cycling help

[Jmedic25]

Here is a good site on lighting. Should answer all your questions.
Welcome to Rex's Guide to Planted Tanks

 

[Quest84]

Did a water change
dosed ammonia last night to 2 PPM

todays water test

ammonia = 0
nitrite = 5.0
nitrate = 160+
PH = 7.4-7.6

do I keep dosing to 2 ppm ammonia or go back to the full 4 PPM?

 

[Hholly]

I would stay at 2ppm.

 

[Quest84]

nitrites are dropping slowly and ammonia is 0 overnight

I have black gravel for substrate and noticed that it has all this brown stuff all over it, is this algae? is it normal during cycling?

Also, there is brown stuff all over my Anubias, it looks like tiny hairs or worms but they aren't moving..is this normal? How do i get rid of it?

 

[Hholly]

The brown stuff is a diatom bloom. It will eventually go away on its own. But you can wipe or scrub it off of stuff. It's harmless.

 

[jlk]

Perfectly normal in a new tank! It will burn itself out as your tank becomes more established. Wipe it off glass & smooth stuff. A soft bristle toothbrush works well to get the diatoms off of plant leaves/things with a coarse texture. Either grav vac or stir up your sand. Your cycle sounds like its progressing well, too!

 

[Quest84]

wheww!! that's a relief, thought i messed up my cycle lol .. I will wipe off what I can and then do a gravel vac in a few days. Thanks for the help

 

[Quest84]

i dropped the ammonia down to 2ppm about a week ago

nitrites were really high at first, within the last 2 days they have 0 out

ammonia is still 0 overnight

is my cycle finally done?

 

[Hholly]

Sounds like it! What are your nitrates at? You need to get them down close to 20ppm or lower before adding fish. Congrats!

 

[jlk]

Congrats!!! I would stock conservatively as we only have you cycled to 2ppm. If you want to spend a few more days on cycling, we can increase the amm a bit each night & let your bb adjust upwards to 4ppm but you are technically ready fish as long as you dont go crazy! I would just watch your levels for a week after getting your fish to make sure everything stays stable. On the day you plan on purchasing fish (or the night before), you will need to do a 90-100% wc to get your nitrates as low as possible. It may take more than 1 wc to do this. Make sure you use temperature-matched, properly conditioned water. Adjust your heater to the temp suitable for your fish. Check out U-tube for how-to videos on 'drip acclimation' if you are not familiar with the process. Good luck & congats again!!

 

[Quest84]

I did the water change to get the nitrates really low, ammonia 0, nitrite 0
I will keep checking the water like you mentioned

Yesterday I picked up 10 small tiger barbs. They seem to be doing really well, and having fun checking out their new home. No one is nipping at each other. How many times a day should I feed them? and how much food?

 

[jlk]

I am glad all is well!! I would do some seaching on here for feeding suggestions. A general recommendation would be to feed 1-2x day for 6 days then 1 day fasting, only what they can eat in under 1min (i think, may be 30secs) but, as I dont keep tropicals, I am not 100% sure here. My coldwater feeding schedule wouldnt work for most fish.

 

[Quest84]

thanks JLK you helped me out a lot through the cycle process, I appreciate it

I'll post some pics when I get a chance

 

[jlk]

Look forward to seeing them!!