ammonia, nitrite and nitrate help?

[AshT91]

Hey this is my first post on this forum so bear with me about 3 or 4 months ago I purchased a 60 litre tank for my gf as a birthday present, all they told me in the store was to leave it for about a week before adding fish so thats what we did, we added 3 rummy noses and 3 cherry barbs as this is what thet reccomended, about 3 days later we added 3 mollies. Then the 3 rummy noses died so read up on the internet and found out about cycling! im dissapointed they didnt tell me about it in the store. I now purchased an api liquid test kit about 2 weeks ago and have been doing 50% water changes every other day depending on what the tests said.

I have high ammonia levels up to 1.0 sometimes higher before water change. I have no nitrite but a tiny bit of nitrate. How is this possible as I thought you must have nitrite before nitrate and the ammonia keeps going up after water changes im a bit confused as I am new to this and just wish I researched before going in head first lol.

Any help is appreciated
Thanks,
Ash

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Hi. Welcome to AA!
Have you checked your tap water for ammonia and nitrate?
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/artic...-to-Starting-a-Freshwater-Aquarium/Page1.html

 

[Deep Seven]

Test your tap water. Sometimes tap water will have readings that will affect your test results.

Ammonia=>Nitrite=>Nitrate is a two stage process performed by two different bacteria. The first stage bacteria producing nitrites usually has a spike in population producing more nitrites then the second stage bacteria that turns them into nitrates can consume. If some factors are limiting the growth of the first stage bacteria, or if for some reason the second stage bacteria had a larger starting colony, it is possible to not see nitrites appear on a test and still have a properly cycled tank.

 

[tmdavies]

Pets at home by any chance?

 

[AshT91]

Yes it was pets at home lol. I will test the tap water later on when im over there, what do I do if the tap water does contain ammonia and nitrite?

 

[librarygirl]

Yes it was pets at home lol. I will test the tap water later on when im over there, what do I do if the tap water does contain ammonia and nitrite?

It depends onhow much is in the tap water. Test it first and post results here, we can go from there. After 4 months though I would think your tank would be cycled by now. Are you changing out the filter media?

 

[AshT91]

Actually thinking about it its about 2 to 3 months sorry for that. And yes my tank came with a hang on back filter marina s15 I think it is but reading up about it I read that it wasnt actually enough for 60 litres. So about a week ago I bought the fluval u2 as I rread some good reviews so at the moment I have both in the tank. I have changed one of the filter pads on the marina filter so far should I change them more often?

 

[tmdavies]

I bought the exact same tank as you for my first marina 60l with the slim filter.
You should never change the filter media unless its falling apart just rinse it in old tank water every so often.

 

[AshT91]

Oh right ok I only did because it says you should, probably only to make money then lol did you have trouble with that filter?

 

[tmdavies]

The Reason why you dont replace the media is because the bacteria that breaks the toxins down in the tank live on the media. Everytime you put a new one in your losing all the bacteria you waited so long to get.
I never had a problem with the filter apart from mine rattled a lot. I decided to go bigger so i sold the tank. I think that the filter was adequate for the tank but you can never have to much filtration lol

 

[AshT91]

Just tested the water and is my tank finally cycling? and if so do I do water changes still or?

Ammonia 0.50 ppm
Nitrite 0.50-1.0 ppm
Nitrate 5.00ppm
PH 7.2

any advice what to do next is much appreciated

 

[tmdavies]

Yes a water change never hurts it wont harm the cycle and it will help the fish

 

[AshT91]

What percent water change? When its fully cycled should ammonia be zero and nitrite and have how much nitrate?

 

[tmdavies]

The longer you leave in between water changes the more nitrate you will have.
With a tank your size i would change 20-30 litres a week and that should keep your nitrates down 20ppm is an acceptable level for nitrate

 

[AshT91]

Ok thanks for the help another question now haha. I have 3 mollies and I read they like a bit of salt in the water so I was wondering if I should add some even though I have other fish in the tank too?

 

[tmdavies]

Ive never kept mollys sorry

 

[AshT91]

No problem thanks for the help anyway im glad I found this forum there is a lot of good info on here!