When does it start to get relaxing??

[Chrostonchap]

Hi All

I always wanted tropical fish as my Dad had a tank when I was little, now I am nearly 40 I own at 110 litre tank which seems to be taking forever to cycle (8 weeks so far). I have 7 XRay tetra's and I have been reading advice & books on what to do. The ammonia levels have bounced up to 2ppm but are usually between 0.5 and 1. I do a weekly water change where I use tapsafe to clear the water., I put new filters in the pump as I got it second hand, these are building up the bacteria I also add Stress Zyme weekly. Water PH is 6.4, NO2 is 1 and NO3 is about 10. Fish are happy & active but I am unsure to add more until the ammonia level is down to 0ppm.
I made a mistake last week where I panicked and bought ammonia removed as the levels went to 4ppm. The fish didn't seem to bother but I have read I may have broken the whole cycling process by doing that.

There is a small movie of my tank here. MobileMe Gallery

I am really open to any advice you can pass on.

Thanks

 

[melosu58]

Welcome to AA

 

[jenatron]

You need to be doing more frequent PWCs. While cycling with fish you need to be testing daily and changing water accordingly. You should be aiming for < 0.25 ppm of NitrIte and Ammonia. NitrAtes look good, make sure you keep them under 20 ppm.
And definitely wait until you are seeing consistent readings of 0 ammonia and nitrIte, and < 20 ppm of nitrAte before getting any more fish.

 

[mgamer20o0]

Welcome to AA.