safe start? I'm going to attach the pictures of the readings from yesterday, right before the 50% water change. The ammonia has been slowly climbing and after yesterday's testing, I decided to change the water immediately. As stated above, I did add Seachem Prime and flourish. (I"m not sure if its ever possible to add "too much") According to the instructions, 1 capful is good for 50 gallons. I used a 5 gallon bucket and would fill it half way with water and mix in 1-2 capfuls of sachem prime. Please see attached pictures.

 

[katgrl]

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[Caliban07]

Nitrites should start to rise in the next few days. Keep using prime and changing water.


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[katgrl]

Today I just checked the levels, please see attached pics.. I do see Ammonia went down but still reading at .25 to .50 and nitrate and nitrite still at 0 ?










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[katgrl]

Nitrites should start to rise in the next few days. Keep using prime and changing water.


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Thanks for input.. I was worried since I used tetra safestart and still hadn't reached the recommended 2 week waiting period.. How much water should I change today or should I wait until tomorrow?


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[Caliban07]

Look up one. We posted exactly the same time.


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[plantnoob]

Wow that is really high ammonia! It looks like the Cycling process is now underway, you should see nitrites soon. I would keep up with the water changes and use prime as needed. Although I am not sure why you are dosing Excel. Unless you are growing live plants you do not need Excel.


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