Strange Water readings?

[InfernoST]

Hiiiiii
I'm in the early stages of cycling my tank with 5 africans (about the 6th Day) and have been taking reading twice a day. According to the posts regarding Tank cycling the following should be happening, Ammonia will increase as the fish do their thing if and perform a 20% water change if the fish show signs of distress, After a while Nitrites should increase while ammonia should be falling as the bacteria start doing its thing. in the final stages Nitrites should start to decrease while nitrates start to increase. I hope I have the stages down correctly. My tank readings are a little different, please let me know what you guys think.

Hardness = Very soft
PH = 7.0
Ammonia = .25 mg/l
Nitrite = 0 mg/l
Nitrate = 12.5 mg/l

Shouldn't the nitrates at this early stage be 0 mg/l ? I think i may have been changing the water to frequently trying to keep the Ammonia level lower which i believe was a mistake (20%). How high should i let ammonia level go before performing a water change?

Thanks

 

[HN1]

Have you by chance tested your source water? You may have Nitrates from the tap. I wouldn't let ammonia (or nitrite for that matter) rise above it's current level of .25. Even if the fish survive levels higher, they can suffer damage which will eventually shorten their lifespan or lead to them being more susceptible to disease down the road. Way to be vigilant with testing! You're in the tough part now, once cycled it's alot more fun!

You probably know this stuff already, but I wasted an hour of my life writing it so I thought I'd link it. lol

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...-but-i-already-have-fish-what-now-116287.html

 

[InfernoST]

Have you by chance tested your source water? You may have Nitrates from the tap. I wouldn't let ammonia (or nitrite for that matter) rise above it's current level of .25. Even if the fish survive levels higher, they can suffer damage which will eventually shorten their lifespan or lead to them being more susceptible to disease down the road. Way to be vigilant with testing! You're in the tough part now, once cycled it's alot more fun!

You probably know this stuff already, but I wasted an hour of my life writing it so I thought I'd link it. lol

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...-but-i-already-have-fish-what-now-116287.html

HN1
I didn't think of checking the tap, I'm on it. Thanks for everything, i'll post again with the tap results in a half hour. It's going to be a lot of fun after the cycle, my next tank i'll try the fish less method considering it will be about 200gal.

 

[InfernoST]

HN1
You're on the money it is the tap, now i have to figure a way to remove the nitrates from the tap.

 

[HN1]

Glad the mystery is solved. It's scary sometimes what we drink!

I wouldn't worry too much over it. The Nitrate won't harm your cycle and Prime or other water conditioner should minimize any impact to fish. Is this tank going to be planted? If so, that may help to eliminate them naturally.

 

[gzeiger]

12.5 is well within safe limits. Don't worry about it at all.

 

[InfernoST]

12.5 is well within safe limits. Don't worry about it at all.

gzeiger
That's cool, however it makes me question what we here in NY are drinking. I look at it this way, My wife doesn't like to the kids hot dogs because they are loaded with nitrates yet it's in the tap water. Oh Well

 

[gzeiger]

No offense, but of all the things they put in hotdogs nitrate is a really dumb thing to get fixated on.

 

[HN1]

gzeiger
That's cool, however it makes me question what we here in NY are drinking. I look at it this way, My wife doesn't like to the kids hot dogs because they are loaded with nitrates yet it's in the tap water. Oh Well

Drink bottled and snack on a Ball Park... break even!

 

[InfernoST]

No offense, but of all the things they put in hotdogs nitrate is a really dumb thing to get fixated on.

No offense taken, life is to short to be fixated on BS. Besides my wife is the one that worries about all of the silly stuff and makes strange correlations.

 

[InfernoST]

Drink bottled and snack on a Ball Park... break even!

HN1

Amen to that brother. However I prefer Coney Island style Nathans Dogs.