Sooze
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
I am new to this and after losing 2 fish in less than a month, I researched fishless cycling.
I only have a small tank, it is 3.7 gallons which is 14 litres. Anyway apparently I lost the 2 fish to new tank syndrome and was told that nitrites and nitrate were off the charts. We cleaned the tank out except the filter which we rinsed in old tank water. After setting it up we left it running with nothing but the water conditioner in and tested the waters to which the 3 all showed zero.
So today I added a pipette of pure ammonia and when testing it showed 2ppm, having read that it needed to be at least 4ppm I added another pipette. Testing showed it at 5ppm, I then used a test strip which I was shocked to see nitrites and nitrates showing but knowing that test strips are not accurate I did the liquid tests. Nitrites are showing at just below 5,0 mg/l and Nitrates are reading 50 mg/l using the columbo aqua test.
So I have to say I am really confused! Everything was zero before I added the ammonia and after all the research I have been doing I did not expect nitrites this early and certainly not nitrates. Any help would be appreciated, thanks in advance.
I only have a small tank, it is 3.7 gallons which is 14 litres. Anyway apparently I lost the 2 fish to new tank syndrome and was told that nitrites and nitrate were off the charts. We cleaned the tank out except the filter which we rinsed in old tank water. After setting it up we left it running with nothing but the water conditioner in and tested the waters to which the 3 all showed zero.
So today I added a pipette of pure ammonia and when testing it showed 2ppm, having read that it needed to be at least 4ppm I added another pipette. Testing showed it at 5ppm, I then used a test strip which I was shocked to see nitrites and nitrates showing but knowing that test strips are not accurate I did the liquid tests. Nitrites are showing at just below 5,0 mg/l and Nitrates are reading 50 mg/l using the columbo aqua test.
So I have to say I am really confused! Everything was zero before I added the ammonia and after all the research I have been doing I did not expect nitrites this early and certainly not nitrates. Any help would be appreciated, thanks in advance.