Another "is My Tank Cycled?" Question:
- Thread starter Gustavo
- Start date
aly_starh
Fish Aficionado
If Ammonia and Nitrite readings have been 0 for eight consecutive days then your tank is officially cycled 
Thanks,
I'll keep on checking his tank then. I forgot to add that I didn't had any plants, and today I added a piece of fake driftwood with 5 or 6 small real Java Ferns plants. The decoration has a cave, and to my surprise, he likes to swing and stay inside the cave for a little while. When he's not in the cave, he's flaring all over the place, and the sun-of-a-gun likes to bite my finger when I feed him!
Once the cycle is set and done, is it advisable to add a small school of peaceful fishes to keep him company?
Thanks!
I'll keep on checking his tank then. I forgot to add that I didn't had any plants, and today I added a piece of fake driftwood with 5 or 6 small real Java Ferns plants. The decoration has a cave, and to my surprise, he likes to swing and stay inside the cave for a little while. When he's not in the cave, he's flaring all over the place, and the sun-of-a-gun likes to bite my finger when I feed him!
Once the cycle is set and done, is it advisable to add a small school of peaceful fishes to keep him company?
Thanks!
aly_starh
Fish Aficionado
Well yes, but just research to what you can actually keep, i think tetras may be abit too small for 10g
waterdrop
Enthusiastic "Re-Beginner"
The nitrate(NO3) concentration will go up as the nitrification process produces it as its end product, but it will go down with water changes. By checking the nitrate(NO3) level from time to time you can see whether your water changes are maintaining a good nitrate(NO3) level or whether its getting away from you.
It should also be noted that there are hundreds of other heavy metals and organic molecules that can become too concentrated in the tank water and are reduced during water changes just like nitrate(NO3.) Nitrate(NO3) is important to us because its the end of the nitrification(nitrogen cycle) process but its also a convenient "flag" to measure our water change "effectiveness" for all these other substances too!
The range of NO3 generally considered to be "good" is about 5 to 20 ppm -above- whatever the NO3 level of your source water is. 5ppm being very good and 20 being a little worse but ok. Note that NO3 itself is negative in very different ways to different species in the tank. Some are sensitive to it, while others can withstand enormous amounts of it. Its the "flag" function telling you about your maintenance that's the major reason we make it a regular test.
~~waterdrop~~
It should also be noted that there are hundreds of other heavy metals and organic molecules that can become too concentrated in the tank water and are reduced during water changes just like nitrate(NO3.) Nitrate(NO3) is important to us because its the end of the nitrification(nitrogen cycle) process but its also a convenient "flag" to measure our water change "effectiveness" for all these other substances too!
The range of NO3 generally considered to be "good" is about 5 to 20 ppm -above- whatever the NO3 level of your source water is. 5ppm being very good and 20 being a little worse but ok. Note that NO3 itself is negative in very different ways to different species in the tank. Some are sensitive to it, while others can withstand enormous amounts of it. Its the "flag" function telling you about your maintenance that's the major reason we make it a regular test.
~~waterdrop~~
drobbyb
Bowhead
Agree with waterdrop. There are loads of factors that waterchanges help with, nitrate is just a sign that you may need to do a waterchange.
discus_lover
Fish Crazy
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what's about ph level of your tank?
Hello,
I did another test, and the Betta 10 gallon tank still holding the same levels so far, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, and Nitrate 5 ppm. The PH in that tank's 7.2
In the 55 gallon tho, I measured it again today, I had Ammonia 0.5 ppm, Nitrite 0, and Nitrate between 0 and 5 ppm, the PH in that tank was 6. I did a large water changed, and I tested the PH, and again it came out at 6.
I measured the PH out of the tap and it comes out at 7.6
How do I fix the PH in the big tank?
Thanks!
I did another test, and the Betta 10 gallon tank still holding the same levels so far, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, and Nitrate 5 ppm. The PH in that tank's 7.2
In the 55 gallon tho, I measured it again today, I had Ammonia 0.5 ppm, Nitrite 0, and Nitrate between 0 and 5 ppm, the PH in that tank was 6. I did a large water changed, and I tested the PH, and again it came out at 6.
I measured the PH out of the tap and it comes out at 7.6
How do I fix the PH in the big tank?
Thanks!
waterdrop
Enthusiastic "Re-Beginner"
Hi gustavo,
If I'm remembering right that you are fish-in cycling your 55G with a few fish then the pH dropping could be a good sign that the cycling process is moving closer to completion. But let us know if I'm right and a more current status...
If so.. then you have double reason to be doing large water changes more frequently. The larger water changes will have a better chance of getting the bit of nitric acid out of there that's bringing the pH down and the fresh dose of higher pH and the fresh minerals in the tap water will work against the pH change you are seeing and will allow the bacteria to grow faster. The more obvious reason for the water changes though is to guard against ammonia or nitrite going above 0.25ppm. That's really as high as you'd want to see it go to guard against permanent gill damage from the ammonia or permanent nerve damage from the nitrite. In your case the 0.50ppm reading for ammonia is a red flag. You can do another water change as soon as an hour after a previous one, so two 50% water changes in that kind of sequence should quickly get things back where you want them to be.
