Impatient with startup high ammonia no sign of a cycle

[sam180]

Oh.. And Prime is your best friend!!!!

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I can attest to that. Awesome stuff.

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[squirrilah fish]

I can attest to that. Awesome stuff.

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+1 a $20 bottle lasts me months between 4 tanks.

 

[neonpedro]

Just thought I would let all of you who helped me through this difficult experience know that today I tested and the results were
Ammonia <0.25ppm
Nitrites 0
Nitrates between 5.0 and 10ppm

From what I can gather that is a cycle?

 

[Titaniumtim]

Hells yah bro, you did it!!!! Gratz. Not that you won't, i'm sure, but I'd monitor it for a couple days just to make sure. And as i just found out because im overstocked,(just like you) keep an eye on nitrates..... mine were at 160ish last night and ammo and nitrites were zero. I only checked cause my Golden Gourami was taking way too many puffs at the surface!! But good on you for sticking it out. How many neons are you currently at?

 

[neonpedro]

18 neons
1 ruby red fighter
4 amano shrimps

Is my entire stock. I lost 1 neon recently but that was murder on my part. Death by syphoning. But they look happy the fighter is dominating and the shrimps are cleaning. And pooing a lot but it's easily hoovered up during a 25% change. My seachem is en route also

 

[Caliban07]

18 neons
1 ruby red fighter
4 amano shrimps

Is my entire stock. I lost 1 neon recently but that was murder on my part. Death by syphoning. But they look happy the fighter is dominating and the shrimps are cleaning. And pooing a lot but it's easily hoovered up during a 25% change. My seachem is en route also

Congrats on your cycle thanks for your kind words titanium i unsubscribed from this thread so didnt see your reply. Glad you learnt something. We are all still learning in this hobby everyday. Even the most experienced keepers.

Pedro, be sure to keep checking your ph at different intervals. Particularly at the end of the week just before your water change. From what I can tell from your source water you will need to be fairly vigilant with your water changes in order to replenish kh.

You can buy a small bag of crushed coral from your LFS that will buffer the water for you. Just use a cup full in your filter. Dont worry about a ph swing as the change will be gradual but you will need to change out the coral once it has dissolved.

Good luck

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[squirrilah fish]

The "hard" part is over. However, you do need to keep Nitrates under control now. Most test kits say under 40ppm is considered safe, but I try to keep mine under 20. High Nitrates can lead to disease, algae growth, and other health issues.

There is also a thing called secondary cycling, or back cycling. This is a mini cycle that new tanks sometimes go through after about 3-5 months where you will get small ammonia, and nitrite spikes. These can kill your fish. So keep an eye out for them. I would continue to test everyday, and be aware how much water you need to change per week to keep nitrites down.
For example I know that my tanks nitrates rise about .5-1ppm per day depending on how much I feed.

I'm glad it worked out, and frankly very impressed that you didn't lose more fish! Congratulations.