Will my levels drop in my new cycling tank?

[akraini5]

Hi, I have a 30 gal. new tank that I have been cycling for about a week and a half now. I have added a filter from a established fish tank and it seems to be cycling pretty well. right now my numbers are as following:

KH=7, GH=125.3, PH= 8.0, Ammonia=0.25, Nitrite=0 ppm, Nitrate= 0 ppm

Things in the tank:
CaribSea Eco-Complete substrate for freshwater planted aquariums
2 ceramic air stone diffusers
Several natural slate pieces ( found outside in Alaska, fully cleaned and soaked before adding, vinegar test done as well)
Tetra Whisper Power Filter 60
3 aquarium grade castles

I would like to get a lot of live plants and cardinal tetra's when the tank is fully cycled, I am wondering if my Ammonia level, PH level, and GH level will naturally lower when the tank is cycled or will I need to add something besides chemicals to lower these levels?

 

[BBradbury]

Your Cycling Tank

Hi, I have a 30 gal. new tank that I have been cycling for about a week and a half now. I have added a filter from a established fish tank and it seems to be cycling pretty well. right now my numbers are as following:

KH=7, GH=125.3, PH= 8.0, Ammonia=0.25, Nitrite=0 ppm, Nitrate= 0 ppm

Things in the tank:
CaribSea Eco-Complete substrate for freshwater planted aquariums
2 ceramic air stone diffusers
Several natural slate pieces ( found outside in Alaska, fully cleaned and soaked before adding, vinegar test done as well)
Tetra Whisper Power Filter 60
3 aquarium grade castles

I would like to get a lot of live plants and cardinal tetra's when the tank is fully cycled, I am wondering if my Ammonia level, PH level, and GH level will naturally lower when the tank is cycled or will I need to add something besides chemicals to lower these levels?

Hello ak...

You can introduce aquarium plants any time. Plants will use the ammonia, nitrite and eventually nitrates for their food and help maintain stable water conditions. Floating plants are good, natural water filters.

Using airstones isn't a good idea in a planted tank. The oxygen they produce will drive off the CO2 the plants need to grow. Your filter equipment will do the job of mixing oxygen into the tank water, airstones aren't needed.

You should be testing the water daily. When you have several daily tests that show no traces of ammonia or nitrite, the tank is cycled.

B

 

[threnjen]

Your pH, gH and kH are fine. Stability is more important than specific levels. I assume you're not saying it took 123 drops on the gH test, but 7ish yes?

 

[akraini5]

Thank you Threnjen, Good to know about stability over exact levels, Yes it took 7 drops.....

 

[akraini5]

Thank you BBradbury, you answered my next question, I have had several fish tanks but have never tried live plants, I was wondering if I needed to wait to for the tank to cycle to add them If I have a heavily planted tank will I also need to get a CO2 diffuser to keep them healthy, if so do you have any recommendations on one? I have read several articles on DIY ones but I think I will buy a unit if needed until I get more familiar with them.

 

[akraini5]

Is my tank still cycling or stalled?

OK, I know I am being obsessive with my tank...lol but It has been a few more days and I have been testing my levels daily, my KH, GH, and PH are stable and have not changed in several days.

KH=7, PH=7, PH=8

I am wondering if my tank is still cycling or if it has stalled?
My ammonia level has always been 0.25, (my tap water is also 0.25)
My nitrites have always been 0, my nitrates jumped to 20 ppm's but have stabilized at 5.0 for the last few days. I did add Seachem prime to the water when the tank was first filled, and I added 8 plants 3 days ago along with Seachem Flourish and Flourish Excel. Is it normal to find nitrates and never see an ammonia or nitrite spike?

 

[threnjen]

Is this a fishless cycle? If so are you adding an ammonia source as food for the bacteria to grow? You do need to be adding food for the bacteria if you don't have fish.

I suggest you go out the "Getting Started" directory and hit the first sticky post, it has links about how to Fishless Cycle your tank

 

[Supergummy]

Like Jen said I'm assuming your doing a fishless cycle? If your ammonia source has any surfactant etc. then it probably messed up your cycle. Here's the link I recommend. You can also use raw shrimp in pantyhose and float it in your tank for ammonia. For the link... http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...guide-and-faq-to-fishless-cycling-148283.html

 

[akraini5]

Has the cycle restarted?

Thank you guys for the help, info and links Yes this is a fishless cycle ( first one) and I started with 2 filters from another established tank we have, I think the problem was I only had a nylon bag with 1/4 cup of fish food floating in the tank, (starving the bacteria?) last night I added a small chunk of raw fish to the tank and by this morning the tank was slightly cloudy and the levels had all changed. the number are:

KH and GH are still 7
PH dropped slightly from 8.0 to 7.4
Ammonia went up to 1.0 from .25
Nitrite went up to 10 from 0
Nitrate went up to 10 from 5

Does this mean my tank is back on the right cycling track or should I start everything over? There is sooooo much conflicting info. on the internet about cycling that I am unsure of if I am doing this right.....

 

[threnjen]

I think everything looks really good right now. I like that you added a bunch of fish food because this will give you a lot of phosphorus which the bacteria do need, so I wouldn't do a water change. Just keep on top of your pH and add baking soda if it drops under 7.0 - just a SMIDGE will bring it up. Try to keep it between 7.0-8.4

Remember with all the various stuff in there - decayed fish flakes, possibly inflated pH via baking soda, rotting fish - you'll be doing the biggest water change possible at the end of your cycle.

 

[akraini5]

Thank you guys for the help, info and links Yes this is a fishless cycle ( first one) and I started with 2 filters from another established tank we have, I think the problem was I only had a nylon bag with 1/4 cup of fish food floating in the tank, (starving the bacteria?) last night I added a small chunk of raw fish to the tank and by this morning the tank was slightly cloudy and the levels had all changed. the number are:

KH and GH are still 7
PH dropped slightly from 8.0 to 7.4
Ammonia went up to 1.0 from .25
Nitrite went up to 10 from 0
Nitrate went up to 10 from 5

Does this mean my tank is back on the right cycling track or should I start everything over? There is sooooo much conflicting info. on the internet about cycling that I am unsure of if I am doing this right.....

It has been 5/6 days now and the KH/GH/PH and Nitrates have all stayed the same, my ammonia went up to 4-6 ppm the next morning ( I then removed the chunks of fish and did a 10% water change so the ammonia would not rise anymore) but the Nitrites dropped the next day back to 0 ppm, is this normal? there has been no change at all now for 5 days. I did remove the fish food yesterday due to algae growth all over the glass and changed the light cycle from 12 hour cycle down to 8 hours per day.
Extra note: (I also just added another filter from an established tank today, I think I might have killed off the original seeded bacteria when I first started cycling and stalled from lack of ammonia)
Edit: I am also wondering if I added too many plants, would that stall/change my cycle? (30 gal. tank) I have 1-Anubias nana on driftwood, 2 bunches of Dwarf Baby Tears, 2 Water sprites and 4 bunches of Cabomba... all the plants are growing wonderfully and have tripled in size sense they where planted on the 28th.....

 

[akraini5]

Spread sheet of my daily log- cycling

Attached is a spreadsheet of my cycling numbers....