We are starting up a new 75 gallon tank.
On Sunday we filled it with conditioned water, but a little bio boost in and moved a filter cartridge from an established 20 gallon tank into the HOB filter of the 75 (along with 2 new filter cartridges for the 75 filter)
On Monday we introduced 9 Danios to the tank. (We intend to have a nice sized school of Danios when all is said and done, so I'm just using them as throw-away cycling fish)
I've been carefully monitoring the water conditions (daily ammonia tests), as of this morning: ammonia <0.25 (this is an API test, so I understand it almost never reads 0, and it has been reading .25 even before the fish were introduced), nitrites 0, nitrates 0.
I KNOW this comes up a lot and I KNOW I am probably being impatient, but I sure thought I would start to see some ammonia by now.
so I guess I am asking 1- do I just need to sit down and shut up and be patient? and 2 - should I perform any water changes before I start seeing any ammonia? I understand nitrites need ammonia and nitrates need nitrites, so if I change the water out before ammonia starts building, will that inhibit any nitrites?
Thanks in advance.
On Sunday we filled it with conditioned water, but a little bio boost in and moved a filter cartridge from an established 20 gallon tank into the HOB filter of the 75 (along with 2 new filter cartridges for the 75 filter)
On Monday we introduced 9 Danios to the tank. (We intend to have a nice sized school of Danios when all is said and done, so I'm just using them as throw-away cycling fish)
I've been carefully monitoring the water conditions (daily ammonia tests), as of this morning: ammonia <0.25 (this is an API test, so I understand it almost never reads 0, and it has been reading .25 even before the fish were introduced), nitrites 0, nitrates 0.
I KNOW this comes up a lot and I KNOW I am probably being impatient, but I sure thought I would start to see some ammonia by now.
so I guess I am asking 1- do I just need to sit down and shut up and be patient? and 2 - should I perform any water changes before I start seeing any ammonia? I understand nitrites need ammonia and nitrates need nitrites, so if I change the water out before ammonia starts building, will that inhibit any nitrites?
Thanks in advance.
