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abrage22

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Apr 23, 2011
Messages
260
Location
Minnesota
So being I have so many questions, I thought I better just start my own thread. I realllllly appreciate anyone who helps me out during this process...

Tank Info
Size-28 gallon bf
Lighting-Thanks to the help of Roydooms, I just got the fishneedit 2 bulbs fixture, 2 x 24watt bulbs, 10000k.
Filter- Aquaclear 50
Heater- Topfin 150w

I'm going to want a planted tank, right now i've got a single hornwort.

I'm in the cycling stage as i'm about 3 or 4 weeks into it now. I feel terrible that I didn't do my research and bought fish without knowing about the cycling process. So I have a orange and black molly who are helping with the cycle. Today api test kit gave me these results:
Ammonia- .25
Nitrite- 0
Nitrate- 0

The Ammonia has been stuck on .25 for a couple weeks now that i've been testing it.

Now my pH is in the 8.8ish area, the test kit isn't giving me a real good match.

Now, I'm using soft water from the bathtub, and I mixed it with hard water from the faucet outside. The lady at petsmart suggested this, as you need some hard water for the nutrients. But another guy at a different lfs told me that soft water is wayyy better. When I test the pH's of the two water sources, they both have a different pH, but are lower than the 8.8 in my tank... so I guess my first question is, should I just stick with the mix of the soft and hard water, or should I just stick with one or the other?
 
Fish are pretty good at adapting to different mineral contents in the water and mollies actually prefer hard water. I would just use the hard water. Having said that, you will need to make the switch gradually since your fish is used to a lower mineral content (or just keep doing what you're doing if it's not too much hassle). A fish in cycle can take a long time, be patient and it will happen.
 
I checked the pH on the two sources today, the hard water has a pH of about 8.4, and the soft water has a pH of 7.4. So wouldn't the soft water be better in the long run as I add more critters once the cycling is complete?
Also, I read that mollies do prefer some salt in their water. do you guys suggest that I add some salt, even though i'm guessing all of the other fish I get won't be brackish...??
 
Now I'm really confused... I tested my water today, my ammonia appears to be .25 like always, and still have no nitrate or nitrates. But I tested the tap water for ammonia just for the heck of it, and it turned out to match the same color as my tanks water, the .25 color. Does tap water have ammonia in it, or is the test maybe not accurate???
 
abrage22 said:
Now I'm really confused... I tested my water today, my ammonia appears to be .25 like always, and still have no nitrate or nitrates. But I tested the tap water for ammonia just for the heck of it, and it turned out to match the same color as my tanks water, the .25 color. Does tap water have ammonia in it, or is the test maybe not accurate???

Are you certain you're doing the API nitrAte test right? We've all messed it up before. Make sure you're shaking the heck out of the #2 solution for a full 30 seconds...and the entire solution for a solid minute.

If you haven't seen it...here's a fantastic article about fish-in cycling-
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...-but-i-already-have-fish-what-now-116287.html
 
Well if there's still ammonia in the tank, its not cycled...meaning there should be no nitrates. If anything, the 0 nitrites is what seems to be wrong here
 
abrage22 said:
Well if there's still ammonia in the tank, its not cycled...meaning there should be no nitrates. If anything, the 0 nitrites is what seems to be wrong here

After 4 weeks of cycling...there should be nitrAtes, as well as the possibility of low ammo or no2 readings as the nitrifying bacteria are still establishing themselves. The statement that the tank is not cycled so there should be no nitrAtes is not accurate. Deep into a cycle, you will have ammonia, nitrItes and nitrAtes all together. Only when the ammo and no2 are held at 0 with a reading of no3 is when a tank is considered fully cycled.
 
O ok. U were right, I must have not of shaken the bottle well enough because I re-tested and it is showing nitrates:).
 
And I just spotted a tiny little snail crawling around...where'd he come from?? My plant?
 
abrage22 said:
O ok. U were right, I must have not of shaken the bottle well enough because I re-tested and it is showing nitrates:).

That's what I was thinking. Are you absolutely certain ammo is .25 and not actually 0? The API kits are notorious for seeming to have a green tint even if the reading is actually 0. If you have nitrAtes, no nitrItes and the ammo is staying at 0 (or what may appear to be .25), there is a good chance you are actually cycled :)
 
I made the same mistake of fish-in cycling and after 4 weeks my tank still showed 0 no2 and 0 no3. It was as if the tank hadn't even begun cycling. I doubled the filtration and added the bacteria additive. I started showing no2 and no3 in a day or two.
 
Yea it matches the .25 perfectly. but as I said, it also does with tap water, which I'm guessing doesn't have ammonia... so you're probably right with the fact that there actually is no ammonia in the tank, I hope :p
 
abrage22 said:
Yea it matches the .25 perfectly. but as I said, it also does with tap water, which I'm guessing doesn't have ammonia... so you're probably right with the fact that there actually is no ammonia in the tank, I hope :p

How often are you doing pwc's? That'll give us a good clue as to where you are.
 
The Jam-is-on said:
I made the same mistake of fish-in cycling and after 4 weeks my tank still showed 0 no2 and 0 no3. It was as if the tank hadn't even begun cycling. I doubled the filtration and added the bacteria additive. I started showing no2 and no3 in a day or two.

O my, now I'm confused... but it appears I actually do have nitrates, so I'm hoping I'm not in that same boat
 
eco23 said:
How often are you doing pwc's? That'll give us a good clue as to where you are.

A couple weeks ago I did about a 20% pwc, haven't done one since however
 
abrage22 said:
A couple weeks ago I did about a 20% pwc, haven't done one since however

If you have ammo that low (still possibly 0, IMO), 0 nitrItes and some level of nitrAtes and have not done a pwc in that long...that certainly appears like a cycled tank IMO. Keep an eye on your parameters to ensure it...but that's where I'd put my money.
 
Awesome(y). Thank you so much for your help, i'll definetly keep my eye on the water parameters
 
Yeah, I'm still stuck in the nitrite spike and its driving me crazy. I'm doing water changes for the fishies sake so that is slowing it down.

I did get nitrites before the nitrates came in at all so I'd agree with Eco and presume that you're cycled. Lucky ;-)
 
Yeah, I'm still stuck in the nitrite spike and its driving me crazy. I'm doing water changes for the fishies sake so that is slowing it down.

I did get nitrites before the nitrates came in at all so I'd agree with Eco and presume that you're cycled. Lucky ;-)

Well good luck, hopefully your cycle is completed soon :sorry:
 
So I finally got my light fixture up this morning. The legs don't fit my tank, its the trim on the inside thats preventing the legs going down to attach. So right now it's just sitting there on top, any ideas on what to do:confused:. Also, the tank still isn't that bright, I think the water might have been a little cloudy this whole time ? ?
 
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