Should I be able to track ammo > nitrItes > nitrAtes in a cycled tank?

[eco23]

Lots of people including well respected senior members on this site think I'm done with my fishless cycle. I'm not absolutely sure.

Some of you may have seen my thread about my pH crash at the completion of my cycle, that I thought reverted me back a bit. Whats happening now is that I can turn 3ppm ammo > no2 > no3 in 24 hours, but I am able to see the transition with my API test kit. So, in other words...I dose up, see the ammo go down while the nitrItes rise, then see the nitrItes fall as the nitrAtes rise.

I was under the impression that you should never see nitrItes if your tank is fully cycled. Did I simply miss one of the basics and I'm ready to stock?

The other issue is that my tap water has chloramines = 1ppm ammonia. I neutralize it with Prime but it obviously still appears on my test kit as a false positive. So I'm not worried about ammo after a large pwc, but I'm concerned that the nitrItes show up immediately after and climb to .25 before dropping down.

Thanks for the help! I just don't want to jump the gun and stock early after all the time and effort I've put into my fishless cycle so far.

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[eco23]

Keys are literally in hand, about to head to the lfs. Anyone wanna talk me out of it?

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[eco23]

Car in drive, slowly accelerating down the driveway...lol.

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[mfdrookie516]

I think you're fine. What you have to consider is that you're dosing a big amount at once, where fish just slowly create ammonia. This gives the nitrobacter time to catch up and convert the nitrite to nitrate. When you dose like you are, you're dumping it all in at once, the nitrosomonas can consume the ammonia and create nitrite, but its so fast, it doesn't give the nitrobacter time to catch up. Make sense?

 

[eco23]

Absolutely. I'm glad one of the big boys answered. My wife would have been ticked if I turned the car back around,lol.

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[har-2109]

In a cycled tank virtually no ammonia or nitrite should be present, but as stated above the fish will release a slow constant stream of NH3.

If you were to see no NH3 or NO2- while dosing then it would all have to be converted instantly.

 

[eco23]

In a cycled tank virtually no ammonia or nitrite should be present, but as stated above the fish will release a slow constant stream of NH3.

If you were to see no NH3 or NO2- while dosing then it would all have to be converted instantly.

Yeah, no matter what I dose ammo up to, there's 0 ammo or nitrItes after 24 hours. Just wanted to make sure it was alright to see nitrItes for a short period during the conversion. Makes perfect sense to me though that fish aren't gonna instantly dump 4ppm ammo into the tank at once. So it seems to me that a bio-filter trained to handle 4ppm in 24hrs should be able to easily handle what I'm about to throw at it.

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[eco23]

I just wanted a final opinion to make sure I wasn't about to ruin a 23 day process with a moment of impulsive behavior, lol.

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[har-2109]

I know the pains of cycling lol. 10 days for ammonia to go and today is day 17 waiting for nitrite to drop. Should be done soon though.

 

[eco23]

Heading home with 9 tiny neon tetras and 7 round body red eye tetras. Wife wants to stop and pick up 7 Glo Fish to go with them. Too many at first for a fully cycled 48 gallon? Again, it's used to 4ppm of ammonia a day...thinking I can handle it. Don't want to cause a mini cycle when I add more in a few weeks if I don't have a big enough bio load now to support my current bacteria.

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[mfdrookie516]

I think you'd be fine, but it wouldn't hurt anything to wait. Would probably be best to wait actually

 

[eco23]

Well, we got 7 them. They were supposed to be $6.99 a piece. The guy must have rang them up wrong because when I asked if he could cut me a deal..it came out to $10.50! Probably would have been better to wait, but the tetras and Glo Fish must be babies because they are absolutely tiny. Trust me, I will seriously stay on top of my parameters. I've worked too hard to not take good care of them now.

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[mfdrookie516]

Just be prepared to do a water change if the ammonia or nitrite creep up. They're so small, I doub't you'll have issues, but it's never bad to be too cautious... which is why I said it would probably be best to wait.

 

[eco23]

I'll absolutely stay on top of it checking levels 3-4 times a day. I truly appreciate everyone's help up to this point. I think I'll be okay, but I'll watch it like a hawk. The way I see it, if the tank can handle 4ppm in 24 hours there's no way these tiny fish are gonna come close to that. I agree it would have been better to do it a little slower, but when the wife wants Glo fish...a mans gotta get her Glo fish.

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[mfdrookie516]

Yeah, I agree with that. I've always said that 4ppm dosed through the cycle should allow a full stock when it is complete. That said, the 'should' part should be used cautiously. Keep us updated

 

[eco23]

Fish are getting acclimated in their bags. I'll post some new pics on my tank thread once they become free range.

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[eco23]

Got pics up of the fish in their new digs if you guys wanna check it out. The pics at the end of the thread are current, the first group is before I updated my lighting. Thanks for all the help!
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...-and-some-questions-146500-6.html#post1282881

 

[WhiteWidow11]

Awesome setup and fish! Congrats!

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