brendainnj
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Hi all, I am currently in about week 2 or 3 of our first fishless cycle. We have had tanks before, but my husband always took care of them. He is not too keen on the idea of the fishless cycle, since he's anxious to get something in the tank! (plus it's something new)
So...we currently have a 46gal bowfront with a few plants in it. I've been adding Flourish excel (as per lfs) for the plants. One died already--can't remember name of it, except it was tall grassy type. The others seem to be holding up well. Pool sand for the substrate.
The ammonia levels seem to be consistently dropping over the past few days so today I did the first nitrite test. This was about a half hour after bumping the ammonia back up to 4ppm. The nitrite is currently @ .50. However, I don't have a nitrate test in my kit. It's a API Master kit from probably 10 years ago, and it doesn't contain the test for nitrate. To purchase just this test is $11, so it's kinda pricey for one test.
Is it necessary both now (during cycling) as well as for maintaining the tank?
Thanks!
So...we currently have a 46gal bowfront with a few plants in it. I've been adding Flourish excel (as per lfs) for the plants. One died already--can't remember name of it, except it was tall grassy type. The others seem to be holding up well. Pool sand for the substrate.
The ammonia levels seem to be consistently dropping over the past few days so today I did the first nitrite test. This was about a half hour after bumping the ammonia back up to 4ppm. The nitrite is currently @ .50. However, I don't have a nitrate test in my kit. It's a API Master kit from probably 10 years ago, and it doesn't contain the test for nitrate. To purchase just this test is $11, so it's kinda pricey for one test.
Is it necessary both now (during cycling) as well as for maintaining the tank?
Thanks!