Cycling my tank

[Vickyl85]

Hello folks

I have a 35 ltr tank set up, its been running for 3 wks now. After 4 days of it bein set up i added some fish. I have 2 black neons and a platy. I test the water everyday, the ammonia is at 2ppm there are no nitrites and the nitrates are sitting at 5ppm. I have carried out 20% water changes. Today is Tues and on Sun jst passed i changed approx 50% of the water and did a gravel clean ( as advised by my local pet shop) the nitrite did show a reading of 0.25ppm for 1 day last wk then it went back to 0. I jst cannot seem to get the ammonia down its a fluval u2 filter i have in the tank. The fish seem ok. But i sm worried tht there goin 2 come 2 harm if i cant get the ammonia down. Any advice WILL be greatly appreciated.
P.s once i get the ammonia down to 0 will this mean the tank has cycled?? I have been searching on google for advise but theres a few mixed answers and i really dont know which answer is the best answer. Thank you very much for your help and for taking time out to help me.


Vicky x

 

[librarygirl]

Hi and welcome to AA!

What test kit are you using? Are you using dechlorinator and what kind?
Have you tested your tap water for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate? If not, start there just to see if there's any of those in your tap water.
If not (or if there is some but it's less than what's in the tank), you'll need to carry out some larger water changes to get ammonia down; with ammonia at 2, a 50% water change will get it down to 1, etc, so I'd do a couple of 50% water changes a couple of hours apart (assuming your tap has 0 ammonia). These guides might help some too:
I just learned about cycling but I already have fish. What now?! - Aquarium Advice
Guide to Starting a Freshwater Aquarium - Aquarium Advice

 

[Vickyl85]

Thank you so much for getting back to me.
I am using the API testing kit, I am using the nutrafin aqua plus aswell. i have not checked the tap water, so i will do this when i get home from work. When i do the 50% water changes do you advise that i do a thorough gravel clean aswell? Once the ammonia goes down will that then mean that the tank has cycled? The nitrite did rise a small amount last week but its back to zero and the nitrate is 5ppm.


Thank you

Vicky x

 

[Vickyl85]

I have just tested my tap water, there is no ammonia present in that x

 

[Mebbid]

Signs of nitrate are very good since they mean that the nitrites are being consumed and means that your tank is getting a lot closer to being done. As Librarygirl said just keep up with the water changes and everything should go swimmingly, it's just a bit of a chore to dillute the ammonia levels in the aquarium down to safe amounts. Once your readings of both ammonia and nitrite are at 0 then it means that your tank is fully cycled.

If you are doing multiple water changes in a single day then I wouldn't worry about cleaning the gravel more than once per day. It will take a little bit for 3 fish to accumulate enough detrius to have an impact on water quality.

 

[Vickyl85]

I have done a 50% water change and the readings for ammonia has gone from 2 down to 1. There are no nitrites and the nitrates are . Is it ok to do two water changes in a day? The fish seem 2 b happy enough all swimming around chasing each other but then again the cant tell me if somethings wrong lol. The water that i am putting back in has been treated with aqua plus and as near to the tank temp as poss. Am i correct in saying that i add the aqua plus to all water changes, even if its twice a day until i get the ammonia down. Thank you for your kind help x

 

[Vickyl85]

Sorry the nitrate is sitting at 5.0ppm, forgot to add that bit lol x

 

[Mebbid]

I have done a 50% water change and the readings for ammonia has gone from 2 down to 1. There are no nitrites and the nitrates are . Is it ok to do two water changes in a day? The fish seem 2 b happy enough all swimming around chasing each other but then again the cant tell me if somethings wrong lol. The water that i am putting back in has been treated with aqua plus and as near to the tank temp as poss. Am i correct in saying that i add the aqua plus to all water changes, even if its twice a day until i get the ammonia down. Thank you for your kind help x

Yep, you will have to add a dechlorinator every time you add water to the tank, otherwise the chlorine in the water could potentially kill the BB you have been working to build up as well as harm the fish. There is also no problem with doing multiple water changes in a single day, I would just space them out a few hours apart and probably not do more than a 50% change, the fish tend to start freaking out if the water gets lower than that

 

[Vickyl85]

Ill do another water change later tonight. Once it is down to zero do i monitor the levels and carry out a water change every week?