Some guidance is needed - stalled cycle

[Oddness87]

So I ended up dosing my tank to 4ppm instead of 2 ppm yesterday...

Today's results:
PH is 7.4
Ammonia is 0.5 ppm
Nitrite about 5.0+
Nitrate between 40 and 80

Good progress!

 

[jlk]

Thats progress! I would skip the amm for tonight (if you havent already dosed) to let your nitrite>nitrate bacteria time to catch up. If you have already, no big deal. Keep us posted!

 

[rotorhead22]

That is great to hear. Looks like you hit the substrate mixture right on the button. I would dose again but you can wait to see if it drops to zero without dosing. The population of bacteria will have to rebound no matter what.

 

[Oddness87]

Check this out:
7.4 PH
.25 Ammonia
0 Nitrite
80 Nitrate

PH is holding strong, Argonite was definitely the game changer.
I also find it interesting that my ammonia is still .25 after processing 3.5ppm in 1 day.

Dosing back to 4ppm and hoping fish are in the near future this weekend.

 

[jlk]

That is a bit odd that theres still trace ammonia. Is it a strong .25 reading or more of just a trace? You may actually bit closer to zero than you realize- the ammonia test can be a bit difficult to decipher depending on what type of lighting you are looking at the results in. Hopefully, you will continue to get steady results!

 

[Oddness87]

It's possible I may have read the color incorrectly. I'll pay a little more attention t it next time.

 

[rotorhead22]

Same thing happened to me for a few days during cycling my 55 gal. I have a plot of my cycle in my profile. Just dose back up. You will eventually hit zero.

It is a pretty common occurrence. There are many threads that mention this.

 

[Oddness87]

So I almost had a heart attack when I tested my tank today. My PH was 8.8+ and my ammonia was well over 8.0.....

Then I cleaned out the test tubes and tested again and had these great results.

7.4 PH
0.0 Ammonia (this time it was more yellow than green compared to yesterday)
0.0 Nitrite
80 to 100 Nitrate

Moral of the story today is to make sure your test tubes are clean before testing

 

[jlk]

That's great!! It's possible that the .25 reading you saw earlier was just from a not quite clean test tube. Another day or two of steady zeroes & it's safe to say your cycled!

 

[Oddness87]

Another great day of steady PH of 7.4 and zeros for Ammonia and Nitrite. Nitrate is probably about 100 (darker red than yesterday but not quite 160).

Thinking about getting some fish on Sunday.

Should I take care in stocking only a small amount of fish at first or should I buy what I want to stock it with. (10 zebra danios and 5 or 6 Corys)

And at what level of Nitrates should I complete a PWC with fish in my tank?

 

[jlk]

You can stock with your desired fish without an issue. Just continue to monitor your parameters daily for atleast 2wks afterwards because newly cycled tanks can have fluctuations in levels. Either the night before or the morning of planned fish, make sure you skip the ammonia & do a big water change (90-100%) with temperature matched, properly conditioned water. It may take more than one big water change to drop your nitrates down to your tap level.

Once your tank has fish, you will be able to see how much your nitrates are rising over the course of the week & figure out a good water change schedule to keep them in check. Ideally, you want them 20ppm or less. You will still need to do weekly water changes even if your nitrates do not rise a great deal- this will keep your tank & fish healthy.

 

[Oddness87]

Thanks!

I planned on weekly water changes.

My motto is always better safe than sorry.

 

[librarygirl]

Congrats on the cycle, it seems like you've done it! Jlk was a great help so I didn't need to add anything to her posts What fish have you decided on?

 

[Oddness87]

JLK was SUPER helpful in getting me through my stalled cycle.

So, I have put some thought into my stock.

I original thought zebria danios with some corys. Then I changed my mind while doing some research.

Now I'm thinking 10 tiger barbs and about 6 Corys. My tank footprint is 36"x12". Is this too few corys or should I add some more or just add a couple more tiger barbs to reduce their aggression?

BTW the tank parameters were perfect today with Nitrates about 130. Fish tomorrow after my PWC.

 

[jlk]

Glad to help! I cant help though with stocking- I only do coldwater. Librarygirl can expertly advise you on this! Look forward to seeing pics!

 

[Oddness87]

Will Do!

 

[librarygirl]

Tigers can be tricky; they tend to be aggressive toward each other so a larger group is recommended. SOmetimes they can be aggressive to other fish too. I'd avoid slow fish or fish with long fins. Maybe others who have tiger barbs can chime in; this is just going by what I've read. Having tigers may limit other fish you can put in there too so you might not be able to have much of a variety. Unless you'd be satisfied with just a large shoal of Tigers and the Corys, up to you. What kind of Corys were you thinking?

 

[Oddness87]

I knew they were aggressive but from what I had been reading, it looks as if 8 is the minimum to reduce their aggression towards other fish.

I am also not picky about the Corys I will be getting. My LFS usually only has a couple different specifies.

This is also what I will be stocking my tank with exclusively so I don't think I will have to worry about adding a new species in with the barbs and corys.

 

[Oddness87]

So the wife talked me into getting some swordtails...

I have 10 and have managed to keep almost a 2 to 1 ratio of male to female. I just acclimated them and one of the males seems to be acting funny so I will be watching him the rest of the day.

 

[librarygirl]

Wow 10! lol I think that may be a bit much even for a 45, they can get fairly large given their tales and as they mature if they aren't already some males may tend to go after each other; a ratio of 4-5 females per male might be better. If you want to have other fish I'd take half of them back but it's up to you. Plus if they breed (which they probably will) you're going to have lots of little fish. This is just going by what I've read about them so take it for what it's worth (which might be nothing lol). How did you acclimate them? If you did it too fast it can shock them. Just keep an eye on them and keep the light off until tomorrow and don't feed until then either, the dark will help minimize stress.