Complete Newbie

[Arcticfox1977]

Forgot to say also. The guy at MA also stated not all tanks will get a nitrite/nitrate reading when cycling. I thought this was extremely strange after reading this forum. I did say to him, I thought that you had to see a climb in nitrite and nitrate with ammonia and nitrite going back to 0. He said it doesn't always happen.

OK, so I did a water test 7hrs after getting the new fish, all levels were 0. Did another water test 12hrs after the last one and
Ammonia somewhere between 0-0.25. Tricky to determine the colour.
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0.
Will do a water change since I'm unsure of the ammonia level.

I have the rest of this topic in the welcome forum, but thought I would get more answers in here.

 

[cowboy507]

What's your question?

 

[Arcticfox1977]

My first statement regarding some tanks don't register nitrite and nitrate, is this true?

 

[cowboy507]

Unless you have plants you should have nitrates. Nitrites should not register after tank is completely cycled. But until the tank is cycled you will have nitrites.

 

[Arcticfox1977]

My readings since I have had the fish have been this

Ammonia 0-0.25
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
PH 7.6

These values have never moved from these. I do water changes when ammonia hit 0.25.

 

[JenJ]

The reason why you are showing 0 for nitrites and nitrates is because your tank is so young and new that the bacteria that convert ammonia into nitrite have not grown yet.
 
Give it time, keep doing big (well over 50%) daily water changes as long as you show any ammonia, then in time your nitrite will start to show - keep doing the big daily water changes until both your nitrite and ammonia are 0, at which stage you should start to see some nitrate readings - this is ok up to maybe 40ppm, which should be managed by the weekly water change.

 

[DyArianna]

Being you don't have a planted tank... you will eventually see Nitrate readings.  As above... you are still cycling and apparently have not even hit the Nitrite phase of your cycle yet.  I'm going on the assumption that you are using a liquid based test kit like API?  You also mention (I believe it was you...could have you confused so forgive me if I do) in another topic post that you have purchased a few more fish?  Perhaps someone else can advise... but to me... your ammonia reading should be higher than that or you should atleast be seeing Nitrites by now.  I don't know if maybe your cycling process has stalled or crashed?  Not sure....  Lots of water changes and lots of testing to keep these fish going I think.  Someone can correct me if I'm way off base as I am still re-educating myself as well! 

 

[Arcticfox1977]

Yes I have added more fish. How would I kick start the process? I have been doing fish-in cycling. Just another quick question but what is the benefits of nitrate in the tank?

 

[phoenixgsd]

all cycled tanks have some nitrate

 

[cowboy507]

Nitrates are a product of the nitrogen cycle, no benefit really. Although some plants do absorb this, if you don't have lots of plants then the only way to get rid of it is through water changes.

 

[Arcticfox1977]

There is something that is a little hazy. I need this cleared.
In the topic 'beginners resource centre' and under the fish-in cycling its not clear about when to do water changes. I understand ammonia is required to produce nitrite then nitrate. If I'm doing water changes every time I see my ammonia levels hit 0.25 is that not wiping the slate clean? Should I then be waiting till it hits 0.5ppm? Again, like I've mentioned I understand ammonia is a killer at any levels.

 

[This Old Spouse]

You should be doing daily water changes with a fish-in cycle to keep the ammonia as close to 0 as possible so it doesn't harm the fish too badly.
 
It's not wiping the slate clean ... you're diluting the ammonia the fish produce. And if you happen to have ammonia in your tap water then you need to use a dechlorinator that will eliminate trace amounts. We recommend Seachem Prime which neutralizes several trace chemicals. Costs a bit more but you use less and it's well worth it.
 
Do you know anyone who has a mature tank? If so, you might ask them if they could donate some mature filter media to you. It would really speed up your cycle. Maybe even your LFS would be willing to donate some.

 

[Arcticfox1977]

Thanks for your response. Don't know anyone with a mature tank.

 

[Arcticfox1977]

I am looking for somewhere that sells the ammonia,nitrite and nitrate test solutions. I am only looking for the bottles. All I can find is test kits, which costs quite a bit. Is there nowhere that sells just the bottles of solutions?

 

[This Old Spouse]

Probably not individual bottles. Did you look on ebay for kits? They're a lot less expensive there.