My Reading Of Cycling Tank Makes No Sense

[Mystil]

Hello Guys
I started to cycle my tank 19odd days ago with 8 fish (my number one mistake)..
But I cannot make out my readings and what is happening!
can anyone interpret for me?? A very wonderful person sent me some water/media and substrate from a mature tank today so hopefully things will move on now.
so far:

DATE: 21/02/2008 22/02/2008 23/02/2008
Ammonia ? 0 0
NirtATe (No3) ? 50 25
NirtITe (No2) ? 1 1
General Hardness ? 3-6. 3-6.
KH ? 0-3 0-3
PH6.4 6.4 6.4


24/02/2008 26/02/2008 27/02/2008
0 0 0
25 25 50
0 0 1
3-6. 3-6. 6
0-3 3-6. 3
6.4 6.4 6.4
28/02/2008 02/03/2008 04/03/2008
0 0 NULL
25 10-25. 10-25.
0 0 1
3-6. 6 6-10.
0 3-6. 6
6.4 6.4 6.4

07/03/2008 08/03/2008 08/03/2008
0.25 0.50 0.25
12.5 0.25 0.50
0.3. 0.80 0.80.
? ? ?
? ? ?
6.4? ? ?

I used the strips to begin with till afew days ago when i boght some liquid tests.

I also did a 20% water change today with dechlorinator.
Can anyone help?

 

[Mystil]

I spent ages making gaps for all the numbers.

Now they seemed to have all squashed together!


I just hope someone can make sense of it all!!!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

lol, sorry those results are really hard to understand, can you identify which date you first tested with the liquid tests, basically we can scrap the readings before hand!

can you tell us what size tank and what fish you have in it, what maintenance you have been doing

while it's cycled you should be doing daily 20% water changes, however hjopefully with the mature media it will cycle withing the next couple of days

 

[Colin_T]

some pretty bizarre readings. The test strips aren't as acurate as the liquid drop test kits. Also you don't need to measure the nitrate until the tank has cycled. The nitrate test kits will read nitrite as well.

There is a possibility you have nitrates in your tap water. That would give you a high reading for that.
If the latest results are correct you are about half way thru. Your ammonia has gone up to .5 and is now coming down to .25
Your nitrite is going up to .8.
This indicates that some bacteria is breaking down the ammonia and converting it into nitrite. You should find in a few days the ammonia goes down to 0 and stays there and then the nitrites will go up before coming back down to 0 as well. When that happens the tank will have finished cycling.

 

[Mystil]

Thank you for the help....

I bought the strips from my local LPS as they dont supply any other tests. When I asked another LPS near me for an ammonia test they said I was the first to ask them for it in 7 years!!!!

I have tested my tap water and it does contain nitrates.

Sorry about the results....i did try to make them easier to read but it did not work.

I have a lido 120 tank and have five neon tetra and two danios at the moment (i will be getting afew more to make a shoal after the tank has cycled as i have been told they need to be in larger groups- greedy little blighters that they are ).

Will adding live plants muck up the cycling process I have two oxegenator plants in the tank and i am wondering if it was a bad idea to add them?

Thank you

 

[Colin_T]

plants won't mess up the filter cycling process unless they die. Then they add ammonia to the water. However, healthy plants from an established tank can actually help speed the filter development up.

 

[Mystil]

Hello guys
I have been doing 20% water changes for the last few days and my nitrite levels have skyrocketed!

No ammonia at the mo....My levels are at 1.6 for nitrite both before and after the water change.

Should i do a 50% water change on top of a 20% I did this morning to try to bring it down?

I know the levels are quite dangerous for my fish.

Thanks

 

[Nim]

Some people may differ from my experience but doing water changes during cycle will slow the cycle down considerably. However, for the benefit of the fish water changes are important if you are cycling with fish (not a good idea but since you have started there may be no way out).

Most importantly during a fish base cycle, you will get very variable readings depending on your feeding regime, I would refrain from feeding the fish for a week. If you overfeed the fish one day, the next day you will suddenly get more ammonia and about 3-4 days after that you will get enormous nitrite. Looking at your reading, I suspect this is what is happening. Once the cycle will complete, the bacteria will be able to handle variable loads to some extent and once the tank matures, they will be able to handle it easily.

To start with, yes do a 50% water change and add some aquarium salt to the tank as this helps fish fight off some ill effects of nitrite. Dont feed the fish for a week or until both ammonia &/or Nitrite are below 0.25ppm. If they are not below this level even after a week then feed the fish very very sparingly just so that they dont starve. Fish can live without food for upto 2 weeks or maybe more.

After the large water change, dont do any more changes for 3-4 days unless the readings start to rise again harshly (which should not happen if you dont feed the fish).

Nim

 

[Mystil]

Thanks Nim
I just did the 50% change and my nitrate is back between 0.3 to 0.8mg/L.

I have added some stress coat to help. Should I still add the salt aswell?

No ammonia still

Thank you for the advice. No more food for fishies!!!

My hubby is the worst offender for feeding them

 

[Nim]

Thanks Nim
I just did the 50% change and my nitrate is back between 0.3 to 0.8mg/L.

I have added some stress coat to help. Should I still add the salt aswell?

No ammonia still

Thank you for the advice. No more food for fishies!!!

My hubby is the worst offender for feeding them

You mean NitrITE is between 0.3 to 0.8. Dont worry about NitrATE rising for the moment. It is the least of the things to worry especially since you have been doing water changes. Ammonia is sitting at zero is a good thing indicating that the 1st stage of the cycle is more or less complete. You probably were getting readings of ammonia previously due to overfeeding.

Do add some salt as in my personal experience it helps fish a lot during cycles and mini cycles but this is again one of those debates on which people can argue till they go blue.

Fingers crossed as you should experience a drop in nitrITES in the next 2-4 days.

Nim

 

[Mystil]

Sorry

NitrITe is between 0.3 and 0.8....I WILL get there!

Hopefully things will go abit smoother now....for a minute or two!