Well, not brand new, restarted after disaster.
I am cycling a 25 gallon tropical freshwater aquarium. I am having problems with the cycle. I'm getting ammonia, but had only traces levels of nitrites and no nitrates. It took about a week to get 1 ppm ammonia, and 2 weeks to get to 2 ppm and has not increased since. I started getting trace readings of nitrites after one week as well (0.125 between 0 and 0.25). This reading was consistant for a week. Admittedly getting impatient, I tried adding seachem stability per manuf. instructions to no avail. Then I purchased the sm. bottle of Fritz TurboStart 700 and added that to the aquarium. Overnight, the nitrites went to 0.5 ppm while the ammonia stayed at 2 ppm. Still no nitrate readings. See below for more water testing info.
Is this normal? What are typical ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate level spikes and timeline for a cycling tank? Its been almost 3 weeks and I still haven't seen a trace of nitrate.
I also have been using seachem acid and alkaline buffer to get the pH to 7.0, as my tap water is very unusual. Tap water I started with had a pH of 8.2, a gH of 6° and a kH of 2°. Usually high pH levels ar associated with hard water; my tap water is high pH, but very soft. My pH is now 7.4 to 7.6 depending on who you ask. The LFS read 7.0. My brand new API low range test kit says 7.6, high range test shows 7.4 sometimes and 7.6 sometimes. Which one is correct?
Here is a summary of my log if more info is needed:
Note: feeding is flake once every other day, with newly hatched brine shrimp once and a while (had an old hatchery and some sea salt, why not get some eggs?) A "?" next to test reading denotes test color was between colors on the chart and I extrapolated. Also, I now realize I don't have to get to a pH of 6.8. Still, I'd feel better if I could get it to 7.0 to 7.2. Except for the one danio that died the first night, the danios seem fine. There was/is no visible behavior to indicate distress from ammonia or nitrite.
5/16 Cleaned old tank and Bio-Wheel 150 filter. The tank was filthy with dried algae so I broke down and used a little dishwashing liquid thinking its the mildest of typical cleaners, taking care to rinse the tank very thoroughly with detachable shower spray hose. The filter was stripped and cleaned in water only. Set up tank with new gravel, plastic plants and heater. Added Seachem Prime water conditioner. Ran filter overnight.
5/17 Added 4 long finned zebra danios
5/18 One danio died
5/19 Temp............78° f
pH...............7.4
NH3...............0
NO2............. .0
NO3...............0
Water chemistry levels remains the same with a little fluctuation in temp and pH.
5/22 Temp..........77° f
pH.............7.2
NH3.............1 ppm
NO2.............Trace (0.125 ppm?)
NO3.............0
5/24 Started adding buffers to lower pH for angelfish and neon tetras. Similar water chemistry test parameters. Added 5 more long fin leopard danios per advice from LFS. Now have 8 danios.
5/26 Temp..........82° f!
pH.............7.8!
NH3.............2 ppm
other parameters unchanged. Lowered Heater temp. setting. Added Seachem acid and alkaline buffer per manuf. instructions to lower pH to 6.8
5/28 Temp..........77° f
pH.............7.4
NH3...........1.5? ppm
othe parameter unchanged.
5/30 Temp.........75° f
pH............7.2
NH3..........1.5? ppm
NO2........0.125? ppm (unchanged
NO3............0 (unchanged)
6/2 Temp.........78° f
pH............7.4
NH3.......... 2 ppm
other parameters unchanged
6/4 Temp.........76° f
pH.............7.4
NH3...........2 ppm
other parameters unchanged. Add Fritz TurboStart 700 which is supposed to be live nitrosoma and nitrobacter bacteria to convert both ammonia AND Nitrite to Nitrate.
6/5 Bought gH/kH test kit.
Temp.........77° f
pH.............7.4
NH3.............2
NO2.........0.50 (yeah!)
NO3.............0
GH...............6° dGH (107.4 ppm)
KH...............4° dKH (71.6 ppm)
Tap Water (to see where I started):
pH.............8.2
GH..............6° dGH (107.4 ppm)
KH..............2° dKH (35.8 ppm)
I am cycling a 25 gallon tropical freshwater aquarium. I am having problems with the cycle. I'm getting ammonia, but had only traces levels of nitrites and no nitrates. It took about a week to get 1 ppm ammonia, and 2 weeks to get to 2 ppm and has not increased since. I started getting trace readings of nitrites after one week as well (0.125 between 0 and 0.25). This reading was consistant for a week. Admittedly getting impatient, I tried adding seachem stability per manuf. instructions to no avail. Then I purchased the sm. bottle of Fritz TurboStart 700 and added that to the aquarium. Overnight, the nitrites went to 0.5 ppm while the ammonia stayed at 2 ppm. Still no nitrate readings. See below for more water testing info.
Is this normal? What are typical ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate level spikes and timeline for a cycling tank? Its been almost 3 weeks and I still haven't seen a trace of nitrate.
I also have been using seachem acid and alkaline buffer to get the pH to 7.0, as my tap water is very unusual. Tap water I started with had a pH of 8.2, a gH of 6° and a kH of 2°. Usually high pH levels ar associated with hard water; my tap water is high pH, but very soft. My pH is now 7.4 to 7.6 depending on who you ask. The LFS read 7.0. My brand new API low range test kit says 7.6, high range test shows 7.4 sometimes and 7.6 sometimes. Which one is correct?
Here is a summary of my log if more info is needed:
Note: feeding is flake once every other day, with newly hatched brine shrimp once and a while (had an old hatchery and some sea salt, why not get some eggs?) A "?" next to test reading denotes test color was between colors on the chart and I extrapolated. Also, I now realize I don't have to get to a pH of 6.8. Still, I'd feel better if I could get it to 7.0 to 7.2. Except for the one danio that died the first night, the danios seem fine. There was/is no visible behavior to indicate distress from ammonia or nitrite.
5/16 Cleaned old tank and Bio-Wheel 150 filter. The tank was filthy with dried algae so I broke down and used a little dishwashing liquid thinking its the mildest of typical cleaners, taking care to rinse the tank very thoroughly with detachable shower spray hose. The filter was stripped and cleaned in water only. Set up tank with new gravel, plastic plants and heater. Added Seachem Prime water conditioner. Ran filter overnight.
5/17 Added 4 long finned zebra danios
5/18 One danio died
5/19 Temp............78° f
pH...............7.4
NH3...............0
NO2............. .0
NO3...............0
Water chemistry levels remains the same with a little fluctuation in temp and pH.
5/22 Temp..........77° f
pH.............7.2
NH3.............1 ppm
NO2.............Trace (0.125 ppm?)
NO3.............0
5/24 Started adding buffers to lower pH for angelfish and neon tetras. Similar water chemistry test parameters. Added 5 more long fin leopard danios per advice from LFS. Now have 8 danios.
5/26 Temp..........82° f!
pH.............7.8!
NH3.............2 ppm
other parameters unchanged. Lowered Heater temp. setting. Added Seachem acid and alkaline buffer per manuf. instructions to lower pH to 6.8
5/28 Temp..........77° f
pH.............7.4
NH3...........1.5? ppm
othe parameter unchanged.
5/30 Temp.........75° f
pH............7.2
NH3..........1.5? ppm
NO2........0.125? ppm (unchanged
NO3............0 (unchanged)
6/2 Temp.........78° f
pH............7.4
NH3.......... 2 ppm
other parameters unchanged
6/4 Temp.........76° f
pH.............7.4
NH3...........2 ppm
other parameters unchanged. Add Fritz TurboStart 700 which is supposed to be live nitrosoma and nitrobacter bacteria to convert both ammonia AND Nitrite to Nitrate.
6/5 Bought gH/kH test kit.
Temp.........77° f
pH.............7.4
NH3.............2
NO2.........0.50 (yeah!)
NO3.............0
GH...............6° dGH (107.4 ppm)
KH...............4° dKH (71.6 ppm)
Tap Water (to see where I started):
pH.............8.2
GH..............6° dGH (107.4 ppm)
KH..............2° dKH (35.8 ppm)
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