During an in-fish cycle, how many weekly water changes would you do?

[Jed Fish]

My 70L tank with 6 neons has been cycling almost a month, these past few days its been a bit cloudy, which I am assuming is a bacterial bloom, which should be a good thing haha I started off doing a 25% water change every second day for 2 weeks, then, on the third week I just done 1 water change, and the have just done another this week. My ammonia levels are 0.25ppm, nitrite is 0ppm and nitrate is 5.0ppm. Should I just stick with one weekly?

Also, once the cycle is finished, I heard that you should do one big water change, is this right? If so, how many liters out of my 70L would I change?

thanks!

 

[tangs27]

The amount and frequency of water changes depends on your levels. A wc should be done anytime the ammonia level is above .25 some people have to do them once a day while others can do it every few days.

The large wc at the end of the cycle is done to reduce nitrates. If your cycle completes and you have 40+ nitrates you will want to do at least 50% to reduce them, more or multiples if significantly higher.

 

[Caliban07]

My 70L tank with 6 neons has been cycling almost a month, these past few days its been a bit cloudy, which I am assuming is a bacterial bloom, which should be a good thing haha I started off doing a 25% water change every second day for 2 weeks, then, on the third week I just done 1 water change, and the have just done another this week. My ammonia levels are 0.25ppm, nitrite is 0ppm and nitrate is 5.0ppm. Should I just stick with one weekly?



Also, once the cycle is finished, I heard that you should do one big water change, is this right? If so, how many liters out of my 70L would I change?



thanks!

Your nearly there. Jed fish, use this chart to see what your actual toxic ammonia is. There's a lot to explain but briefly (unless you would like a detailed explanation) there are two types of ammonia in your tank, toxic free ammonia and ammonium non toxic. Your tank waters ph and temperature dictate the amount of toxic and non toxic ratio that is in your water. Basically the higher the ph and temp the more toxic the ammonia becomes.

Your test kit is measuring the combined total of the two so is not at true reflection of toxic ammonia.

Find 0.25ppm on the chart then match with your ph and temp. If you're in the green you're good to go. You can stop doing as many water changes. Also check your tap water for ammonia in case the cycle is complete but you are adding 0.25ppm every time you change water

Good luck.

 

[Caliban07]

Ooops here is the chart

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f12/your-guide-to-ammonia-toxicity-159994.html

 

[BBradbury]

Fish In Tank Cycling

Hello Jed...

Cycling a tank with fish is pretty straight forward. Here's the skinny: You add 3 to 4 reasonably sized, hardy fish for every 10 gallons of tank volume. Rasboras, Guppies, Platys, White Clouds, Rosy Barbs, etc. All these don't mind less than pure water conditions, which is what happens to the water during the "nitrogen" cycle. You set up the tank with heater, substrate, filter and a lot of floating plants like Anacharis and Hornwort. Plants that take in dissolved fish wastes as soon as they're available.

You add the fish and wait a day or two for them to do their business in the water. It's the dissolved waste (ammonia) and oxygen that starts the cycle. You have a reliable water testing kit and test every day for traces of nitrogen, like ammonia and nitrite. When you have a positive test, you remove and replace 25 percent of the tank water with pure, treated tap water. You just test every day and remove a quarter of the water when needed. Don't remove more water, you'll delay the cycle by starving the good bacteria that must feed on the ammonia and nitrite to grow.

When several daily tests show no trace of the above toxins, the tank is cycled. Shouldn't take more than a month to complete the cycle.

B

 

[Proteus55]

I agree with the above. The last time, I used a 16 oz. bottle of Tetra Safe Start in my 55 and it was completely cycled with no losses in about a week.