trianglekitty
Fish Crazy
- Joined
- Nov 21, 2010
- Messages
- 387
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I've had fish in my tank for about 5 weeks, and I was wondering if things are progessing normally. Bumping this because I'd really like answers to the tap water ammonia question...
Typical Levels (API Master Kit):
Ammonia .25 ppm (this is the same level as my tap water, so I can't go lower than this)
Nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrate 0 ppm
Maybe once or twice a week I get levels that look like this:
Ammonia .50 ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrates 5-10 ppm
I do a 50% water change every day no matter what the levels are. I feel like because I'm always changing the water, it makes it harder to tell what's going on in the tank (because I'm always reducing the nitrates back to 0). I know something is working because I do see nitrates from time to time.
Other question- since my tap water always reads at .25 ppm, will I ever get 0 readings? Is it possible I could already be cycled, but because I change the water so often I'm always seeing ammonia? I generally wait an hour or two after doing a water change to test again. I'm wondering if there's something I should be adding to the tap water to reduce it to 0 before putting it in the tank...right now I only use Stress Coat to treat it.
I'm prepared to do daily water changes as long as it takes for the cycle to finish, I'm just starting to worry I won't know what that happens.
Other information in case it is helpful...
Stock: 10 male guppies
Tank size: 20 gallons
Filter: Penquin Biowheel (rated for 50 gallons)
The tank has a number of live plants
Typical Levels (API Master Kit):
Ammonia .25 ppm (this is the same level as my tap water, so I can't go lower than this)
Nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrate 0 ppm
Maybe once or twice a week I get levels that look like this:
Ammonia .50 ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrates 5-10 ppm
I do a 50% water change every day no matter what the levels are. I feel like because I'm always changing the water, it makes it harder to tell what's going on in the tank (because I'm always reducing the nitrates back to 0). I know something is working because I do see nitrates from time to time.
Other question- since my tap water always reads at .25 ppm, will I ever get 0 readings? Is it possible I could already be cycled, but because I change the water so often I'm always seeing ammonia? I generally wait an hour or two after doing a water change to test again. I'm wondering if there's something I should be adding to the tap water to reduce it to 0 before putting it in the tank...right now I only use Stress Coat to treat it.
I'm prepared to do daily water changes as long as it takes for the cycle to finish, I'm just starting to worry I won't know what that happens.
Other information in case it is helpful...
Stock: 10 male guppies
Tank size: 20 gallons
Filter: Penquin Biowheel (rated for 50 gallons)
The tank has a number of live plants
