Cycling starting to happen, questions and pics

[manooosie]

Ok, I have been cycling for two weeks now and finally I am seeing some action. I originally put some ammonia in the tank (about 3 ppm). Took some readings today and I have the first sign of Nitrites and Nitrates:

Ammonia: 2 ppm
Nitrites: 5 ppm (could be higher this is the max reading for my kit)
Nitrates: 6 ppm

Now I know the nitrates were supposed to go up, but the Nitrates shot way up. At this point I think I need to up the ammonia a little more, then theoritically the Nitrites will keep feeding off the ammonia I give it (and the frequency of me putting ammonia in the tank will increase), and the Nitrates should go up. How high should I Nitrates be to consider the tank cycled?

Now on to a better subject. Below is my tank, i recently put the rocks in there. Its going to be a cichlid tank, and I am curious what you guys think of the formation. I might put a couple of small plants in there, but I hesitate since they are likely to get dug up.

 

[Jchillin]

What type of test kit are you using? Reason I ask is the Nitrate reading is quite different from what I'm used to seeing. You have plenty of ammonia if the reading is accurate. Adding more could stall the cycle. When you have 20-40ppm of nitrate, zero nitrite and zero ammonia...you're done.

Now on to a better subject. Tank looks great. The slate is really cool looking. What did you use to anchor the diagonal piece?

 

[manooosie]

nothing. Its all really heavy rock. I would be shocked if any fish could move it. that peice is probably 20 pounds.

 

[Jchillin]

 

[severum mama]

Your tank looks awesome, you must be really happy with it. Keep in mind that although your cichlids can't move the rocks themselves, they can dig the sand under the rocks and possibly topple them and crack the tank.

BTW you can easily attach java ferns and/or anubias to your rocks, and then your fish can't dig them up. All you have to do is clip the roots and then tie them to the rocks, then wait a few weeks and cut the thread off. IME anubias takes longer to attach than the javas. I suggested these plants for you not only because they thrive in low light, but also because I hear fish don't like to eat them as much as other plants.

 

[quadrider5953]

I hope your tank turs out good and i hope to see more pics when the tank progresses. Aslo what kind of cichlids are you putting in there?

 

[rich311k]

Nice looking tank. Cant wait to see it full of fish.

 

[Guest]

the nitrate doesn't feed off of the nitrite, and the nitrite doesn't feed off of the ammonia. And a hihg nitrate reading would be like 30-40.. does your test measure in units of 10?

What happens is Bacteria grow to convert ammonia to nitrite, and then bacteria grow taht converte nitrite to nitrate. The bacteria feed off of the ammonia and nitrite.

 

[manooosie]

yea, I knew that but i was to lazy to type bacteria