I don’t think my 55 gallon tank has ever cycled in 1 year?
- Thread starter kevin lee
- Start date
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Thats looking pretty good almost there.
If you have any spring water (still water, not sparkling) in the house, can you do an ammonia test on it and compare it to the ammonia test from your aquarium? If you dont have any spring water, do an ammonia test on your tap water and compare that.
If you have any spring water (still water, not sparkling) in the house, can you do an ammonia test on it and compare it to the ammonia test from your aquarium? If you dont have any spring water, do an ammonia test on your tap water and compare that.
No I only use faucet water. Now I will test my faucet water to see what the ammonia reads.
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Now what to do moving forward to get this tank cycled !?
These 2 ammonia tests look the same to me. Zero ammonia can look a little bit greenish, so comparing your aquarium water against a sample thats known to be zero is a better indication than comparing against the chart.
Its fairly safe to assume that there is zero ammonia from your tap, so if your aquarium water test looks the same as the tap water test your aquarium is zero ammonia too. There might be a little ammonia in your tap water though, thats why i suggested testing spring water to compare.
Next time you walk past the store get a cheap bottle of spring water. It should only cost pennys. Test that for ammonia and compare with your aquarium water. If they look the same then your aquarium water is going to be zero ammonia.
So, it looks like you have zero ammonia and zero nitrite. That would say you are cycled. Continue to test daily for a week or 2, if you continue seeing zero ammonia and nitrite you are cycled. You last did a water change on Monday i think, so unless ammonia and nitrite start showing up again, do another water change on Monday. Then get into a regular water change schedule. Remember the baking soda needs dosing with water changes or your pH will gradually drop and eventually set you back again.
Its fairly safe to assume that there is zero ammonia from your tap, so if your aquarium water test looks the same as the tap water test your aquarium is zero ammonia too. There might be a little ammonia in your tap water though, thats why i suggested testing spring water to compare.
Next time you walk past the store get a cheap bottle of spring water. It should only cost pennys. Test that for ammonia and compare with your aquarium water. If they look the same then your aquarium water is going to be zero ammonia.
So, it looks like you have zero ammonia and zero nitrite. That would say you are cycled. Continue to test daily for a week or 2, if you continue seeing zero ammonia and nitrite you are cycled. You last did a water change on Monday i think, so unless ammonia and nitrite start showing up again, do another water change on Monday. Then get into a regular water change schedule. Remember the baking soda needs dosing with water changes or your pH will gradually drop and eventually set you back again.
Should I buy this or just stay with the baking soda ass needed !?
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I would use the alkaline buffer because its not adding sodium into the water. But you said you previously used a buffer and it didnt work.
What buffer did you use previously?
Yeah they both done that before you started guiding me through this process, but’ idk
Can you suggest trying it again to see how it reacts now !?
You can try it and see what happens.
And another question? When a tank is fully cycled does the ph stay where you want it, or do we all have to use a buffer like I mentioned about to keep it ok !?After 0 water change yesterday here is my parameters today.
Nitrate - 5.0 ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Ammonia - I think it’s 0 ppm ‘ but you tell me
Ph - holding
Now what to do moving forward to finally get this 55g cycled !?
As said it looks like your tank is cycled but continue to test daily for a week or 2 to make sure.
Your pH has very little to do with being cycled. The natural processes that happen in the tank like denitrification and fish respiration will try to acidify the water, but carbonate hardness (KH) will keep it steady. Your tap water is soft and acidic, and if you dont artificially add KH thats what it will go back to. Every time you do a water change you are removing the KH from the baking soda and your aquarium will get more acidic. Eventually it will be so acidic denitrification will stop and your cycle will stop functioning, which is where you were before you started this thread.
As said before, you dont need to be cycled if your water is acidic, because ammonia isnt toxic in acidic water. You wasnt cycled before you started this thread and your fish were fine.
If you want to maintain a higher KH/ pH aquarium you will need to keep buffering the water with baking soda/ alkaline buffer with every water change. If you want to maintain a lower KH/ pH then dont keep adding baking soda/ alkaline buffer, your cycle will stop but the acidic water will prevent the ammonia from being toxic.
Your pH has very little to do with being cycled. The natural processes that happen in the tank like denitrification and fish respiration will try to acidify the water, but carbonate hardness (KH) will keep it steady. Your tap water is soft and acidic, and if you dont artificially add KH thats what it will go back to. Every time you do a water change you are removing the KH from the baking soda and your aquarium will get more acidic. Eventually it will be so acidic denitrification will stop and your cycle will stop functioning, which is where you were before you started this thread.
As said before, you dont need to be cycled if your water is acidic, because ammonia isnt toxic in acidic water. You wasnt cycled before you started this thread and your fish were fine.
If you want to maintain a higher KH/ pH aquarium you will need to keep buffering the water with baking soda/ alkaline buffer with every water change. If you want to maintain a lower KH/ pH then dont keep adding baking soda/ alkaline buffer, your cycle will stop but the acidic water will prevent the ammonia from being toxic.
I’m just not used to seeing my parameters look this good for this amount of time. I think you help me finally get my tank cycled
so I’m guess I should get in a routine of doing a 25% water change every 7 days and watchi
According to your post history you last did a water change a week ago. Topping up for evaporation doesnt count as a water change.
I would get into the habit of a weekly water change starting today.
Your pH wont drop much between water changes. Doing water changes with soft, acidic that will cause a pH drop. So remember to add some baking soda/ alkaline buffer with every water change to prevent this drop.
I would get into the habit of a weekly water change starting today.
Your pH wont drop much between water changes. Doing water changes with soft, acidic that will cause a pH drop. So remember to add some baking soda/ alkaline buffer with every water change to prevent this drop.
* watching my ph. Would this be ok !?I’m just not used to seeing my parameters look this good for this amount of time. I think you help me finally get my tank cycled
No. I would get into the habit of dosing your baking soda/ alkaline buffer with each water change. Your fish will do better with consistent water parameters rather than having pH gradually drop over a number of weeks and then suddenly shooting back up when you decide to bring it back up.