~~waterdrop~~
If I'm remembering right that you are fish-in cycling your 55G with a few fish then the pH dropping could be a good sign that the cycling process is moving closer to completion. But let us know if I'm right and a more current status...
If so.. then you have double reason to be doing large water changes more frequently. The larger water changes will have a better chance of getting the bit of nitric acid out of there that's bringing the pH down and the fresh dose of higher pH and the fresh minerals in the tap water will work against the pH change you are seeing and will allow the bacteria to grow faster. The more obvious reason for the water changes though is to guard against ammonia or nitrite going above 0.25ppm. That's really as high as you'd want to see it go to guard against permanent gill damage from the ammonia or permanent nerve damage from the nitrite. In your case the 0.50ppm reading for ammonia is a red flag. You can do another water change as soon as an hour after a previous one, so two 50% water changes in that kind of sequence should quickly get things back where you want them to be.
~~waterdrop~~
Hi Waterdrop, thanks for the reply!
Let me tell you what I did last night. The PH was still at 6, and I was reading another thread (PH Crash) and I saw that you guys like to add crushed coral when cycling with fishes, and that's what I did. The PH went from 6 to 6.4. I also did a massive water change siphoning all the gunk deep in the gravel, I got 5 buckets of brown water with all that stuff. After that, I got a bucket of tank water and took the filter apart and rinsed it, along with the pads (I have the whisper filter that you can take apart)
I did another test today, and the Ammonia still at 0.5, and the PH went back to 6, even with the crushed coral on the filter pads, so you recommend another two 50% water changes to bring things back to normal again?
Nitrites still at 0, and Nitrates still stuck at the same yellowish color, has my cycle stalled? Am I doing something wrong in here? I feed only once a day, and just a pinch.
The betta tank still with the same readings, and Pork Chop looks like he's pretty happy in there. I tried to add a couple of danios to keep him company, but he wasn't too happy with that.
Thanks!
Gus
Let me tell you what I did last night. The PH was still at 6, and I was reading another thread (PH Crash) and I saw that you guys like to add crushed coral when cycling with fishes, and that's what I did. The PH went from 6 to 6.4. I also did a massive water change siphoning all the gunk deep in the gravel, I got 5 buckets of brown water with all that stuff. After that, I got a bucket of tank water and took the filter apart and rinsed it, along with the pads (I have the whisper filter that you can take apart)
I did another test today, and the Ammonia still at 0.5, and the PH went back to 6, even with the crushed coral on the filter pads, so you recommend another two 50% water changes to bring things back to normal again?
Nitrites still at 0, and Nitrates still stuck at the same yellowish color, has my cycle stalled? Am I doing something wrong in here? I feed only once a day, and just a pinch.
The betta tank still with the same readings, and Pork Chop looks like he's pretty happy in there. I tried to add a couple of danios to keep him company, but he wasn't too happy with that.
Thanks!
Gus
Danios are much too active for a betta to be happy with them. They would also not do well in a small tank because they need room to "stretch their legs". If you filled the cavity intended for carbon with crushed shell instead, I would expect to see the pH stabilize much higher than it would without the shell being present. Meanwhile, what kind of Whisper filter do you have that can handle a 55 gallon tank by itself? I have never seen one that big around here.
Hi Oldman,
The Danios are quite happy in the large tank, they zip from end to end chasing each other all day long. The tank came with a Whisper 60, and it uses two foam pads, and two pouches. I only added 1 tablespoon of crushed shells to each pouch (I forgot to mention it before)
Thanks!
Gus
The Danios are quite happy in the large tank, they zip from end to end chasing each other all day long. The tank came with a Whisper 60, and it uses two foam pads, and two pouches. I only added 1 tablespoon of crushed shells to each pouch (I forgot to mention it before)
Thanks!
Gus
Crushed shell is not fast acting like baking soda would be so you will need to watch the tank parameters for a day or two to see what effect you are having. If I had extremely low solids water, I would be targeting getting lots of crushed shell into the filter a bit at a time. I am guessing you have enough, even at that low dose, to start seeing some change after a day or two.
ThePiggy
Fishaholic
Just a little tip on bettas.... in general, they don't like to have tank mates. Especially if they are showy. Your betta could view it as competition and try to fight it. There are special cases where people could keep their betta with other fish, but from what I've seen and heard from others, bettas tend to stress out when there are other fish around. If you absolutely want another fish in there, try to find something slow and not too colorful that stays near the bottom. Also, research the fish you want to add to make sure they aren't fin nippers. It would be a shame to destroy a betta's beautiful fins. But don't be surprised if your betta decides to bully anything you add to his tank.
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