Ball Park

[lolobunnz]

I set up my 29 gallon aquarium 1 week ago. Today was my first reading of nitrates at 5.0ppm. I am also at 0 nitrites and even after my second 5 gallon water change today the ammonia is still at .5 ppm (which is what it read before and after the first water change of the day as well as the second).

I have been doing about 8 gallon water changes once a day and have had continious reading of:

Ammonia- .25
Trite- 0
Trate- 0 (until today)

I used a gallon or so water from a long established tank and the biomedia in my filter was put into the established tank one day before it was pit into mine.

I was wondering about how far long in the cycle i am? About how much longer til the cycle completes at this rate? I know to just keep testinf but i am impatient! Lol. So i would just like tge ball park guess i suppose.

Also, is it ok to lea e ammonia at .25-.5? Or keep it at only .25 or at 0? Please let me know.

I have 7 platies and none have died and are behaving and eating im good spirits.

 

[TrainRek77]

It's about to get rough for you. The fish waste is going to build up, ammonia is going to rise real quick. The fish will probably get diseases. You are weeks out. Hang in there, your arms will be sore from changing water. Try your best to get that ammonia to zero. It's going to be difficult. Lots and lots of water changes and gravel cleaning is the only way.

 

[lolobunnz]

Well thank goodness i have plenty of time on my hands. Thank you very much for your reply i truely appreciate it

 

[lolobunnz]

Well thank goodness i have plenty of time on my hands. Thank you very much for your reply i truely appreciate it

 

[lolobunnz]

Well thank goodness i have plenty of time on my hands. Thank you very much for your reply i truely appreciate it

 

[Moby-Krib]

You are very early in your cycle. It could take anywhere from 4 to 8 weeks ballpark, depending on many variables.
You should be aiming for .25 ammonia and Nitrite as your absolute max during a fish in. Do water changes daily, as much as is needed,to keep the levels below .25 on both, up to 90% if needed.
The use of a high quality water conditioner that binds ammonia / Nitrite such as Prime will help a ton but does not replace water changes nor excuse the .25 max.
You will find once your Nitrite starts to spike you will likely need to be doing twice daily changes.

If you keep with it and follow through every day in detail you should expect,due to the constant attention required, to be quite proficient at water changes and have built some muscle up in your arms if using buckets.

Fish in is not easy, it is time consuming , and is a total commitment.
If you follow the set path you should be fine.

Edit: I missed this line

I used a gallon or so water from a long established tank and the biomedia in my filter was put into the established tank one day before it was pit into mine.

The water will be of no consequence but the Bio-media may help seed the filter, yet with only one day in the established tank It is unlikely to have picked up enough.
A better Idea would be to steal a bit of the established filters media and stuff it into the new one possibly.
That would quicken things likely

 

[phoenixgsd]

I set up my 29 gallon aquarium 1 week ago. Today was my first reading of nitrates at 5.0ppm. I am also at 0 nitrites and even after my second 5 gallon water change today the ammonia is still at .5 ppm (which is what it read before and after the first water change of the day as well as the second).

whats your tap water readings? you might have ammonia in your tap water, ammonia and nitrite readings should be kept as close to 0ppm at all times by doing loads and loads of water changes, if you have ammoina in your tap water i would suggest prime, it temporarily binds the ammonia into a less toxic form giving you chance to stay on top of things, i assume your using a liquid based test kit?

 

[lolobunnz]

Yes I am using the liquid test kit. I just tested my house water (well water) for ammonia and it was reading at about .5-1.0! Oh noes! But why the .25 readings and such at the beginning in my tank? I cannot see the ammonia dissipating from my tank by sitting out as there are life forms continuing to product the same substance. Does water lose ammonia by sitting out? Why was my tank water registering with less ammonia than my tap water originally? And most importantly what do I do now?! I obviously now cannot water change ammonia out of my tank . Even if I used the prime my water has a good amount of ammonia in it, so I just use prime forever?

 

[lolobunnz]

I just did another test today and:

Ammonia- 1
Nitrites- 0
Nitrates- 0

No more nitrates. What the heck? Had i bungled the test the other day that read 5.0? Or was it because i did a 65-70% water change today? Btw the gravel is pristine, thoroughly syphoned.

