A quick question about my fishless cycle

[LittleCory]

It's day four in the fishless cycle of my 10 gallon and I already have readings of 0.25ppm Nitrite and 5.0ppm Nitrate even though my ammonia reading hasn't dropped from 4.0ppm for two days. Is this normal? I have a bit of Java fern in my tank, and I did manage to get a plastic plant from an established tank to put in the new one. Could the plant have already helped to speed things up? Or should I just assume that's my base reading for Nitrite and Nitrate?

Here's my tank, btw

 

[ScotJudd]

Did you water check your water source, probably tap water, to make sure that you're not starting out with nitrites and nitrates. Not always the case, but worth checking.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[LittleCory]

Good point. I'll check it out as soon as I get home. What should I do if it's just from my water source? It shouldn't change anything, right?


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[LittleCory]

I've just tested the water straight from my source(tub faucet) and its reading Ammonia 1.0ppm, Nitrite 0ppm, and Nitrate 5.0ppm. I retested my tank water and got the same readings as before(4.0ppm Ammonia and 0.25ppm Nitrite). So, this does confirm that I'm starting to see a small Nitrite increase even though my ammonia reading isn't dropping. Should I just leave it alone for a few days and see what happens?



Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[ScotJudd]

This is very early days for a fish less cycle. I would continue to keep ammonia at 4ppm and monitor nitrites and nitrates. Use WCs to reduce nitrite and nitrate readings to mid scale ie a readable value then up the ammonia back to 4ppm if required. This can be a long job and you need patients, but the rewards are worth it with healthy fish from day one.
It's a bit tricky having nitrates in your tub water. WCs are used primarily to dilute nitrates and diluting with water already containing 5ppm nitrates could be more difficult than using 'clean' water.
Having an ammonia starting point of 1ppm when 0.25 is the highest ammonia concentrations should reach could also be a problem.
Is there any other water source that you can use once you start introducing stock. If not then your stocking levels might have to be on the conservative side.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[LittleCory]

I'm pretty sure that all of the water in my place is going to be the same since it's coming from the same pipes but I'll see if any of the sinks have a more favorable reading. I may need to change my stocking plan then. I was already going to be pushing it according to aqadvisor. I was hoping for 4 Julii Cory, 6 neon tetra, and a dwarf gourami.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[LittleCory]

I've double checked and all of my source water has an ammonia reading of 1.0ppm. Where do I go from here? ): Do I just hope that the bacteria in my tank will be able to combat it once it's fully cycled?


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[Mebbid]

You will have to do smaller more frequent water changes of no more then 25% or so to keep ammonia at safe levels.

 

[LittleCory]

Gotcha. I can do that. I guess all there is to do now is sit back and wait. Lol, it's so hard being patient.

 

[ScotJudd]

As Mebbid says a above, if you have ammonia in your water source them WCs have to be little and often. 25% sounds about right.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice