few questions....

[dannykerbles]

i made the mistake of cycling my tank w/ fish in it...my ammonia lvls are lowering but my nitrite lvls have spiked!!.....i think its supposed to(right?) and then it will balance?...but i dont want to lose any fish.....AUGH!!...i just had this happen after a water change...i used my own tap water(treated of course)..i knew i sould have stuck w/ the bottle water i have been using...back to Pathmark i go....
so......

a.do a water change? how much?
b.hope and pray?

also how do i get my alkalinity higher?

i really dont want to add anymore chemicals to the tank,but if i must...

 

[marks69]

i would do a 50% water change, then do about 25 tomorrow, and every day after till it's cycled.i always use tapwater, the bottled stuff is a waste unless your tapwater is really bad.pour some in a cup and let it sit for a couple of hours, then test and see.if you have plants they need the minerals in the tap water.i wouldn't go messing with your ph, fish can adapt to any ph, but the swings will stress them.
gl
mark

 

[BIGMAC]

i agree with mark on the tap water dont bother with the bottled stuff.And just keep doing daily water changes maybe 20-25% daily to keep the ammonia down and to lower the nitrites,your nitrate level should begin to show then once you have 0 ammonia 0 nitrite and a reading of nitrate in your tank and this stays constant you know your tank is cycled.
Good luck
Sue

 

[tstenback]

I agree with all the advise that has been offered and would like to emphasize that you should not mess with your ph at this point in time as other chemicals can mess up the cycle. Also once you start messing with the ph it is a constant battle and often makes the tank chemically unstable and prone to ph crashes. So you should select your fish based on the natural ph of your tap water and if itisnt too far from nuetral 7 then pretty much all fish will adapt to your water anyway.
Good luck and keep up with those 25% water changes.

 

[dannykerbles]

once again i got the advice i was looking for...
did a 50% water change and the nitrites dropped drasticly...will do a 25% tomorrow..all went well...


thank you all.....

 

[dannykerbles]

still working on getting the lvls down...but i am showing nitrate lvls with the nitrites still a lil high...guess things are starting to balance out...i still got a ways to go with the tank...i will just keep an eye on the fish.....

 

[tstenback]

Things appear to be right on track with a niTRATE reading and niTRITES still high you are getting close. You will see the nitrates continue to climb and the nitrates will stay high for what seems like forever and then all of a sudden drop to 0. Are you still getting ammonia readings?

 

[dannykerbles]

yes i am...they continue to drop w/ every test...i thought it never would....
as for my water...i let it sit for a few hrs and tested it...all is well with it so i will now use my own water(treated) for water changes....i will continue to do a 25% each day...it seems to be working....

 

[Erika_4404]

What did you Treat your water with... I would Try this stuff called PRIME for you next water change.