Peri
Aquarium Advice Newbie
So I crossed over to the fish side (star wars reference there) about a month ago when I bought a simple dragonscale Betta. Upon the first day I noticed cloudy water and from that point on I have been doing constant research on the nitrogen cycle. Still being an eager newb to the whole aquarium scene, I went out and purchased 3 glo danios for my 3 gallon. Let me prevent you from holding your breath by saying that before the fish were let out of the bag I quickly dug out and set up my parents old 20 gallon and filled it about half way at the time. Long story short, I have continued buying a few fish each week since and now about a month later I have the betta, 3 glo danios, 3 zebra danios, 2 dalmation mollies, and 1 black Molly in that order. I have been constantly been doing water changes so the fish are as comfortable as possible.
I just got the API master test kit today in the mail and the levels are as shown in the picture attached: ph-7.5ish, ammonia-.25ppm, nitrites-0, nitrates-5ppm. The thing is my straight tap water also reads ammonia-.25ppm and 5 nitrates(well water). The water stopped being noticeably cloudy over a week ago and is still not crystal clear yet. I'm presuming the cycle is not finished, but my well water is throwing me off.
My main question is... Is it possible that the tests will read .25 ppm at the lowest since it is already contained in the well water? I know this is possible with prime or amquel+ because those products transform ammonia to ammonium and still reads that in the ammonia test even though its completely safe. Another question: Could my well water contain ammonium and that's why it can't go to 0ppm on the test? If that's not the case then maybe my tank didn't even start the nitrite spikes of the cycle yet, but I feel like 3 plus weeks in would be at least or past that point.
That leads me to mention that all my fish, with the mollies being the most recent as of about a week ago are all seemingly happy and content in there home. I know also that there may be a slightly larger amount of fish in the tank, but I know that once when I get established and feel at ease and less panicky then I can make it work.
Sorry to rant, but I don't want to feel like I rushed into this whole thing (even though I know I did) and make the little guys suffer anymore than they have to. Let me know your feedback! Thanks so much!!!
I just got the API master test kit today in the mail and the levels are as shown in the picture attached: ph-7.5ish, ammonia-.25ppm, nitrites-0, nitrates-5ppm. The thing is my straight tap water also reads ammonia-.25ppm and 5 nitrates(well water). The water stopped being noticeably cloudy over a week ago and is still not crystal clear yet. I'm presuming the cycle is not finished, but my well water is throwing me off.
My main question is... Is it possible that the tests will read .25 ppm at the lowest since it is already contained in the well water? I know this is possible with prime or amquel+ because those products transform ammonia to ammonium and still reads that in the ammonia test even though its completely safe. Another question: Could my well water contain ammonium and that's why it can't go to 0ppm on the test? If that's not the case then maybe my tank didn't even start the nitrite spikes of the cycle yet, but I feel like 3 plus weeks in would be at least or past that point.
That leads me to mention that all my fish, with the mollies being the most recent as of about a week ago are all seemingly happy and content in there home. I know also that there may be a slightly larger amount of fish in the tank, but I know that once when I get established and feel at ease and less panicky then I can make it work.
Sorry to rant, but I don't want to feel like I rushed into this whole thing (even though I know I did) and make the little guys suffer anymore than they have to. Let me know your feedback! Thanks so much!!!
