Did I ruin the cycle?

[McQuirk]

Sorry to make a second thread...but I wanted to be more specific. I came home today hoping to be able to transfer my CPDs...I tested my water and the ammonia had become very close to 0, lighter than the reading I get out of my 5g where those fish are now, so I thought it'd be alright.

Then I tested nitrates. I have a lot of difficulty reading that test; depending on how I hold the tube up, what lighting, etc., it could be 40...or it could be anything higher, including something off the chart. I figured I'd do a small 20% water change, bring the nitrates down, and put in the fish.

Nope. I'm pretty sure I made it worse. It definitely didn't drop. So, on the advice of my friend, I did a "big" water change or probably 60+%. I retested, and I'm pretty concerned...the ammonia spiked to .50, and the nitrates have barely dropped (color is much closer to 40, if not 40).

Did I ruin it by doing a massive water change? What should I be doing? Liquid ammonia isn't the route I want to take. I'm used to doing fish-in cycles. I never lost any fish during the cycling process in my 5g.

Nitrites have been 0 for several days.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Have you tested your tap water for ammonia and nitrate?

 

[McQuirk]

Have you tested your tap water for ammonia and nitrate?

I just did:

.25 ammonia, 30-40 nitrates.

/:

 

[Mumma.of.two]

There's your answer Nothing to worry about.

 

[McQuirk]

I retested the tank water and it's at .25 now. Does that mean that the bacteria was able to take it down fast (which would be a good thing, right?)?

ETA: If it reads lower tomorrow and the nitrates are lower, do you think I could put in the fish?

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Ammonia in tap water will be rendered harmless by your dechlorinator and should be processed quickly. Nothing to worry about there. The nitrates won't go down. The only way to do that will be to heavily plant the tank. Doing water changes will only bring it down to 30-40ppm. Not that this is harmful.

 

[McQuirk]

Ammonia in tap water will be rendered harmless by your dechlorinator and should be processed quickly. Nothing to worry about there. The nitrates won't go down. The only way to do that will be to heavily plant the tank. Doing water changes will only bring it down to 30-40ppm. Not that this is harmful.

What counts as "heavily" planted? I put in about half of what I planned to plant yesterday- one 6" java fern mat, a bronze wendtii, a small crypt wendtii, frogbit, two anubias nanas, and a few runners of pygmy chain swords. I plan on putting a bunch of java moss, a few more small crypts and anubias, and something tall, like swords. Will it take a few days for the plants to really help?

 

[FishontheRock]

What counts as "heavily" planted? I put in about half of what I planned to plant yesterday- one 6" java fern mat, a bronze wendtii, a small crypt wendtii, frogbit, two anubias nanas, and a few runners of pygmy chain swords. I plan on putting a bunch of java moss, a few more small crypts and anubias, and something tall, like swords. Will it take a few days for the plants to really help?

IMO heavily planted means you can see less than 25% of the substrate surface.

 

[McQuirk]

IMO heavily planted means you can see less than 25% of the substrate surface.

I definitely want my tank to get to that point, but I thought it'd be better to let some of the plants have space to grow. Would it be better to just completely plant it?

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Those plants are great but slower growers. The slower they grow the less nitrate they will use. Throw some fast growing stem plants in the mix. Elodea and hornwort as well as duck weed are big nitrate consumers IME.

 

[McQuirk]

Probably a silly question, but...if the plants have red in them, would that be helpful? From what I've read that means they require more light, but I wasn't sure if that meant they'd also need more nutrients and would eat up more nitrates.

 

[FishontheRock]

Probably a silly question, but...if the plants have red in them, would that be helpful? From what I've read that means they require more light, but I wasn't sure if that meant they'd also need more nutrients and would eat up more nitrates.

When you get into red plants your moving into the realm of high light and fertilizer dosing both macros and micros. Lots of work. Id try so easier low light plants first the fast growers suggested above are great, although Im not a fan of hornwort. It falls to pieces if it dies and creates a brutal mess.

 

[McQuirk]

Oh, okay. I was just curious because my LFS has a whole bunch of duckweed right now that's red in the middle and then green on the edges. They aren't sure what it is exactly. I'll pick up regular duckweed though I'm going back either tomorrow or Tuesday.