Fish-In Cycle Question

[brian2708]

Hi.

I'm doing a fish-in cycle at the moment.

The past 3 days I have not had the time to do water changes due to a busy schedule, only had chance to do water tests, however my ammonia has not gone above 0.25ppm (it's been the same colour for the last 3 days). Nitrite still not registering.

Isn't doing a water change everyday a little excessive? Of course now I have more time on my hands, I'm goign to do a water change now, and continue to do them daily, but I was just wondering what your thoughts were on this.

Thanks for your opinion.

 

[StandbySetting]

Not really excessive, you want to reduce the ammonia as much as possible and the only way to do this is with water changes.

 

[BigbruiserAl]

It will spike soon enough to keep you doing them 1 or 2 times a day lul before the storm buddy

 

[KittyKat]

It is generally considered that ammonia will do permanent/long term harm to fish at 0.25 ppm, but it is actually still toxic at and under 0.25 ppm too.. the only difference is that at under 0.25 ppm the harm is more likely to be only short term. The closer the reading is to 0 ppm, the better it is for the fish. If it is above that, any responsible fishkeeper should be doing water changes (or whatever else) to bring it down.

Exactly how toxic ammonia is also depends on the pH.

 

[OldMan47]

The number that we use here on TFF is simple to explain. It is the first non-zero reading on the API test system. Anything in that range is probably not going to be a problem for your fish unless you are unfortunate enough to have a high pH to go with it. What it is for us is a signal that the filter is not controlling your ammonia and that you must do so with water changes. If you can control at or below 0.25 ppm of ammonia, the fish will be fine during your cycle. Whenever I have a water emergency, rarely these days, I do not try to establish the "right" percentage of water to change. I drain my tank until the fish barely have enough water to stay wet and refill using dechlorinated water. The end result will often be called a 90% water change but if I have small fish it is often over 95% of the actual water that is changed. That never leaves me without any ammonia because I have water that shows as much as 0.25 ppm right after a change because of the water itself. Tap water that is dechlorinated using sodium thiosulphate, the active ingredient in most dechlorinators, will leave behind ammonia from the original chloramine that was in the tap water. I use Prime which has additives that protect the fish from that ammonia for a couple of days, but that means that each day that I detect ammonia I do another huge water change. When my filter finally begins to mature, I no longer get ammonia readings the next day. That is my cue to back off and watch for nitrites.