New 25 g Aquarium

[Archman66]

Well, not brand new, restarted after disaster.

I am cycling a 25 gallon tropical freshwater aquarium. I am having problems with the cycle. I'm getting ammonia, but had only traces levels of nitrites and no nitrates. It took about a week to get 1 ppm ammonia, and 2 weeks to get to 2 ppm and has not increased since. I started getting trace readings of nitrites after one week as well (0.125 between 0 and 0.25). This reading was consistant for a week. Admittedly getting impatient, I tried adding seachem stability per manuf. instructions to no avail. Then I purchased the sm. bottle of Fritz TurboStart 700 and added that to the aquarium. Overnight, the nitrites went to 0.5 ppm while the ammonia stayed at 2 ppm. Still no nitrate readings. See below for more water testing info.

Is this normal? What are typical ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate level spikes and timeline for a cycling tank? Its been almost 3 weeks and I still haven't seen a trace of nitrate.

I also have been using seachem acid and alkaline buffer to get the pH to 7.0, as my tap water is very unusual. Tap water I started with had a pH of 8.2, a gH of 6° and a kH of 2°. Usually high pH levels ar associated with hard water; my tap water is high pH, but very soft. My pH is now 7.4 to 7.6 depending on who you ask. The LFS read 7.0. My brand new API low range test kit says 7.6, high range test shows 7.4 sometimes and 7.6 sometimes. Which one is correct?

Here is a summary of my log if more info is needed:

Note: feeding is flake once every other day, with newly hatched brine shrimp once and a while (had an old hatchery and some sea salt, why not get some eggs?) A "?" next to test reading denotes test color was between colors on the chart and I extrapolated. Also, I now realize I don't have to get to a pH of 6.8. Still, I'd feel better if I could get it to 7.0 to 7.2. Except for the one danio that died the first night, the danios seem fine. There was/is no visible behavior to indicate distress from ammonia or nitrite.

5/16 Cleaned old tank and Bio-Wheel 150 filter. The tank was filthy with dried algae so I broke down and used a little dishwashing liquid thinking its the mildest of typical cleaners, taking care to rinse the tank very thoroughly with detachable shower spray hose. The filter was stripped and cleaned in water only. Set up tank with new gravel, plastic plants and heater. Added Seachem Prime water conditioner. Ran filter overnight.

5/17 Added 4 long finned zebra danios

5/18 One danio died

5/19 Temp............78° f
pH...............7.4
NH3...............0
NO2............. .0
NO3...............0

Water chemistry levels remains the same with a little fluctuation in temp and pH.

5/22 Temp..........77° f
pH.............7.2
NH3.............1 ppm
NO2.............Trace (0.125 ppm?)
NO3.............0

5/24 Started adding buffers to lower pH for angelfish and neon tetras. Similar water chemistry test parameters. Added 5 more long fin leopard danios per advice from LFS. Now have 8 danios.

5/26 Temp..........82° f!
pH.............7.8!
NH3.............2 ppm
other parameters unchanged. Lowered Heater temp. setting. Added Seachem acid and alkaline buffer per manuf. instructions to lower pH to 6.8

5/28 Temp..........77° f
pH.............7.4
NH3...........1.5? ppm
othe parameter unchanged.

5/30 Temp.........75° f
pH............7.2
NH3..........1.5? ppm
NO2........0.125? ppm (unchanged
NO3............0 (unchanged)

6/2 Temp.........78° f
pH............7.4
NH3.......... 2 ppm
other parameters unchanged

6/4 Temp.........76° f
pH.............7.4
NH3...........2 ppm
other parameters unchanged. Add Fritz TurboStart 700 which is supposed to be live nitrosoma and nitrobacter bacteria to convert both ammonia AND Nitrite to Nitrate.

6/5 Bought gH/kH test kit.
Temp.........77° f
pH.............7.4
NH3.............2
NO2.........0.50 (yeah!)
NO3.............0
GH...............6° dGH (107.4 ppm)
KH...............4° dKH (71.6 ppm)
Tap Water (to see where I started):
pH.............8.2
GH..............6° dGH (107.4 ppm)
KH..............2° dKH (35.8 ppm)

 

[kangster]

are you cycling with fish in the tank?
it took me more than 2 months for my tank to full cycle...
of course i was being erratic and decided to change my substrate to playsand from these colorful gravel which might have hindered the process along with my attempt to save my fish by a daily PWC to bring ammonia to 1-2 ppm
save yourself some money and stop testing for nitrate before you get a spike in nitrite...nitrate only shows up after the spike of nitrite and most importantly...be patient...for the sake of your fish

 

[Archman66]

Yes, I'm cycling w/ 8 small danios. When will I know the nitrite has spiked? Books, websites, LFS's tell you to look for a spike. How many ppm of nitrite constitutes a spike?

 

[kangster]

you will know when you get one...
i was trying to keep my ammonia 1-2 ppm and had 0 nitrite for a while
then one week my nitrite started increasing gradually and reached 5 ppm
maybe it would've been higher but then i was doing 25% PWC everyday to keep everything low
my nitrite gradually decreased after the maximum spike and then i was getting some high nitrate
now im lazy and i do PWC only once in 7-12 days...plus some nitrates are good for the plants...
be patient...nitrite spike will come and once it comes nitrate is faster
nitrite stage only lasted for 10 days for me whereas ammonia stage lasted 2 months or so

 

[mgamer20o0]

anything over .5 ammonia i would do a wc. it takes a few weeks so just try to keep the ammonia and nitrite levels down to under 0.5ppm.

 

[brutus]

Beginner FAQ: The Nitrogen Cycle This will show you.

 

[kangster]

.5 sounds like a better number
when i was cycling i didnt know any better and i think i was overfeeding...as i enjoyed watching my fish eat whatever i dropped into the tank

 

[happygirl65]

Do PWC anytime your ammonia and nitrite are over .5ppm. You will not stall your cycle as the majority of beneficial bacterial live in the rocks, filter and decor. While your test readings from the water will be less concentrated it doesn't mean the bacteria isn't doing it's job.
It is a long process to cycle with fish. But you will get there, it take about 2 months usually.
Make sure you are conditioning the water with your water changes.
Patience is the hardest part of this hobby IMO.