Hi all,new member with ? about water quality

[creg1974]

I have a 20 gallon aquarium that has been going for about 5-6 weeks.I used tetra safe start when first set up.Everything has been good,0 ammonia,0 nitrites,about 10-20ppm nitrates.I have been doing weekly 25% water changes and tank has looked great.Noticed yesterday water is a little cloudy.After doing my water change today I tested water.My ammonia is 0,nitrites is in the purple now 2ppm - 5ppm,hard to tell from my scale,colors look the same,and nitrates is about 30ppm.What has changed?I feed fish 1 time a day and no more than they can eat in about a minute.Is the tank cycling?From what I read about safestart it would cycle without having high readings.I have put a capful of prime in to try and lower nitrites and will continue to change water daily until its under control.Is there anything else I should be doing?Any advice would be appreciated.Thank you.

I have 3 guppies,2 neon tetras,2 glow danios,1 glow tetra,2 mollies and 1 pleco.

 

[Andrew McFadden]

Welcome to AA


I asked to have your thread moved over to freshwater. You'll get answers over there on your questions. Good luck

 

[Zagz]

Welcome to AA, this thread has been moved to FW getting started,

 

[Taiken5968]

I have a 20 gallon aquarium that has been going for about 5-6 weeks.I used tetra safe start when first set up.Everything has been good,0 ammonia,0 nitrites,about 10-20ppm nitrates.I have been doing weekly 25% water changes and tank has looked great.Noticed yesterday water is a little cloudy.After doing my water change today I tested water.My ammonia is 0,nitrites is in the purple now 2ppm - 5ppm,hard to tell from my scale,colors look the same,and nitrates is about 30ppm.What has changed?I feed fish 1 time a day and no more than they can eat in about a minute.Is the tank cycling?From what I read about safestart it would cycle without having high readings.I have put a capful of prime in to try and lower nitrites and will continue to change water daily until its under control.Is there anything else I should be doing?Any advice would be appreciated.Thank you.

I have 3 guppies,2 neon tetras,2 glow danios,1 glow tetra,2 mollies and 1 pleco.

I had that problem before too. I just did a %20 water change every day or every other day. I also doubled up on the prime when I treated new water. It should clear up soon. Just watch and make sure your fish don't look stressed.

 

[BlueCrawDaddy]

Keep a watch on your water parameters (nitrates , ammonia, nitrites) like you are doing and continue to do your pwc (partial water changes) have you added more fish recently if so the added bio load could have brought on a mini cycle