Water changes

[Tianna8999]

I’m sorry if it seems like I’m asking the same questions HOWEVER I had an ammonia spike of I’d say .25 to .50 (light green) and nitrite of .25 mid .50 ( light purple) and no nitrates yet but a ph of 8.2 - 8.4 very high.

?? MY QUESTION IS: is my goal during a fish in cycle to do water changes to keep ammonia and nitrites at 0 ? or am I messing it up.

I’m using prime and stability by scheme after my water changes. I also have some root tabs for my plants in the sand substrate but they’re all dying and getting brown slowly

 

[King Fisher]

You want ammonia between .25 to .50 ppm during a fish in cycle. You can have a little bit of nitrites but I wouldn't let them get above .25 ppm. Don't let your nitrates get above 40 ppm when you start getting them. Don't worry about your pH. It's fine.

Plants are fine during a cycle. If your plants are doing bad it could be from several different things. I'm not the plant guy here so maybe someone will chime in on plant care.

 

[Tianna8999]

You want ammonia between .25 to .50 ppm during a fish in cycle. You can have a little bit of nitrites but I wouldn't let them get above .25 ppm. Don't let your nitrates get above 40 ppm when you start getting them. Don't worry about your pH. It's fine.

Plants are fine during a cycle. If your plants are doing bad it could be from several different things. I'm not the plant guy here so maybe someone will chime in on plant care.

How often should I do water changes if I’m putting all this things in my water? High PH won’t kill my fish?

 

[King Fisher]

Fish adapt to high pH. And I have the same pH as you do.

Test your water daily and that will give you a gauge on when to change your water. Use prime every two days. I outlined this in another post you made

 

[BBradbury]

Hello Tia...

Hopefully, you've selected a hardy fish to cycle your tank. Sensitive species aren't likely to survive the process. Any of the livebearers with the exception of Mollies are good as are the species of Minnows like Fat Heads and White clouds. Anyway, you test the water daily for traces of ammonia and nitrite. If you have a positive test for either, you remove one-quarter of the water and replace it with treated tap water. This is enough to keep the chemistry in the safe zone for the fish and to steadily grow the bacteria colony. Changing more water just delays the cycle. Simply test daily and change 25 percent of the water when needed. When you have several daily tests with no traces of ammonia or nitrite, the tank is cycled. Then change out half the water weekly to maintain good water conditions. The cycle takes a month or so.

Pretty easy,

B

 

[Tianna8999]

Hello Tia...

Hopefully, you've selected a hardy fish to cycle your tank. Sensitive species aren't likely to survive the process. Any of the livebearers with the exception of Mollies are good as are the species of Minnows like Fat Heads and White clouds. Anyway, you test the water daily for traces of ammonia and nitrite. If you have a positive test for either, you remove one-quarter of the water and replace it with treated tap water. This is enough to keep the chemistry in the safe zone for the fish and to steadily grow the bacteria colony. Changing more water just delays the cycle. Simply test daily and change 25 percent of the water when needed. When you have several daily tests with no traces of ammonia or nitrite, the tank is cycled. Then change out half the water weekly to maintain good water conditions. The cycle takes a month or so.

Pretty easy,

B

Haha thank you for the reply and hahaha this has been the most stressful process though, I didn’t know about the cycle and I have two dwarf gourami