Fish in cycle question
- Thread starter jackwagon
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Mumma.of.two
Aquarium Advice Obsessed
Looks like its progressing nicely. The nitrIte is very high though. High nitrite won't effect the cycle but since it's a fish in cycle you need to do some water changes to bring it back down to a safer level of 0.25-0.5ppm.
BBradbury
Aquarium Advice Addict
- Joined
- May 24, 2011
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Fish In Cycling
Hello jack...
You can be the best judge. Just monitor the water, by testing it daily. If your test shows a trace of ammonia or nitrites, then you need to remove 25 to 30 percent of the tank water and replace it with pure, treated tap water.
Test every day and when several tests read zero for ammonia and nitrites, then you need to add a few more hardy fish. Just keep testing daily and removing the water when you have positive tests for the above pollutants.
Keep testing and changing the water and adding fish until the tank is fully stocked.
It's really that simple.
B
Hello jack...
You can be the best judge. Just monitor the water, by testing it daily. If your test shows a trace of ammonia or nitrites, then you need to remove 25 to 30 percent of the tank water and replace it with pure, treated tap water.
Test every day and when several tests read zero for ammonia and nitrites, then you need to add a few more hardy fish. Just keep testing daily and removing the water when you have positive tests for the above pollutants.
Keep testing and changing the water and adding fish until the tank is fully stocked.
It's really that simple.
B
jetajockey
come get me tang police!
In addition to that I'd add a few spoonfuls of salt to reduce nitrite toxicity.
Mumma.of.two
Aquarium Advice Obsessed
It will take more than one water change to get the nitrite low enough.
It's hard to say, the nitrite phase it usually a bit longer than ammonia so your roughly half way.
It's hard to say, the nitrite phase it usually a bit longer than ammonia so your roughly half way.
BBradbury
Aquarium Advice Addict
- Joined
- May 24, 2011
- Messages
- 5,011
Fish in Cycling
Hello jack...
You need to test the tank water every day. When a test shows even a trace of
ammonia or nitrites, change out 25 to 30 percent of the tank water and replace it with pure, treated tap water.
When several tests, say four or five show no trace of the above pollutants, you can safely add a few more hardy fish, say another four or five smaller ones like Zebra Danios, Platys or Guppies if you prefer "Livebearers". When you add fish, you need to continue to test the tank water daily and remove and replace the specified amount of water.
Keep doing these steps until the tank is fully stocked.
Keep pluggin',
B
Hello jack...
You need to test the tank water every day. When a test shows even a trace of
ammonia or nitrites, change out 25 to 30 percent of the tank water and replace it with pure, treated tap water.
When several tests, say four or five show no trace of the above pollutants, you can safely add a few more hardy fish, say another four or five smaller ones like Zebra Danios, Platys or Guppies if you prefer "Livebearers". When you add fish, you need to continue to test the tank water daily and remove and replace the specified amount of water.
Keep doing these steps until the tank is fully stocked.
Keep pluggin',
B
Mumma.of.two
Aquarium Advice Obsessed
Looks like the nitrites still too high. You're going to have to change more than 25% of the water to bring it down. One 50% change will bring it down to 1ppm. A second will bring it down to .5ppm and a third .25ppm which is what you should aim for everyday. If nitrite jumps that high in 24 hours you'll need to do water changes morning and night to keep it under control.
I'm not trying to argue but just tell me why I need to do water changes if the bacteria I want feed on the nitrites. More nitrates mean more bacteria that can develop and then I will be able to process more nitrites? Why isn't this the case?
jetajockey
come get me tang police!
Because you have fish in there and nitrite is very toxic to fish. Keeping a small level of salt in the tank will help alleviate nitrite toxicity but it's not something I'd depend on.
jetajockey
come get me tang police!
I have never measured it, so I don't have exact numbers. Based on the journals I've read on the subject, they don't really give an exact amount either, but the amount is minute, far less than you'd put in for Ich treatment.
Here's a snippet from a good writeup on the subject from Salt | The Skeptical Aquarist (there's a lot of other great info about salt on that link as well, so it's a great read if you have time)
Here's a snippet from a good writeup on the subject from Salt | The Skeptical Aquarist (there's a lot of other great info about salt on that link as well, so it's a great read if you have time)
khartig
Aquarium Advice Regular
What type of test kit are you using? If it's one of the stick types, I would recommend ditching those and picking up an API Master Freshwater Kit. The sticks can be fairly inaccurate.
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