Is my cycle normal?

[Nik74]

Hi everyone.

Just wondering if my cycle is normal as i'm new to all this.

I've had my tank (21.5L Blue Planet Hexy Mini) doing a fish in cycle for 2 weeks. It houses a male betta.

Started the tank with live plants, driftwood, heater (26degrees C) and API stress coat, left for 24 hours. Added Stress Zyme before adding my Betta (Cyril )

After the first week, the Ammonia was really high, with 0 Nitrites and 0 Nitrates (not sure of the exact ammonia reading as was done by the pet store).

Went home and on advice from pet store, did a 50% water change. (added both Stress Coat and Stress Zyme too).

Then on day 10 my little nephew decided to put a handful of grit/sand/ash from my gas open fire into the aquarium. I got out as much as I could but had to do another 50% water change to make sure the water was clean. Also added more stress coat, zyme etc.

At this point I also changed the sponge and carbon in the filter (think this could have been a bad idea?).

Since day 10 I've been monitoring the chemical levels daily with API Freshwater Master Test Kit.

Basically my readings have pretty much been the same everyday.

PH 6.0
Ammonia 0.25 (sometimes slightly creeping to between 0.25 and 0.5)
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 0

Think my PH may be too low but not sure?

Slightly worried about the ammonia as Cyril sometimes has a frenzy where he rubs himself on the gravel and driftwood and his bottom fin is starting to look a bit seperated (stringy). He doesn't do this all the time though. He got a hole in his top fin, but that's healed now.

I've been doing a 15% - 25% water change daily to help with the ammonia.

He's eating fine. I feed him Tetra BettaMin flakes once a day (not too much and never leave scraps in the tank). (tried Blood worms but he wont go near them).

So after all that just wondering if everything is going the way it should be, or if I'm doing something wrong? Am totally in love with Cyril now so don't want him to suffer or anything to happen to him.

Thanks for any help.
Nik

 

[kenbob]

Keep up with the water changes. You're doing things right.

 

[jlk]

Agreed! Stay on top of your water changes. Anytime your ammonia/nitrites reads .25ppm (or higher), you need to do atleast a 50% water change with water conditioner dosed for the size of your tank (not the amount your changing). Keep up with daily water testing while your tank cycles so you know whats happening in your tank & you should be fine!

 

[librarygirl]

Yep, just keep going. Changing out the filter media wasn't a great idea though; any bacteria you were starting to grow on that filter was thrown away and you basically had to start over. Your PH is a bit low... Leave a glass of tap water out for 24 hours and then test it's PH and see what it is then let us know.

 

[Nik74]

Buggar, I haven't been putting in enough conditioner for the whole tank, only what I'm replacing. Thanks for that piece of advice, will make sure I do that from now on.

Yeah after having done ALOT more reading, I realised changing the filter was dumb. We live and learn.

Will test the tap PH and let you know what it is.

cheers

 

[Nik74]

Hi guys, thought I'd continue this thread as all the info from the first post is still relevant.

After 6 weeks of still no nitrite readings I added some crushed shell to my filter compartment. This raised the PH (very) slowly to 7. Finally I started to see nitrites. Then after another 3 weeks, ammonia and nitrites were both 0 and I had a peak of 5 nitrates. This only lasted a day, then went back to 0.

Its been 2 weeks since the spike in nitrates and since then I've had 0 readings for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. I've tested everyday. I've still done pwc weekly, but everything seems fine.

I've also now added 6 neon tetras and they are getting along great with my betta. No problems at all. (theyve been together a week now).

So my question is, is it normal for the nitrates to read 0? I do have live plants, so i'm guessing it is, but I do seem to get varying opinions.

The tests are definately accurate. Someone mentioned to me that it is possible to have a tank will all 0s that basically maintains itself, but that that is very rare. Not sure if that's true or not.

cheers
Nik

 

[jlk]

Great job!!! I wouldnt worry about the nitrates too much because you have live plants. You still will need to do weekly maintenance water changes to remove dissolved solids & restore buffers (although yours are on the low side). Make sure you monitor your ph & add more cr shells or coral as needed to keep your ph stable. I am glad everything is going well!