Is My Tank Cycling Well?

[zain611]

I changed my filter sponge 2 weeks ago as i had a coldwater set up then changed to tropical and the water perimeters were going up for some reason as it looked like the sponge had broken. To the point i tested my ammonia and its 0.50ppm and nitrites are 0ppm. I havent cleaned the tank for a week and im sure ammonia readings be around 1.0ppm-2.0ppm after a week normaly so is it cycling well? I read up that nitrite rises when theres lak of oxygen so that may mean theres plenty of that

 

[brian1]

I changed my filter sponge 2 weeks ago as i had a coldwater set up then changed to tropical and the water perimeters were going up for some reason as it looked like the sponge had broken. To the point i tested my ammonia and its 0.50ppm and nitrites are 0ppm. I havent cleaned the tank for a week and im sure ammonia readings be around 1.0ppm-2.0ppm after a week normaly so is it cycling well? I read up that nitrite rises when theres lak of oxygen so that may mean theres plenty of that

Hi, your ammonia must read 0 same as your nitrite, or your fish will die, you need to do lots of water changes to bring your ammonia down, try and get some filter medium from your local fish shop to get you going......

 

[Dazzler666]

I would start by reading either the fish-in or fishless cycling thread on this site. In very basic form you need to add ammonia to your tank in order for the ammonia bacteria to grow which in turn breaks down ammonia which turns into Nitrite, at which time further bacteria grows which turns Nitrite into Nitrate which is then removed from the tank by water changes, plants & air stones help remove nitrate (so i understand!!).
Ergo, you need to start by building bacteria to break down the ammonia, etc hence i suggest reading the cycling post to get you started.
As stated, ammonia & Nitrites are VERY toxic for your fish and if not kept to an absolute minimum will result in fatalities hence, probably DAILY water changes & testing ..... Can be a rough ride cycling a tank but well worth it in the end!!
Hope you get iy all sorted soon.

 

[zain611]

If i confused any of you but my latest test showed 0.50ppm for ammonia and 0ppm for nitrite. i changed the filter sponge 2 weeks ago and i havnt cleaned the tank for a week so bacteria is probably building up

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

If i confused any of you but my latest test showed 0.50ppm for ammonia and 0ppm for nitrite. i changed the filter sponge 2 weeks ago and i havnt cleaned the tank for a week so bacteria is probably building up

0.5ppm ammonia is a very dangerous reading that will be toxic to most fish, unless you are using soft water at a low temperature, where the amount of lethal ammonia ions would be low. In most cases, such a reading would require a massive water change ASAP in the region of 75-95% (basically removing all water except enough to cover the fish on the tank floor), or at least the use of a temporary ammonia locking compound such as Seachem prime dosed to 5x the standard to give you and the fish another 24 hours maximum to get that water safe again by getting a zero ammonia reading.

Having bacteria build up is meaningless if your fish are going to suffer short and long term gill damage by the poisonous levels of ammonia.

 

[zain611]

I know the fish are suffering and i did order 250ml of seachem prime which looks great and i will try to do a 50% water change tomorrow

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

So if you know the fish are suffering, why do nothing until tomorrow?

Even if you have no dechlorinator at all, you could safely change ~20% of the water tongiht and thereby reduce the ammonia level by ~20% in the short term.

A 50% water change tomorrow is not going to solve your (well your fishes') desperate situation. Even if ammonia levels do not rise between now and then, which to be honest is unlikely as you are "fish in cycling," a 50% water change will reduce the ammonia by ~50% which still leaves a toxic 0.25ppm ammonia reading (unless you have very soft water at a cool temperature).

Your problems started when you removed those "coldwater" sponges and replaced them without good reason two weeks ago. The bacteria that make the water safe for tropical tanks are exactly the same, you should only replace sponges when they are literally falling apart and even then only replace one every week or so (so the bateria colony has chance to recover without bad ammonia/nitrite spikes).

As I wrote earlier, there is no point building up a big bacteria colony if there are going to be no fish left to support, because they have all died from ammonia poisoning. Above all else, having fish in what is now an immature tank/filter system, you need to be preapred to do a >50% water change twice a day in order to keep ammonia and nitrite as close to zero as possible.

 

[justin85]

How many fish do you have in your tank, and how many litres is it ?

 

[zain611]

Hi guys,

i did a 25% water change yesterday and tested it today and heres the reading:

ammonia: 0ppm
nitrite: 0ppm
nitrate: 10ppm

 

[Dazzler666]

Hmm, maybe its me but those readings seem a bit odd!!! I woud have thought that once your ammonia was lowering that your Nitrites would be increasing (as the other bacteria increases its numbers and ergo, its efficiency!!), then as per, once your Nitrites reduce your Nitrates increase at which time your tank is THEN cycled!!!
The growing of bacteria does not happen overnight (unfortunately as pretty much all fish keepers have found out one way or another!!).
What test kit are you using? Is it in date, are you doing tests correctly, etc
It is hard work been where you are with cycling but as stated, you really NEED to be doing as big a water changes as you can until your ammonia & Nitrites come to ZERO otherwise, you WILL lose fish or reduce there life substantially .
People on here speak from experience and no doubt like me, if i can help someone avoid the mistakes that i did then I am happy to help!! .
Daily water changes & daily testing me thinks until all settles
Down.
It will come good in the end, just keep at it!!!

 

[zain611]

Well i would say its been 4 weeks instead of 2 but it is strange as i havent got any nitrite readings since i put that sponge in but i will do water changes because the nitrates look over 40ppm also i have the api master test kit and im doing it how it says to do to test the ammonia, nitrite etc