Strange readings in new tank

[NASCAR_Dave]

Howdy folks, I finally got up and running and now I have - you got it - another question . I put 8 Danios and 5 Tiger Barbs in my tank to get the process started, and I immediately started testing (actually even before I put the fish in) to keep track of the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels. Strangely, my ammonia never got over about .5-.75, and my nitrites were almost always nonexistent. I am now measuring about 2 [acronym:60e9d2afca="Parts per Million"]ppm[/acronym:60e9d2afca] on the nitrate scale, and the ammonia and nitrites are at 0. I even bought a second test kit at PetsMart just to make sure I wasn't using the test wrong or that something was wrong with the first kit. Does this make any sense, or am I doing something wrong? I do have about 15 stalks of anachris in 5 bunches of 3 each, and my tank is a 135g, so I don't think the plants should have too much effect on the levels.

[ferret]

On the contrary, that many stalks of anachris can actually do exactly what you're describing. I believe its in Rex Grigg's faq, but he mentioned cycling a tank by using multiple stalks of fast growing stem plants, which will eat up the ammonia and such. This on top of the fact that, even with a fairly hefty amount of fish for cycling, it takes a while to build up ammonia in such a large tank.

I'd say things sound fairly good.

[malkore]

13 small fish in a 135gallon tank isn't squat. I'd test your tap water for nitrates and see if it doesn't come with some. the bacteria that converts ammonia to nitrite shows up pretty quickly...however the nitrite to nitrate bacteria take longer to colonize...this is why in a cycle you see ammonia spike, then fall to 0 followed by a nitrite spike that doesn't seem to end, until one day it's suddenly at 0ppm. at that point you test nitrates and usually see 10 or more [acronym:80a0b1a5c4="Parts per Million"]ppm[/acronym:80a0b1a5c4] (all this assuming you're not doing water changes during the fishless cycle)

Also, nessler type test kits for ammonia aren't very good at reading any ammonia under 1.0ppm, so you could have some ammonia still lurking in there

[NASCAR_Dave]

I did as suggested, and measured just about everything I could from both the tap and the tank. I have measurable nitrates from the tap, but they are in the <1.0 [acronym:ecaf893372="Parts per Million"]ppm[/acronym:ecaf893372] range, but the reading from the tank was around 10ppm. My pH is around 8.8 as best I can tell, and my ammonia and nitrites were 0 from the tap as well as from the tank.

Does the pH sound too high? I thought it should be around 8.5 or so, but I have five or six holey rocks and my substrate is CaribSea crushed coral.

I am going to do a water change this weekend and monitor things, but the readings suggest that perhaps the tank is cycled...I know this is likely wishful thinking, but I don't know how else to explain the readings.

[ferret]

The tank appears cycled for the number of fish. The [acronym:79ed859320="power head or Measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions, depending on context"]ph[/acronym:79ed859320] is a little on the high side but will probably drop some in the next few weeks, especially with water changes. You have a lot of buffering materials though.

The tank is perfectly capable of having another batch of fish added.

[NASCAR_Dave]

Cool, thanks again, ferret, I appreciate your help as always. I am wanting to get my peacock cichlids now but first I am going to add a little more crushed coral to fill in a couple of low spots, rearrange my holey rocks and also rearrange some of my plants. I have a new Emperor 400 that should be delivered today or tomorrow, and my canopy should be assembled by the end of the weekend (I hope). My lights should be here today or tomorrow so when all of that is said and done I will begin adding cichlids. In the interim I will do some water changes.

What do you think I should do with the barbs and danios in the tank? If I put cichlids in won't they attack/eat these fish?

[ferret]

Go buy a 20 long :P

[NASCAR_Dave]

I think my wife might actually reach for .40 if I were to do that . My brother just bought a new 55 (NASCARPaul) so maybe I'll just give them to him.