Not sure what's up with cycle

[meloyelo]

Not sure if something is stalling me out or what. This is on a 55 gal community tank I got going on Dec. 27th. It is running 2 Aqua Clear 70 filters that were seeded from one of my other established tanks. After a couple of days, I went ahead and added 6 peppered cories. Tested for another week and was coming up with 0 ammonia, 0 Nitrite, and around 40 Nitrate, so I added 11 black skirt tetras. Another week of good results goes by so I added 2 small blood parrots. This brings us to this week. Now when I test each afternoon, I am coming up with .25 (or just slightly green), 0 Nitrite, and the same 40 Nitrate. The ammonia has never gone above .25ppm. I have actually never shown any Nitrites at all. Since day 1 it's been 0. I've been doing a 50% water change each afternoon to bring the ammonia back to 0, but the next afternoon it is back to around .25 or slightly less. Fish all seem to be totally fine, eating well and are very active. I feed every other day. My PH is stable at 6.8. I have well water with some Nitrate from the tap @ 30ppm. I use Prime for conditioning. I use an API freshwater kit and all of my test results are read after waiting for 5 minutes as instructed. Is something stalling me out or do I just keep on with the water changes and ride this out? Thanks for any advice.

 

[LyndaB]

Blood parrots have a large bioload. Ride it out and be diligent with your readings and water changes.

Do you consider yourself fully stocked? With those parrots, you are.

 

[meloyelo]

Only other thing I was thinking to add was maybe a small school of 6 or 8 zebra danios. The black skirts keep the tank pretty "active"


thanks!

 

[jlk]

Your doing a great job!! Your bacteria just need time to adjust to the increased bioload. Keep up the good work with testing & water changes & do not hesitate to ask if you have any questions!

 

[meloyelo]

Your doing a great job!! Your bacteria just need time to adjust to the increased bioload. Keep up the good work with testing & water changes & do not hesitate to ask if you have any questions!

Thanks for encouragement! Just didn't know if there was anything else I should be doing OR if I was just doing something wrong.

Meloyelo

 

[jlk]

Your not doing anything wrong! You will need to wait though for your ammonia/nitrite to zero out (and your bacteria to catch up) before considering adding any more fish. Good job so far!

 

[meloyelo]

When I did my tests this afternoon, the ammonia didn't show quite as "green" this time around. Maybe I'm starting to get somewhere after all. I went ahead and did a pwc just to be safe.

Thanks