Cycling ten gal tank and also adding new filter.

[HAnnAH10gal]

I have a used ( previously established) ten gal tank. And i have it running with a whisper pf10 power filter. I think I made the mistake of borrowing someone's used filter cartridge to add bacteria to my tank, however I never added ammonia to feed the bacteria. I am not sure if I killed my bacteria or not. I also am going to purchase some water test strips along with a new filter because I want to upgrade the one I have now. I figured I should upgrade now and then recycle the tank to get the bacteria running again. Any suggestions on how I need to do this? I have my tank running and cycling with no fish but like I said I don't know how my Bactria is doing because I have no source of ammonia and no test strips yet. I guess my first step buying test strips then testing my water....



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[Coursair]

Buy a liquid test kit. Much more accurate and cheaper in the long run. API Master Test kit is usually best for the money.

http://m.petsmart.com/h5/hub?id=htt...test-kit-zid36-17465/cat-36-catid-300022?null


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[HAnnAH10gal]

I got my new aquaclear filter last night and set it up. I also did purchase the new tetra test strips instead. I will get the master kit once the strips are gone. I did a water test and it showed my nitrite levels to be at .05 and nitrate at 40 ppm. Ph was also a bit high. I added some fish food and will test it again tonight. I think my tank needs more cycling time.


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[Coursair]

Don't worry about PH. If it's super low , then it might affect things. High is ok.

Ammonia is your main test during beginning of cycle.

You need to see if your Ammonia drops to Zero within 24 hours after adding Ammonia ( in a Fishless cycle).


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[Coursair]

Fish food is not the best source for Ammonia. You can buy Ammonia direct.


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[HAnnAH10gal]

So which also means zero nitrites...the con about those test strips is they don't test ammonia, just nitrates, nitrites, hardness, ph, chlorine and alkalinity

.


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[Coursair]

You can buy a test strip or liquid for Ammonia separately also


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[HAnnAH10gal]

Tested my tank again tonight. It has been almost 24 hours. About an hour off.
I now get nitrate same- 40
Nitrite .5-1.0
Hardness 150
And chlorine 0
Alkalinity 40 and ph 6.8
I guess my tank isn't quite cycled yet.


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[HAnnAH10gal]

Should I do a 25% water change and add more ammonia? Or not do any water changes? I did change my filter Last night so that is Prob some of the reason why my nitrites are there. I can borrow some more filter media or dirty decorations from a friend tommorow too


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[HAnnAH10gal]

My new filter is an aquaclear and it has new biomedia in it as well as old so there is some bacteria in it but not a lot obviously.


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