Ph help - new tank

[Mrs.h2012]

Ok thanks guess I messed up. what about the carbon that is inside the filter. Just don't worry about it? Wish I would have known that before I bought a 12 pack of cartridges.

It's ok, weve all been there. This is my second go around with fish, last time was about 4 years ago. Then I didnt know about cycling, and I changed
my cartridge out all the time. I made horrific overstocking mistakes, probably anything that you can do wrong in the hobby I did. This time around I'm more informed and educated. The fact that your here is a good thing. You will get a lot of good advice here. From here on out just don't listen to anything petco/petsmart tells you, get your advice from here, you won't be steered wrong. The only place I would take advice from and take it to heart is a locally owned pet store owned by an individual not a chain store like petco/petsmart. My LFS is awesome, stocking wise they haven't steered me wrong.

 

[Mrs.h2012]

If the filter starts to fall apart what do I do. Rinse new one under water.the put it in and stick the old one in the water reservoir behind the new filter?

Just be sure To rinse it in old tank water, best time to do this is during a water change when you have a full bucket your about to dump out. Rinse it under tap water and that's doing as much damage as removing it completely, all your BB gets wiped out, them your stuck cycling from scratch all over again and all the progress you've made is down down the drain.

 

[Mrs.h2012]

Well my nitrites are still showing up and ammonia is staying down so I don't think I stalled the cycle did I

Water changes will not stall a cycle. However, to
high nitrites/nitrates or a low pH will stall a cycle. How has your pH been?

 

[kwandrsn]

My Ph is staying about 8

I'm keeping my nitrites down to 0.25 like I was informed. There is very little if any ammonia or nitrates showing up but I done 2 - 50% water changes yesterday and 1 today.

 

[kwandrsn]

I just got worried for a minute that I messed the cycle up by changing the filter Saturday

 

[Mrs.h2012]

My Ph is staying about 8

I'm keeping my nitrites down to 0.25 like I was informed. There is very little if any ammonia or nitrates showing up but I done 2 - 50% water changes yesterday and 1 today.

Water changes won't do anything to negatively affect your cycle, water changes are a good thing! Your pH is fine, just beware if it ever gets in the mid/low 6's that's when it can stall a cycle, a
Water change is all you can do to restore pH. Your going to need patience and lots of it. A fish in cycle is kinda lengthy. I did a fish in on a 10g with 2 platys, it lasted a few days over 2 months. Nitrates will be the last you will have show up. Since your having nitrites now, probably next thing you will see is somewhat of an ammonia spike and then ammonia zeros out and stays at 0. I think now your having nitrates your close
To ammonia zeroing out for good, then you will see a rise in nitrites and then it falls and zeros
Out, and once all you have is nitrates left an ammonia and nitrite both zeroed out, you should get readings like this consistently for atleast a week, your cycled! Incase you don't know or no one has told you, nitrates should be kept under 20, some say 40.

 

[kwandrsn]

Yeah. My nitrites were at 2
Ammonia at 0.25
And nitrates at 5

When I started doing 50 % water changes to keep nitrites at 0.25

 

[Mrs.h2012]

I just got worried for a minute that I messed the cycle up by changing the filter Saturday

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but you did BUT it is manageable, it's just gonna take more time. Main things to remember from here on out:
Don't change the cartridge, if it gets nasty swish it around in a bucket/container of old tank water NEVER tap water, do a water changes as necessary to keep ammonia and nitrite at .25 and nitrates below 20/40 (I say that about nitrates because different people have different opinions on this).

 

[kwandrsn]

Ok I will go with 20. The less the better. I really wish I would have invested in one of those water changing systems lol.

 

[Mrs.h2012]

Ok I will go with 20. The less the better. I really wish I would have invested in one of those water changing systems lol.

Tell me about it! I just recently set up a 55g nearly a week ago and filling that dang thing up with a 2g bucket was no fun, took nearly a whole hour!

 

[kwandrsn]

Well my tank it only a 20 I have been filling a 5 gallon bucket up twice then filling it about half way 4 times to fill back up. Is it ok to use the same bucket as long as it gets rinsed out good?

 

[Mrs.h2012]

Well my tank it only a 20 I have been filling a 5 gallon bucket up twice then filling it about half way 4 times to fill back up. Is it ok to use the same bucket as long as it gets rinsed out good?

Oh yeah! I've used the same bucket to do my water changes on all my tanks (since end of July 2012), started with a 10g, then got a 30g, now have a 55g. And I've honestly never even rinsed mine out.

 

[kwandrsn]

Ok thanks

 

[Mrs.h2012]

Ok thanks

Not a problem! If you ever have any Questions about a fish in cycle, feel free to Send me a message here, I'll help as much as I can!

 

[kwandrsn]

Ok will do

 

[Hholly]

Yeah, water changers are great. You can make one yourself. There are some old threads on DIY water changers or Pythons.

 

[kwandrsn]

Making one myself is more ideal. The one at petco was 60 bucks

 

[Mrs.h2012]

Yeah, water changers are great. You can make one yourself. There are some old threads on DIY water changers or Pythons.

I didn't know that! I'm going to search that now! Thank you so much for that!!

 

[Hholly]

Sure! I hope you can find it. If not here, try YouTube..

 

[Mrs.h2012]

Sure! I hope you can find it. If not here, try YouTube..

I found one here I may check out YouTube as well for more of a visual. Again thank you so much!