 

[TrainRek77]

I had well water for a long time. In my experience the stats change all the time. That would explain your crazy readings. If it had rained recently my ammonia would spike like crazy. You have a few options, what I did was buy those 59 cent gallon jugs of distilled water from the market. I used half that and half well water. If you use just filtered water the ph will spike real bad. I used prime then too. You can also buy yourself a reverse osmosis filter and use that instead of buying jugs. Once the tank cycles it wont be as big of a deal. Your tank will devour the ammonia from your water changes fast. Just know that you should keep a light stocking, forever. Having ammonia in your water is like having extra fish. It will be advisable to have an extra large filter. I use a biowheel 350 on my 29 gallon. I stuff 4 filter cartridges in there too. I hate it for you, it's gonna be tough. Hang in there!

 

[lolobunnz]

Soooooooooo if I got a reverse osmosis filter you wouldn't so much 'hate it for me' and it won't be tougher? Yes, it did rain a wee bit the other day. Thank you for this valuable information. I always put a 50 gal filter on my 29's but this time I was on a budget and thought a 30 aquaclear should be just fine. Oh Murphy's Law WHY!

Aside from that, I had been reading about fishless cycles and at that time couldn't find a plethora of information on it. I hit a dead end with trying to find places that sell ammonia, and my boyfriend 'not allowing' me to but a gigantic bottle/almost bucket of it since that is what all the stores around me had. Little did I know that my ammonia water , fish flakes, and even a raw shrimp would have been great.

And to think that at one time I was taught to not even touch the water/gravel in the tank for a month for it to cycle (back then there was no fishless cycling)! In the past I did have a casualty or two, but I had thought that was due to the conditions of the lfs tank that I had bought them from. I usually had picked out the beaten or picked on or slightly deformed ones. Here I am thinking I am helping these sweet poor souls. But now I realize I was probably making them live their life in a constant cycling tank, cleaning the media and the filter innards often et cet.

But yeah....

About that osmosis filter, will that be like I don't have water from a well and would not have to worry about that anymore ever?

 

[Moby-Krib]

I don't think all the extra equipment is needed at all.
Once the filter is cycled it will make short work of any ammonia in water when added. And that water will be treated with prime.

As for now you are doing water changes daily, and again adding the prime.
Long term you will only be adding treated water once a week and any ammonia will be bound up and removed quickly..

my tap water has always had.25 ammonia. Yet if I were to test my tank right now it will be zero thanks to my trusty bacteria

 

[TrainRek77]

He's right, it's not necessary. With the filter though you get the added benefit of not drinking nasty water. You can hook it up to your kitchen sink and not buy bottled water ever again. You would still have to use some of your well water because you would need the dissolved solids that are in your water. The filter will remove all of them, but you need some, they keep your ph in balance. If you choose to use 100 percent filtered water you will have to buy a water conditioner that is not usually sold at LFS to add hardness (hardness is same thing as dissolved solids) to your water. The most economical way for you will be to keep a light stock, use your well water, but for now mix it half with super market water. That way your fish are a little more comfortable while you cycle.

If you buy it today it's still going to be tough. Fish in cycles are just a pain in the butt. It just doesn't make it any easier when you have inconsistent water readings right from your tap. I know exactly how frustrating it can be. I have good water now but I still love my RO filter, my water is tasty. I work outside in the south and I drink LOTS of water.

 

[lolobunnz]

So my bf tells mw there is no salt in the softener for the past few days. Hes going to pick some up tonight tho. Would that have contributed to the higher ammonia reasing in my tap? It alightly drizzled 3-4 days ago so im hoping its not rain that causes the highwr ammonia and whwn the softener is stocked that my reading will go back down to .25? Yes? No? I have aquired a ten gallon set up and am going to fishless cycle with fish food.

I hope to ultimately get a 55 gallon and have my 29 to raise fry and the 55 be the community tank and my ten gallon idk wether to have it as another fry/sick tank or get a 'culling' fish for ezcess fry. If i went that route what would be a good fish? Betta?!??

 

[lolobunnz]

Sorry for all the spelling errors.....phone