New tank help needed

[Bs1261]

Hi everyone!...i am new a this so bear w/ me...I stated cycling new 55g 1/23/12, added Cycling by Nurtrafin per lable instructions, I have had a Amo: .25ppm, Nitire: 0, and Nitrate: 20ppm for 13 days. Am I doing something wrong? I called Dr Forster and Smith, they said that I added too many fish (13) foe a new tank and recommed 20% water changes every 4 day untill all paramiters are Zero. Question: will this start a new cycle or will my tank be cycled? any help would be help!!!! Thanks!!!!! ~b

[librarygirl]

Originally Posted by Bs1261

Hi everyone!...i am new a this so bear w/ me...I stated cycling new 55g 1/23/12, added Cycling by Nurtrafin per lable instructions, I have had a Amo: .25ppm, Nitire: 0, and Nitrate: 20ppm for 13 days. Am I doing something wrong? I called Dr Forster and Smith, they said that I added too many fish (13) foe a new tank and recommed 20% water changes every 4 day untill all paramiters are Zero. Question: will this start a new cycle or will my tank be cycled? any help would be help!!!! Thanks!!!!! ~b

Nope, it takes a while for a tank to fully cycle, you're only a couple of weeks in. With fish in the tank you want to monitor levels closely and do water changes any time ammonia or nitrite reach .25 or higher. (I don't agree with the 20% every 4 days; let the tests dictate when to do a water change, so if you see ammonia or nitrite at .25 or over, break out the buckets). I wouldn't bother with the Nutrafin stuff but its' up to you. What dechlorinator are you using? Prime is best if you can get it; it'll help detoxify ammonia and nitrite between water changes.

There's a link below in my signature: guide to starting a FW aquarium. The first thing it covers is cycling; give it a read, particularly the links for fish-in cycling which will give you more info. Good luck.

[Bs1261]

Thanks Librarygirl....this morning Amon level: .25ppm, Nitrite 0ppm, Nitrate .10pmm (went down a little) did a 20% WC last night. I use the following: Topfin water conditioner, API Strees coat, API Stress Zyme, per lable instructions..are these ok....? Oh...the ph is 7.2. I do have some Prime, i'll use next WC or can I add the Prime to the Tofin water conditioner or are they the same? Should I do another WC today as my Amon is still a little high: .25ppm but maybe I should wait, i just did 20% WC last night 9pm. Thanks again for your help!!! smile!!!! ~b

[librarygirl]

Hi, if you have Prime that's all that's needed IMO, you don't need the Stress Coat and Topfin. They're pretty much all the same anyway; the Stress Zyme may or may not work. The bacteria in a bottle products are hit and miss at best; some don't contain the correct bacteria and for those that do it's hard to keep bacteria viable in a bottle. It's up to you whether you want to use it though.

For now since you already used the other stuff I'd leave it alone. From now on when you do water changes, just use the Prime.

[Bs1261]

Thanks much!!!....I'm watching it very closely, keep you posted,

~b

[Bs1261]

How much Prime should I use? I have a 55g tank. Thanks much! ~b

[BHead707]

you only need to treat the new water that you are putting into the tank for the pwc

[Bs1261]

I read some where to use 3 cap fulls when doing water changes as my Amo is high .25.ppm and Nitrates .10, but Nitrires are 0ppm? Told to do water changes frequently and use the 3 caps of Prime, until tank cycles. Is this okay or is it going to hurt the fish? It says on the bottle in emerg. to use 5x ammount....is 3 caps for every other day 20% water changes? Thanks! ~b

[BHead707]

my bottle says " use 1 cap-ful for each 50 gallons of new water"

also your ammonia isnt that high so there isnt a drastic need to dump so much in, if its .25ppm then change your water as you usually do and add the recommended dosage for the water added imo

[Bs1261]

I started my 55g on 1/23/2012, but added way too many fish, mollies mostly (13 fish)....used Cycling by Nutfin? don't if it helped, but now my parameter read: amo .25.ppm (not too high), Nitrite 0 (been that way since started), and Nitrate 10ppm. Why is my Nitrite at 0ppm, I thought I had to show some Nitrite inorder to get the 10-20ppm on Nitrate?...did I do something wrong or should I just wait it out, untill everything goes to Zero, doing pwc anf adding prime to the ammount i pmly add back in the tank. I sorry for all this confusion i'm a beginer, 1st tank. Thanks for your help. ~b

[librarygirl]

You're only about 2 weeks into the cycle; it can take 3-4 weeks before nitrite shows up. Just concentrate on keeping ammonia levels down. What kind of fish did you add? Have you tested your tap water for nitrate; that's where it could be coming from?

[Bs1261]

Wow!!!..you are right, tested tap water got reading on Nitrate of 10ppm, what do i do, is this a problem? Thanks for your help. ~b

[Bs1261]

when i first got tank, i brought: 2 black mollies, 2 domation mollies, 2 neon sword, 2 gold gourami, and 5 other starter fish (i forgot their names). I did not know I added too many fish for cycling my 55g tank. !

[Bs1261]

Thank you LibraryGirl! I tested tap water for both Amo & Nitrte, and found Amo .25ppm (in tap water) and Natrate 10-20ppm (in tap water) then retesed tank water and found same parameters? If this is the case it does not seem as though I will get a Cycled Zero reading after spike? How do I gage this?....has anyone had this problem? Thanks ~b

[Bs1261]

LG: should i be concern about Amo(.25ppm) & N2 (.10-20ppm) in tap water? Once i see a spikedo I look for the parameters to go back to same as found in tap water, and can this be concidered tank being cycled at that point?...Thanks for all your help!!!!!

[boadams87]

And when doing PWC add enough prime for the entire tank NOT what u removed just to neutralize any ammonia that's left in the tank!!

[Bs1261]

That makes sence...i think someone said to add the prime only to the ammount you take out before you put back in the tank. I guess it's just a waiting game now...thanks for all the help and advice. Fish look good, water is a little coudy though, I hear this is a normal process when cycling. ~b

[boadams87]

Yea it'll clear up.

[Bs1261]

Hi All,

55g gavel substrate (want to change to sand) already washed and in a bucket and waiting.
Lighting: Aquatic Life 48" T5 HO Dual-Lamp FW Light fixture(1- 6,000k lamp and 1- roseate lamp (Produces light in the red (650 nm) Spectrum.
Some plastic plants (want real one soon) after cycle.
API Nexx canister filter w/ extension ( Total capasidty 110g).
2 Neon Sword, 2 Dalmatian Mollies, 2 Gold Gourami, , 2 Marigold Variatus, 2 White-Finned Rosy Tetra, 2 Long-Finned Black Skirt Tetra, and 2, Black Mollies

I'm about 23 days in cycling my 55g FW tank. First day added Cycling by Nutifin to jump start my tank. I had cloudy water about a week ago, now water is slightly greenish color, went to pet smart today, she said tank is on last stage cycling:

I never had any Nitrite readings at all so far in the process. My tap water has, Ammonia: .25ppm (so does my tank), Nitrite is 0ppm, Nitrate 10-20pmm (tap water for Nitrate is also 10-20ppm as well. Petsmart says that the tank is cycled but i'm confused b/c of the consistent Nitrite 0ppm reading throughout the process. Is this possible? I did add Cycling (Bacteria Product) to my tank the first week. Pet smart said I would not have algae bloom if the tank did not cycle?....Please clarify.... if you can. Oh!...petsmart said that my Lighting could be the cause as well, and said to run light only 4-hours per day, and 30% pwc every other day. Does this mean my tank is Cycled!!!
Thanks....help!!!!! ~b