Fish In Cycle Complete?

[Fishhub]

It's been 4 weeks since cycling my tank and the past 3 days the tests have shown 0 Nitrite and 0 Ammonia. With 20 and less nitrate. My fish that seemed sick are now more active and looking better. Is the cycle done or do I still have to change the water more to cycle it?



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[wrighty.uk.gorl]

It's been 4 weeks since cycling my tank and the past 3 days the tests have shown 0 Nitrite and 0 Ammonia. With 20 and less nitrate. My fish that seemed sick are now more active and looking better. Is the cycle done or do I still have to change the water more to cycle it?



Vist My fish Blog Here

I only a newbe my self but as long as you get a couple days were it is 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite your cycle is done. Then you just want to do 10% water change a week to keep the nitrate under control.

 

[waterdrop]

I'll give qualified agreement to that. You are both reading the basic sign correctly. When fish-in cycling, if you finally reach a time when both ammonia and nitrite are maintained at zero ppm for two days with no water changes having taken place, then you can consider yourself cycled. What does "being cycled" mean in a post-fish-in situation? To me it would mean you could start a mental clock and say to myself, well now if I wait a few more weeks, it would be ok to do my first small stocking increase (2 or 3 fish maybe) if there is still more stocking capacity in my tank and stocking plan.

I would disagree with the 10% water change statement though. Its not terrible, but never good to put a percentage on this activity: Instead, we'd like all beginners that come through our section to learn that you want to estabish a long term nitrate testing pattern, recording results from perhaps once a week nitrate readings in your aquarium notebook and getting some real feedback on how stable your nitrate levels are. If nitrate levels gradually increase, then your percentage water change needs to be larger.

A significant problem for beginners is that for months out past a new tank they remain enthusiastic about their water changes, but then they sometimes begin to get lax and at about the same time they test and record less often and that can be the time when nitrate levels may creep up on them.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Twinklecaz]

The notebook's a good idea. My Nitrate hasn't been above 20 yet! Most of the time it's 10-15.


If you're like me you'll find you want to do the W/C coz you want your tank to look nice. I did a little 5-10% yesterday even though I'd done my main 25% one the day before purely coz my piggy platys had pooed all over the sand again, it looked awful!

 

[Fishhub]

Okay that clears everything up, thankyou.

 

[waterdrop]

I rank the weekly gravel-clean-water-change right up there with a beginner learning all about the biofilter as the top two take-away things from this beginner forum.

Those two principles are just huge. They are the two things most non-hobbyists don't do and they make all the difference in the hobby.

The water change is just a win, win, win in all sorts of ways. Its removing heavy metals and organics that build up. Its removing hundreds of "unknowns" we don't have the time or money to measure. Its -adding- important fresh mineral content like calcium, magnesium and other minerals. Its removing algae spores of all sorts. Its removing debris that will break down into ammonia. Its just so important!

~~waterdrop~~