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My first tropical freshwater tank! :)

Nitrates will go up as the end product of the nitrogen cycle, but they should be kept under 20 ppm.
Live plants help keep nitrate low because they take up ammonia faster than the 'filter' bacteria and they don't turn it into nitrite or nitrate.


What is the nitrate level of your tap water?
 
essjay said:
Nitrates will go up as the end product of the nitrogen cycle, but they should be kept under 20 ppm.
Live plants help keep nitrate low because they take up ammonia faster than the 'filter' bacteria and they don't turn it into nitrite or nitrate.


What is the nitrate level of your tap water?
Click to expand...

Iv been told this essjay yeah il keep my eye on the water every day anyway until I’m comfortable to leave it abit longer inbetween! Fab will look forward to seeing that benefit from my live plants then! I’m not sure of the nitrate level of my tap water il try it now!
 
essjay said:
Nitrates will go up as the end product of the nitrogen cycle, but they should be kept under 20 ppm.
Live plants help keep nitrate low because they take up ammonia faster than the 'filter' bacteria and they don't turn it into nitrite or nitrate.


What is the nitrate level of your tap water?
Click to expand...

Just done the test, my tap water says there’s 0 nitrates in it, is this a good thing??
 
Yes it's very good. It means you should have no trouble keeping the tank level below 20 ppm. Some places have near the legal limit of 50 ppm in tap water, and fish keepers in those areas struggle with their tank nitrate level.
 
essjay said:
Yes it's very good. It means you should have no trouble keeping the tank level below 20 ppm. Some places have near the legal limit of 50 ppm in tap water, and fish keepers in those areas struggle with their tank nitrate level.
Click to expand...

Ace news then that’s made me feel better thanks for that! Now to get this tank nice and cycled! Should be nearing the end now based on water parameters! :)
 
I’m glad your tank is almost cycled, it’s a great feeling! :)

Remember, if you ever need help with your plants, I’m the guy to tag/contact. Keep us posted! ;)
 
PheonixKingZ said:
I’m glad your tank is almost cycled, it’s a great feeling! :)

Remember, if you ever need help with your plants, I’m the guy to tag/contact. Keep us posted! ;)
Click to expand...

Thanks for that! And yes it is a really good feeling after nearly a month worth of bad advice from the LFS! I shall do! Every day il post on my journal! Think I have a slight addiction! Lol iv told the other half we need a tank in every room! His words were.. you ‘need’ or you ‘want’
 
I just came back from Petco, they had their tanks on sale, I drooled so much looking at the tanks:drool: they had to have a guy follow me around with a mop and a pail :hyper:
 
Daily update! :fish:

Just another journal update! Did my water parameters again this morning and was a little bit disappointed with the ammo results but might be just me being impatient! Results were:

Ammo: between 0-0.2 (the colour was no lighter than yesterday)
Nitrite: between 0-0.25 (definitely lighter shade than yesterday!) :)
Nitrate: 10.0 (same as yesterday)

Now i don't know if i'm being impatient like i said but just was expecting a lighter shade on the ammo same as the nitrite! Although i am glad at least one of them was lighter! :) following this result i then did a 75% water change, siphoned the sand, rinsed off my fake plants and also rinsed the foam at the bottom of my filter in the water that came out of the tank as its a week tomorrow since i last did this! Haven't touched my two sponges in between as they only got put in the filter Tuesday. I'm hoping to see an improvement in colour in the ammo tomorrow now following this. Won't be feeding them today as they were fed yesterday, still sticking to every other day depending on parameters! Any other advice would be appreciated if anyone has any? Am i just being impatient? How long did it take for everyone else's tank to cycle? Mines been running for almost 4 weeks now this weekend but only started doing big water changes last week when joining this forum because i was educated on how to cycle a tank properly!
 
I’d say you are being impatient, this is very normal though. Do a large water change (60%) and test again.

It took my tanks around 5 weeks to completely cycle. (Or at least cycled enough to my satisfaction)

Give it 1 more week. :)
 
PheonixKingZ said:
I’d say you are being impatient, this is very normal though. Do a large water change (60%) and test again.

It took my tanks around 5 weeks to completely cycle. (Or at least cycled enough to my satisfaction)

Give it 1 more week. :)
Click to expand...

Brill thanks :) that’s reassuring! I had a feeling someone was going to tell me I was being impatient lol
 
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