Fish In Tank Cycling/showing The Big Three What Now/

[nut4clife]

ok thanks!

 

[nut4clife]

Fish Herder,
You were correct! It was a challenge to measure as you suggested because the API test tubes only hold 8ml of liquid and your test required 10ml of solution. I used distilled water as the best choice for deionized water. My readings concluded my Nitrite was at or above 20ppm, ammonia .25, Nitrate 10ppm.  I did a 90% water change with gravel cleaning and within 24 hrs my tank cycled!  I retested the tank 4 hours later just to confirm and it was still cycled.  This was Saturday 12/7/2013.  I've reintroduced my Barbs and pleco back into the cycled tank.  Thanks a lot!

 

[daizeUK]

Hey, glad you got things sorted!

The way to do a 10% diluted test is to take 1ml of tank water and dilute with 9ml of distilled water, then take however much of that solution you need for the API test. So you would only use 5ml out of the 10ml diluted solution for the test.

If your nitrite was around 20ppm and you did a 90% water change then this would leave you with 2ppm nitrite in the tank. Did this 2ppm show up normally on your test? Have you added any ammonia since the water change?

If your fish show any symptoms of nitrite poisoning, e.g. gasping at the surface then you can immediately add aquarium salt to alleviate the toxic effects.

By the way, I'm Daize - 'Fish Herder' is just a daft forum title

 

[nut4clife]

Daize,
it showed for about 8/10 hours then zeroed out...ammonia was 0 and nitrite was 0 nitrate jumped to 10/20ppm from 5ppm (hard to read colors so close).  As stated earlier I repeated the test 4 hours later with the same results.  I rehomed the barbs and plec in the 29gl after a 50% water change.  I tested 4 hours after adding them (sunday morning) and ammonia was .50 nitrite 0 and nitrate 10/20ppm.  When I tested Sunday evening and tonight ammonia was 0ppm; nitrite 0ppm; and nitrate 10/20ppm.  So it's holding as cycled.  I took pictures of the API tubes initially and 4 hours later in chrome but I can't remember how to upload it lol.  I'll figure it out...was so happy I wanted to post that lol!  I'm going to donate the barbs and change the substrate to sand with rocks and make the tank a cichlid tank.  I've been doing a lot of research and the species is so interesting.  Well thanks for your help and I'm sure I'll consult your expertise in the near future!
 
Mel

 

[daizeUK]

Great stuff, keep us posted with updates and enjoy your fish!