Am I Cycled? Strange Ammonia Drop.

[aibo210]

Hi

Ive started my tank using safe start and a 6 zebra danios about 2 week ago about 3 days ago I cheaked for amonnia and it was sitting at 0.50 on my api test kit. so I did a little water change.

Did the same thing again today tested ammonia and now its sat at 0 with nitrite also at 0 is it cycled or what?

I cant get a reading on these two what so ever ive tried twice!

Any ideas?

 

[BenPursglove]

So what is nitrAte at then? Zero ammonia and nitrItes with fish in would suggest cycle completion for current stock if nitrAtes are high too? If this is the case, do a 40-50% waterchange, leave it a week or so then add some more tank buddies if you can fit them. Continue to monitor between now and then and abort further stocking if you see any raise in ammo or NitrItes. If no or low NitrAtes are detected all week then I would abort stocking as you are not cycled yet.

Why fish in cycle?

 

[aibo210]

So what is nitrAte at then? Zero ammonia and nitrItes with fish in would suggest cycle completion for current stock if nitrAtes are high too? If this is the case, do a 40-50% waterchange, leave it a week or so then add some more tank buddies if you can fit them. Continue to monitor between now and then and abort further stocking if you see any raise in ammo or NitrItes. If no or low NitrAtes are detected all week then I would abort stocking as you are not cycled yet.

Why fish in cycle?

I just tested my nitrate its up to 40ppm thats said though I have been using TPN+ which has nitrates in it.

Why fish well tetra safe start claims you can cycle with them with no ammonia issues etc and they seem to be copeing fine I aint seen any huge swings in amonnia or nitrite tbh I aint had a nitrite increase as yet!

 

[fatheadminnow]

So what is nitrAte at then? Zero ammonia and nitrItes with fish in would suggest cycle completion for current stock if nitrAtes are high too? If this is the case, do a 40-50% waterchange, leave it a week or so then add some more tank buddies if you can fit them. Continue to monitor between now and then and abort further stocking if you see any raise in ammo or NitrItes. If no or low NitrAtes are detected all week then I would abort stocking as you are not cycled yet.

Why fish in cycle?

I just tested my nitrate its up to 40ppm thats said though I have been using TPN+ which has nitrates in it.

Why fish well tetra safe start claims you can cycle with them with no ammonia issues etc and they seem to be copeing fine I aint seen any huge swings in amonnia or nitrite tbh I aint had a nitrite increase as yet!

Have you checked your tap water and seen if you have any nitrates in there?

2 1/2 Weeks seems like a pretty short time for a cycle to be completed?

As far as tetra safe goes, it is pretty much a gimmick. The only thing it can do is "remove" the ammonia in the water(changed its properties so it is harmless to fish, but still detectable on your test kit), and if that is the case then there would be no beneficial bacteria in your filter.

If you take away ammonia then the bacteria that process ammonia into nitrite are not going to grow, and if they don't grow, then the bacteria that process nitrite into nitrate cannot grow.

This is a guess, but I am guessing that you never had a nitrite reading at all through this whole time? I could be wrong?

What I think is happening in your tank is that the tetra safe stuff you are adding is "removing" the ammonia, and when you do get a reading for ammonia you do a water change and take a lot of ammonia out. Then you add water back to the tank along with the tetra safe.

All-in-all there is basically zero ammonia present in your tank to get the cycling process going.

Like I said I could be wrong, and there could be some miracle that you are cycled in 2 1/2 weeks!

Check you tap water to see if you have any Nitrates present.

Have you ever had a Nitrite reading at all during this whole time?

-FHM

 

[aibo210]

The tetra safe start was added about 3 days after setting up the tank I added the 6 danios the same day!

Ive seen ammonia spikes of 0.50 on days 6-12 but reduced them using small water changes and prime

I have also cheaked for nitrites in that time but nothing.

The test I did today which would be about at 2 roughly weeks showed no amonnia! and no nitrite! so im guessing it was taken out using my water change or prime is giving me false readings?

Im using the API master test kit

Doseing ive done in this tank:
2ml TPN+ a day
2.5ml Easycarbo a day

Day 3 into setup 100ml of safestart for 120L tank tetra says 5ml per 6l of water then add a few fish working it out it users a full 100ml bottle! Its a one dose product just add it on setup and add fish!

I aint tested the tap water for nitrate but I did find this online:
Authority: Seven Trent Water
Zone : Oakwood and Chaddesden
County: Derbyshire
pH: pH 7.76 on average
Nitrate: 13.38 mg/l on average
Calcium: 73 mg/l
GH: 10.18 °GH
Total chlorine: 0.18 mg/l

my aquarium is currently sitting at 40ppm on the wich is red and thats the only reading im getting today!

PH is 7.6


Thanks guys

 

[fatheadminnow]

Yeah, I would defiantly check your tap water and see how much nitrate is in there. It is not that unusual to have a high reading of nitrates in your tap water.

Prime is a good water conditioner, and should be added every time you do water changes.

And also, TPN+ contains nitrates, which is where you could be getting your nitrate reading from.

This is what you should do, and this is what I did when I did a fish-in cycle.

Added de-chlorinated water and then added the fish to the tank.

Than all I did was monitor the water parameters, and when ammonia and/or nitrite got up to around .5 ppm, I did a water change to bring them back down, and when I added water back to the tank, I added water conditioner, in your case it would be prime.

Eventually it all worked out, and now I have a fully cycles tank. It took me a long time, just a little over 3 months for my cycle yo be completed. But in the beginning I did not know what was going on so that is why it so long.

So just check you tap water for nitrate, and only add prime to the water.

-FHM