Mini cycle

[Davon]

I changed the substrate in my tank from gravel to sand over the weekend. I realized I may cause a mini cycle doing it and I have. This morning I had nitrites at 0.25 and ammonia at 0.25. So I did a 25% water change and dosed the tank with Prime. Now today after work I'm at roughly 0.5 nitrites and 0.25 ammonia. I did a fishless cycle so cycling, even a mini one, with fish is VERY new to me. Any help would be great. I really don't want to lose any fish.

Do I change the water at a certain point? Is a 25% change enough? Should I be dosing my tank with Prime regularly until this is over?

 

[TMaier]

You could change as much as 50% and use Prime.

 

[Davon]

Should I dose with Prime daily until this is over?

 

[TMaier]

I have never tried adding Prime unless I was also doing a water change. Perhaps someone else will chime in. I recall that it binds the harmful stuff but only for a certain amount of time. So a water change is always good.

 

[Davon]

Thank you for your help. Doing a 50% water change now. I always get great advice here and my tank is turning into something beautiful because of it.

 

[TMaier]

Your welcome. I have been a member for a year now and I am very grateful to everyone who has helped me and put up with me. Lol.

I have 5 tanks now, this is my main one 29g. It's contagious.

 

[Davon]

That is beautiful. This is my tank. I just started with plants but I had to change my substrate first so I could get the fish and plants I wanted. Now I can get swords and crypts.

 

[TMaier]

Very pretty. Live plants are satisfying to grow just like fish. I love my crypts. I had an Amazon sword and it always looked poorly so it was fed to the snails.

 

[Davon]

lol I have a few java ferns and a few anubias. I do nothing in terms of fertilization and stuff and they seem to be thriving [emoji16] Best kind of plants.....ones that thrive on neglect.

I like the black sand so much better. Much better than the large brown rocks I had.

 

[TMaier]

I love the Java ferns and Anubias. You know what else is easy but slow and beautiful is bucephalandra. Lots of sizes and colors too.

 

[Davon]

Low light?

I need to find a place to buy plants. I thought about trying the classifieds on here and another forum I'm on. It's hard to get plants locally and online the shipping is so high

 

[TMaier]

Most of my better plant purchases were on our classifieds. Shipping is a pain but I also have local fish stores with very limited options. I needed MORE and got some great stuff.