Am I near cycled?

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SABWARNER16

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So I went from water changes every day, to letting about two days go without doing a water change. 3.5 gallon betta tank up for a month.
First tube is ammonia, looks like there is some ammonia but for two days going by itā€™s pretty low compared to what it use to be
Second is nitrite
Nitrate
I donā€™t think Iā€™ve ever seen a nitrite reading on this tank but last week I did see a nitrate reading. I just canā€™t tell what the values are. Can someone help?

Update: I just did a test strip using tetra 5 in 1. Nitrite and nitrate are 0! Ugh! Why is it going up and down and taking so long
 

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I would still test every day for a while yet. A tank is considered cycled when the levels of ammonia and nitrite stay at zero for 7 days. If ammonia is low and nitrite zero, you are almost there but not quite. Just a bit longer.



Are there any live plants in the tank?
 
I would still test every day for a while yet. A tank is considered cycled when the levels of ammonia and nitrite stay at zero for 7 days. If ammonia is low and nitrite zero, you are almost there but not quite. Just a bit longer.



Are there any live plants in the tank?

Ok gotcha. I have two swords
 
Plants use ammonia as fertiliser and they don't turn it into nitrite or nitrate. Two swords may not be enough to do the job by themselves but they will help. This may be why you are not seeing much nitrate.
 
Plants use ammonia as fertiliser and they don't turn it into nitrite or nitrate. Two swords may not be enough to do the job by themselves but they will help. This may be why you are not seeing much nitrate.

I just bought a temple compacta. I also bought bacopa to float. Think that will be enough or maybe some more? I also have a moss ball
 
How big is the tank? The bigger the tank, the more plants are needed to use all the ammonia made by the fish (bigger tank = more fish = more ammonia)
 
How big is the tank? The bigger the tank, the more plants are needed to use all the ammonia made by the fish (bigger tank = more fish = more ammonia)

Moving him to a 5 gallon currently. Thinking I need more plants lol
 
How big is the tank? The bigger the tank, the more plants are needed to use all the ammonia made by the fish (bigger tank = more fish = more ammonia)
Also, my petco sells plants that are already growing in the aquarium in the little pots. Iā€™ve only ever gotten the top fin ones in the gel. Are these from petco safe/good? Thereā€™s fish in there and Iā€™m worried about bringing something into my tank.
 
You normally take the plants out of the pots and plant them in the gravel or sand. Not being in America I can't really comment on what Petco's plants are like.
But if they are in the ame tanks as fish, you could leave them in a bucket or water or something similar for a week or two. Or use a bleach dip - there's a thread about sterilising plants somewhere..........


.....here it is

post #15
 
You normally take the plants out of the pots and plant them in the gravel or sand. Not being in America I can't really comment on what Petco's plants are like.
But if they are in the ame tanks as fish, you could leave them in a bucket or water or something similar for a week or two. Or use a bleach dip - there's a thread about sterilising plants somewhere..........


.....here it is

post #15
Thank you so much!
 
Thank you so much!
Hi again. I added some Cyperus Helferi and another small plant I canā€™t remember the name, soon going to add some floating plants. Did another water change and Iā€™m at about .25ppm maybe less. Still no nitrites. Before the water change I had a little bit of nitrates again. Iā€™m just wandering how Iā€™ve never seen the nitrites in his tank? I use the API freshwater kit and itā€™s still in date.
 
You normally take the plants out of the pots and plant them in the gravel or sand. Not being in America I can't really comment on what Petco's plants are like.
But if they are in the ame tanks as fish, you could leave them in a bucket or water or something similar for a week or two. Or use a bleach dip - there's a thread about sterilising plants somewhere..........


.....here it is

post #15
Hi again. I added some Cyperus Helferi and another small plant I canā€™t remember the name, soon going to add some floating plants. Did another water change and Iā€™m at about .25ppm maybe less. Still no nitrites. Before the water change I had a little bit of nitrates again. Iā€™m just wandering how Iā€™ve never seen the nitrites in his tank? I use the API freshwater kit and itā€™s still in date.
 
Depending how many live plants you may not see nitrite at all. I would ignore the nitrate reading since you do have live plants and just go by ammonia and nitrite. As long as they are at and stay at zero it is safe for fish.
 
Depending how many live plants you may not see nitrite at all. I would ignore the nitrate reading since you do have live plants and just go by ammonia and nitrite. As long as they are at and stay at zero it is safe for fish.
Awesome thanks!
 

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