Cycling Question
- Thread starter Beacious
- Start date
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Devilishturtles
Aquarium Advice Addict
hmm...how about nitrates? And when you say water changes, does that mean gravel too, or just water? And did you add fish in there yet?
jsoong
Aquarium Advice Addict
Patience, patience .... The nitrite eating bacteria takes much longer to grow than the ammonia eating ones. You can expect the nitrite peaks to last twice as long as the ammonia peak. In my case the nitrite phase lasted about 4 weeks (hope yours will be faster 
).
You can leave things as is if the NO2 is only 2. It will crash to zero, just like the NH3 did ... just have to wait a little bit longer
BTW, you'll be needing that nitrate kit soon.
).You can leave things as is if the NO2 is only 2. It will crash to zero, just like the NH3 did ... just have to wait a little bit longer
BTW, you'll be needing that nitrate kit soon.
Devilishturtles
Aquarium Advice Addict
Why do you want to destroy your cycle when you have come this far? Just be patient beacious and soon you'll be able to put anything you want in there! That is unless you want to start over completley and cycle with fish, which I guess would be your choice, but IMHO, just wait dude!
And get that nitrate kit ASAP! Once you can measure the amount of those, you'll know how far along you are coming. BTW, how long have the nitrites been at 2.0? If I remember correctly the've been that way for about a week or more right? They should be coming down soon if that is the case, just wait! Trust me!
And get that nitrate kit ASAP! Once you can measure the amount of those, you'll know how far along you are coming. BTW, how long have the nitrites been at 2.0? If I remember correctly the've been that way for about a week or more right? They should be coming down soon if that is the case, just wait! Trust me!
deli_conker
Aquarium Advice Addict
Changing out all of the water would be a serious step backwards. I know what it's like to want to get fish in a tank. But if you can't rush it. You need to wait until you see...Beacious said:
0 ammonia
0 nitrItes
>5 nitrAtes
...then you can add fish. If not, you may end up seeing dead fish (which will probably cause an ammonia spike, potentially harming the other fish).
You're almost there. Don't quit at the finish line...
marknmelissa
Aquarium Advice Activist
Good things come to those who wait! Congratulations.
Fish soon!
-mark
Fish soon!
-mark
Devilishturtles
Aquarium Advice Addict
Right on Beacious, That's Awesome!!!! 
So now that the tank is cycled, what fish are you planning to put in there?
So now that the tank is cycled, what fish are you planning to put in there?
jsoong
Aquarium Advice Addict
YEAH! Doesn't it feels great when your tank finishes cycling! Now you can sit back & enjoy the fishies instead of staring at an empty tank.
jsoong
Aquarium Advice Addict
Just before you add the fish, get rid of your shrimp (or what remains of it) and do a 50% water change (to get rid of DOC, replenish your buffer, etc). That should start things out right.
BTW, you need to continue monitoring the water once you added fish, in case there is a mini-spike or something that requires attention.
BTW, you need to continue monitoring the water once you added fish, in case there is a mini-spike or something that requires attention.
deli_conker
Aquarium Advice Addict
I ran a small tank for about 6 months with no fish in it. It had substrate, gravel, terrain, etc.; but no fish. I did it mainly for the noise that it made. Plus it was pretty funny to see people spend several minutes looking for the "invisible" fish that I had...
deli_conker
Aquarium Advice Addict
Dissolved Organic Compounds are basically what it sounds like; food and stuff (that's organic) that dissolve into the water (usually by a form of erosion or other method of decomposition).
jsoong
Aquarium Advice Addict
Sorry Becious, too technical. Buffers are weak acids (actually the conjugated base of the weak acids) that help in preventing pH changes.
In an aquarium without added chemicals (like pH down & whatnot), the main buffer is bicarbonate (HCO3-). This is what is measured when you do a KH test. Fish waste (and the conversion of ammonia to nitrates istself) all produce acids. The acids react with the HCO3-, forming CO2. Since the acids are being used up, the pH dosen't change. This is what is meant by buffering.
However, there is only so much HCO3- in the water, and eventually, it will get used up. The acids then will accumulate, and all of a sudden your pH drops. This is what is called a pH crash ... very bad for fish.
To prevent that, you need to do regular water change. You get rid of some of the "used" water, and replace it with fresh water (with a new supply of HCO3-) and new buffering capacity.
DOC's are just short hand for all the breakdown products that we don't see. In addition to ammonia, which we measure, other stuff is produced when things rot. Again it is not good for the fish to have too much of that around. So you do water change to get rid of them. This is another reason that even in tanks with 0 ammonia & nitrites, it is wise to do regular water changes, to get rid of the stuff we can't see or measure.
After a fishless cycling, wiht the high levels of NH3 & othe organic decomposition, there is likely an accumulation of DOC's and the buffers are prob. used up, thus the advice to do a water change before adding fish.
In an aquarium without added chemicals (like pH down & whatnot), the main buffer is bicarbonate (HCO3-). This is what is measured when you do a KH test. Fish waste (and the conversion of ammonia to nitrates istself) all produce acids. The acids react with the HCO3-, forming CO2. Since the acids are being used up, the pH dosen't change. This is what is meant by buffering.
However, there is only so much HCO3- in the water, and eventually, it will get used up. The acids then will accumulate, and all of a sudden your pH drops. This is what is called a pH crash ... very bad for fish.
To prevent that, you need to do regular water change. You get rid of some of the "used" water, and replace it with fresh water (with a new supply of HCO3-) and new buffering capacity.
DOC's are just short hand for all the breakdown products that we don't see. In addition to ammonia, which we measure, other stuff is produced when things rot. Again it is not good for the fish to have too much of that around. So you do water change to get rid of them. This is another reason that even in tanks with 0 ammonia & nitrites, it is wise to do regular water changes, to get rid of the stuff we can't see or measure.
After a fishless cycling, wiht the high levels of NH3 & othe organic decomposition, there is likely an accumulation of DOC's and the buffers are prob. used up, thus the advice to do a water change before adding fish.
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