Hi all, I have a 40 gal breeder tank I set up 6 weeks ago and dosed with Prime and Stability. I was only semi-informed about the nitrogen cycle, and added 2 3" goldfish after 3 weeks, but before it was probably cycled. I lost 1 of them after 2 weeks and then started doing either 30% water changes every other day or dosed with Prime to keep ammonia and nitrites below 1ppm. 2nd goldie seems fine and active.
I saw a nitrites rise a couple times to ~2ppm a couple weeks ago, so did daily water changes to reduce. Now I've had 0 ammonia, .25-.50 ppm nitritess and 0-5ppm nitrates for about a week. The colors are so hard to discern sometimes. 7.6 pH has been steady.
I've read that I may not see the typical ammonia and nitrite spike/drop, and then nitrate spike as in fishless cycles. I have 2 HOB (400gph total), air strip and temp 72F. I feed my goldie 1 pea and 2 pellets twice a day. He wants more, but I don't want to create too much ammonia. I haven't done a water change since Fri and today is Monday. This is the longest the tank has gone without a change to the readings. Is there something I should be doing further? I feel my nitrates should have started rising? I stopped dosing with Stability since I don't feel it's done anything over the past month. Not sure how to tell when an unplanned fish-in tank has cycled or get a buddy for current goldie, but obviously happy my current resident seems healthy.
Any advice is greatly appreciated. I had tropicals and planted tank years ago, so not a total noob, but I've made some dumb mistakes this time!
I saw a nitrites rise a couple times to ~2ppm a couple weeks ago, so did daily water changes to reduce. Now I've had 0 ammonia, .25-.50 ppm nitritess and 0-5ppm nitrates for about a week. The colors are so hard to discern sometimes. 7.6 pH has been steady.
I've read that I may not see the typical ammonia and nitrite spike/drop, and then nitrate spike as in fishless cycles. I have 2 HOB (400gph total), air strip and temp 72F. I feed my goldie 1 pea and 2 pellets twice a day. He wants more, but I don't want to create too much ammonia. I haven't done a water change since Fri and today is Monday. This is the longest the tank has gone without a change to the readings. Is there something I should be doing further? I feel my nitrates should have started rising? I stopped dosing with Stability since I don't feel it's done anything over the past month. Not sure how to tell when an unplanned fish-in tank has cycled or get a buddy for current goldie, but obviously happy my current resident seems healthy.
Any advice is greatly appreciated. I had tropicals and planted tank years ago, so not a total noob, but I've made some dumb mistakes this time!