Cycling 10 Gallon Tank

[Randi]

Your ammonia level is lower than what is coming out of your tap, so your tank is cycling. What to expect: you should be close to getting a 0 ammonia reading. After that, in my experience, your nitrites will give low level readings for a couple of days and then spike. When you start getting nitrites readings that are off the charts it is important to keep up on your water changes because this is very harmful for your fish.

 

[thezodiac]

Your ammonia level is lower than what is coming out of your tap, so your tank is cycling. What to expect: you should be close to getting a 0 ammonia reading. After that, in my experience, your nitrites will give low level readings for a couple of days and then spike. When you start getting nitrites readings that are off the charts it is important to keep up on your water changes because this is very harmful for your fish.

so just did a waater change prob like 40-50%
and my readings are now

0 ppm ammonia
.50 ppm nitrite
5.0 nitrate

am i donig something right or wrong here?
i used stress coat + to condition my water and remove natural ammonia in my tap water, only added about 2 ml for the 4 gallons of water aprox.

is it converting the ammonia to nitrite? or is my bacteria just consuming it?

edit: at this point should i be doing water changes daily or weekly or 2x a week? or just wait and see what happens?

 

[Randi]

Looking good! Even if you use stress coat the ammonia will show up in the test so a 0 reading means the bacteria are doing their work. Your nitrite level will stress your fish. Do water changes as necessary to keep the level at .25 or less.

 

[thezodiac]

Looking good! Even if you use stress coat the ammonia will show up in the test so a 0 reading means the bacteria are doing their work. Your nitrite level will stress your fish. Do water changes as necessary to keep the level at .25 or less.

okay glad im making some progress

any idea how close im getting to being able to adding more fish?

its kinda sad looking at a 10 gallon with only 2 fish and 2 snails in it lol.



anyways my betta is acting pretty depressed in his 3 gallon (no filter and heater died, so im considering getting a 5 gallon, u think i could split it and put another betta in it ? )

 

[Jackiee]

If you get a bottle of Prime tap water conditoner, it will detoxify your ammonia and nitrite to keep it from harming your fish while your tank finishes cycling.

You can also overdose up to 5 times the normal dose to detoxify Nitrite in your aquarium and it helps your biobacteria more easily convert and remove it.
I used this on my tank when my tank went through a mini cycle after I switched my fish over to the new tank, and all my fish behaved normally and lived.

 

[Randi]

Well, you are through the ammonia phase of the cycle, next is the nitrite phase. No way to be sure how long it will take. Don't add any fish until you get a 0 nitrite reading.
As for the 5 gallon, if you put a divider in there you will actually be giving your betta less space. Also, 2 fish will be able to see each other through the divider and will constantly be trying to fight. I would stick with 1 betta and a bunch of shrimp or maybe a couple ottos in a five gallon.

 

[thezodiac]

how often should i be doing water changes? and can i go down to 20% or should i do 40% ?


10 gallon tank

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I think you have to go by whatever the test says. If the nitrite reads 0.25ppm at any time, you have to do sufficient change to get it to drop to a trace level. I would try a 20% change and test it a little later. If it doesn't get the job done, then do another 20%. Do it as often as you have to do it. I don't think there is a set number or frequency. It depends on your bacteria colony. Keep it up... you are getting closer to the end everyday!

 

[thezodiac]

I think you have to go by whatever the test says. If the nitrite reads 0.25ppm at any time, you have to do sufficient change to get it to drop to a trace level. I would try a 20% change and test it a little later. If it doesn't get the job done, then do another 20%. Do it as often as you have to do it. I don't think there is a set number or frequency. It depends on your bacteria colony. Keep it up... you are getting closer to the end everyday!

thanks for the encouragement, its been a bit of a tough process but i really want to get this done properly.

in other news, the snails have grown slightly larger, and the 2 guppies i have seem very happy and playful

 

[Randi]

How are things zodiac?

 

[waterdrop]

If you get a bottle of Prime tap water conditoner, it will detoxify your ammonia and nitrite to keep it from harming your fish while your tank finishes cycling.

You can also overdose up to 5 times the normal dose to detoxify Nitrite in your aquarium and it helps your biobacteria more easily convert and remove it.
I used this on my tank when my tank went through a mini cycle after I switched my fish over to the new tank, and all my fish behaved normally and lived.

It is true that you can do quite a bit of overdosing of conditioner in a mature tank and be ok, but many of our beginners have tanks that are still under a year from when they were first started. That means their two species of autotrophic bacteria are still building up colonies in the filter and dosing conditioner higher than 2x carries some concern that the nitrite oxidizing bacteria (the N-Bacs, currently believed to be Nitrospira spp.) will be slowed in their development.

Overdosing of conditioners like Prime of course helps you in the event your water authority decides to overdose a chlorine product, which they are known to do just like lifeguards sometimes "shock" pools after an accident. The features of good conditioners that help out in the cases of elevated ammonia and nitrite(NO2) however are pretty much limited to about 24 hours and of course are not a real substitute for fishless cycling or significant water changing. These features -can- be helpful however when your tap water has ammonia (or, rarely, nitrite) coming in,

~~waterdrop~~