New to this fourm and keeping a tank!! need help

[JPic]

I've read alot of things saying don't put your fish into your new tank until all the levels are safe. Here are my readings that I did. If anyone could help me out on how long till I can put fish in my tank that would be great.

PH 7.6
High PH 8.2
Ammo 0.25-0.50
No2 0
No3 0

Any advice would be great!

I got the tank and filter used and cleaned it up its only been up for a few days now. I put dechloronator in it and the temp is at about 81 right now.

[posenergy]

You can put in hardy fish like mollies right now. You should probably still be safe and let it cycle a couple more weeks.


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[SandyCheeks]

Originally Posted by JPic

I've read alot of things saying don't put your fish into your new tank until all the levels are safe. Here are my readings that I did. If anyone could help me out on how long till I can put fish in my tank that would be great.

PH 7.6
High PH 8.2
Ammo 0.25-0.50
No2 0
No3 0

Any advice would be great!

I got the tank and filter used and cleaned it up its only been up for a few days now. I put dechloronator in it and the temp is at about 81 right now.

Welcome to the forums! You are on the right trac.

I suggest adjusting the temp down a little. Depends on what type of fish you have and what you prefer, but I keep mine at about 77.

Your water has high ph like mine. (you go by the highest reading, so your ph is actually 8.2.) Some fish won't tolerate such high ph very well. What fish will you be adding?

You could add a couple small fish now, and an eye on the ammonia to make sure it doesn't go higher, and do frequent partial water changes while it finishes cycling. You want the ammonia to go down to zero eventually and the No3 (nitrates) to start showing up. I've done fish-in cycles with hardy fishes like guppies or mollies and it works fine, as long as you do frequent water changes.

[JPic]

Originally Posted by SandyCheeks

Welcome to the forums! You are on the right trac.

I suggest adjusting the temp down a little. Depends on what type of fish you have and what you prefer, but I keep mine at about 77.

Your water has high ph like mine. (you go by the highest reading, so your ph is actually 8.2.) Some fish won't tolerate such high ph very well. What fish will you be adding?

You could add a couple small fish now, and an eye on the ammonia to make sure it doesn't go higher, and do frequent partial water changes while it finishes cycling. You want the ammonia to go down to zero eventually and the No3 (nitrates) to start showing up. I've done fish-in cycles with hardy fishes like guppies or mollies and it works fine, as long as you do frequent water changes.

I haven't put a lot of thought to exactly what fish I would like yet. There's so many options it's hard to choose!! Should I get something to lower the PH or just let it come down on it's own? I'm going to be testing the water again shortly to see how everything reads.

[SandyCheeks]

It is hard to decide, there are so many choices. But I wouldn't use anything to lower the ph, because it can cause ph swings which is hard on fish. As long as you get some that tolerate high ph, they adjust just fine.

[JPic]

I just tested everything and all the amounts were the same as yesterday.

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[enrgizerbunny]

Ah yes, a fresh tank. Welcome to the forum. Be aware that opinions vary greatly here, but the usual recommendation is to do a cycle without adding fish. It's less stressful for you and the fish. If you haven't already, I highly recommend visiting the "articles" section at the top of the page and searching the word "cycle" and then read read read. Right now you lack the colonies of beneficial bacteria that convert fish wastes and extra food (which decay to ammonia) into less harmful nitrates. That is a brief explanation of what the cycle is. The "getting started" forum is a great place to ask questions as well.

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[Homer8]

Originally Posted by JPic

I just tested everything and all the amounts were the same as yesterday.

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you said the tank has only been up for a few days so its normal nothing has changed. What are you using as a source of ammonia to cycle your tank? If possible get a filter cartridge from a friend's tank to help seed yours. Do you know what beneficial bacteria are or what cycling is? If you don't and we can explain. Just trying to save you money and frustration of figuring it out the hard way.

Ammonia-->Nitrite-->Nitrate