water reading question

[Lordicon]

Hello everyone i'm new to the site and it is awesome lots of info!!
I have a question about my water readings? i have a 40 gallon fresh water tank it has been up and running for about 4 weeks now i have 4 zebra danios in the tank to cycle it. i put live plants in it and i think they are called sprite, looks like grass, and 3 6 inch air stones in the tank. i leave the lights on all the time and my water temp is 78 deg. I have been doing my readings every day for the past 3 days now my readings are going up slow!!

1-my ph is 7.4
2-my ammonia is .50 ppm
3-my nitrite is .50 ppm
4-my nitrate is 10 ppm

My question is i have not done any water changes in the 4 weeks my water is evaporating lost about a gallon and a half, is my tanked cycled since i see nitrates now or do i have to wait till i see 0 ppm in ammo and 0 in nitrite?? hope this is enough info

 

[librarygirl]

Nope not cycled yet but getting there. WIth fish in the tank though you want to get those levels down ASAP. AMmonia and nitrite are toxic to fish and you should be doing regular water changes. Plus buffers and minerals need to be replenished in the water as they get used up by the bacteria and fish.

With ammonia and nitrite at those levels I'd do either two 50% water changes today or one larger 70% water change. Use dechlorinator and try to match the temperature of the new water to the tank water as closely as you can (feeling both with your hand is fine). Your tank is cycled when the tank can keep ammonia and nitrite at 0 on its own.

Id' also turn the lights off overnight; fish need a day/night cycle. Leaving lights on for more than 10 hours per day can cause algae issues as well.

If you haven't seen it there's a link below in my signature called: new tank with fish. It's a link to the fish-in cycling guide. Good luck.

 

[Lordicon]

thank you so much for the help!! would you say im getting close to being cycled? when you do a water change can i warm up the water in the mic or stove top to get the water temp close to the temp of the tank?

 

[librarygirl]

thank you so much for the help!! would you say im getting close to being cycled? when you do a water change can i warm up the water in the mic or stove top to get the water temp close to the temp of the tank?

Shouldn't be necessary; do you have hot and cold knobs on the faucet? if so just mix both hot and cold until the water coming out feels about the same as the tank water.

It's hard to say about how long the cycle will take. You should be about halfway there though. How long have the nitrites been present?

 

[Lordicon]

I'm using cold water though a charcoal filter just to help get rid of any on wanted smells. the nitrite has been about 4 days i think. and I'm doing a water change as we speak!!!

 

[Lordicon]

Well I did a 70% water change on Sunday and I just did another water reading tonight and my new readings are:

Ph= 7.5
Amm=.25
Nitrites= .50
Nitrates=10
So looks like I should do another water change as soon as possible???

 

[Lordicon]

did another water change last night and before i did a change i took another reading!
ph=7.5
amm=.25
nitrite=.50
nitrate =10
and tonight i just did another reading and now my readings are
!
ph 6.8
amm=0
nitrite = -0 color looks blue in color
nitrate=5.0
do you think tank is close to been cycled thanks for any input on this mader!!

 

[KaylNeko]

Wait until it gives you those readings for several days in a row without major water changes to call it cycled, but it's getting there

 

[smallfry53]

It might not be a big deal, but everything I have read has said that zebra danios are a lot healthier in water that is 75/76 degrees tops. You said your water was 78 degrees. A couple degrees might not matter too much though... Maybe somebody with experience can chime in.

 

[Lordicon]

not sure i just saw on the net should be around that temp. if it needs to go down i will do it but i thought higher the temp better for the cycle? But i sure am getting frustrated with this tank cycle i just did another water reading and now everything is going back up again! i had 0 amm and 0 rites an 5.0 rates and now!

ph=7.2
amm=0
rite=.25
and rate is 10
tonight i have a friend over and brought over some good filter media from his tank with
amm=0
rite=0
rates=40ppm
im going to try and seed my tank what do you all think???

 

[KaylNeko]

One of the recomendations for a fish-less cycle is to put the temp up in the 80's because it speeds up the BB's reproduction rate. But for fish in, I"m not sure it'll make that much difference.

I used to think the same thing about danios in lower temps, but apparently plenty of people keep them at 78 with no problems, so if you're going to have fish that do better at that temp, don't worry about it.

 

[Lordicon]

thank you that's good to know just wish the cycle would happen soon!!

 

[KaylNeko]

I know how you feel. Unfortunately, fish keeping is a patience game. Even in a 55 gallon with 5 small fish and seeded filter material, it took 2 weeks for my 55 gallon to finish cycling. Then I had to wait to finish quarantining the fish going in...then I had to wait for the ich treatment to finish (because apparently 2.5 wk quarantine isn't enough). Now I'm waiting for the 3 week QT on the new fish to end and the other ich treatment to do its job in the iso tank....and to get the money and room for the next big tank I want to do....yeah, there's a lot of waiting in this game.

 

[Lordicon]

thanks again im ok on waiting but my little 4 year old girl and my 2 year old boy just don't understand, ok and me a little lol

 

[librarygirl]

not sure i just saw on the net should be around that temp. if it needs to go down i will do it but i thought higher the temp better for the cycle? But i sure am getting frustrated with this tank cycle i just did another water reading and now everything is going back up again! i had 0 amm and 0 rites an 5.0 rates and now!

ph=7.2
amm=0
rite=.25
and rate is 10
tonight i have a friend over and brought over some good filter media from his tank with
amm=0
rite=0
rates=40ppm
im going to try and seed my tank what do you all think???

I know it can be frustrating but it does take a while. At 4 weeks in you're making good progress but a cycle can take up to 3 months to complete although hopefully yours won't last that long. The seeded media should help immensely. I'd do a 50% water change to get the nitrite down a bit. The nitrite phase is a bugger and is the longest of the phases and can last up to 3 week on average. You'll get there.

 

[Lordicon]

thanks again sure nice to have help when you get really frustrated, really want to get some kribs in they are my fav fish!!!

 

[Lordicon]

i thought i show you all my fish tank and hows its looking!!

 

[Hholly]

Looks great! While you're waiting to get real fish, you could get one of those fake jellyfish and put it in there. I bet it would look cool.

 

[KaylNeko]

They make fake almost mechanical floating fish you can throw in there for the kids to watch, too