My Test Results... Help?

[bradmarsh]

Got a new tank about 3 weeks ago. followed LFS advice and ran it to "cycle" it for a week. then placed 6 female guppies to start the process. now realise my mistakes and have bought a water test kit in hindsight.

what do the results mean i should do? where am i in the cycling process. i thought i understood it all after reading the forum until i got my results...

pH - 7.5 this is ok i think
ammonia 0.6ppm when cycled will be zero
Nitrate 10ppm what should this be ideally?
Nitrite 0.1-0.2ppm seems like it might be dropping from a higher level?

general hard 120ppm (although i made the mistake of setting up with RO/DI water so it will rise with more water changes)
carbonate hard 70ppm (80+ is the ideal buffer i think? is this right? getting there?) surprised by this result from RO/DI water


please can i get some feedback on whats happening? are the results going in the right directions? are my interpretations ok?

thanks in advance.....!

 

[Underwurlde]

pH - 7.5: pH will go up & down like a yoyo during cycling. Don't bother measuring it. (Why are you measuring it BTW?)

ammonia 0.6ppm when cycled will be zero - when cycled it will be near zero yes. If there is fish in the water, there will be Ammonia in the water. Assuming a temperature of 26°C, then the percentage of toxic ammonia in the tank is 0.36%, or 0.0022ppm toxic ammonia. Levels of 0.02ppm toxic ammonia and above are considered leathal, so you are a tenth of this so fine IMO. Note if your pH when above 8.4 then you're looking at things becoming critial for ammonia. Note pH is a logrithmic scale.

Nitrite 0.1-0.2ppm seems like it might be dropping from a higher level?
If it is dropping then good, your tank is on it's way to being cycled. Levels of below 1ppm Nitrite are considered 'low'. From 2.5ppm, 'medium' >5ppm - problems for fish with long term expose - poorly fish.

Nitrate 10ppm - I think your tank is almost if not completely cycled. Levels of >100ppm will cause problems to the fish.

What does your tap water test out at.

GH & KH - ignore for now. VERY difficult to measure accurately anyway.

Temperature of the water? Raise it slightly if you want to - this will speed up the cycling process.

 

[xoedusk]

pH - 7.5: pH will go up & down like a yoyo during cycling. Don't bother measuring it. (Why are you measuring it BTW?)

If water is too acidic (pH < 6) cycle may stall. I think its good to at least know it once during cycling.

Brad, keep up on the water changes and you'll be fine. Let us know how it goes.

 

[Underwurlde]

erm....

My tank cycled fine with an initial pH of 7.2 & did so in about 4-5 weeks......

 

[mark.w.jones]

I wouldnt worry so much about General Hardness levels if I were you. They are an issue if you plan to keep certain more sensitive fish but dont have much bearing on your cycling process. Basically, if youre cycling with fish, not a good idea IMO go with a fishless cycle next time (see link in sig.), you need to be doing regular small water changes in order to keep your fish from being exposed too often to ammonia and nitrite. About 20% every other day ought to do, obviously dechlorinated and at the correct temp. Keep this up along with daily tests of Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate and just wait. Shouldn't take more than a few weeks.

Good Luck

 

[bradmarsh]

only just got a thermometer today and found that the tank was running at 28 C (82.5F)! very hot me thinks!!! possibly why the results are reasonably good so quickly. what temp do you reccommend for cycling without my guppies being stressed? was thinking 26.5'C. what do we think?

Also its a 30L tank so how much / often would you do a water change based on my results? percentage or litres is fine!!! multiple opinions is helpful too. options are good

thanks all

 

[Underwurlde]

28°C will be fine. Don't be tempted to fiddle with things, if it ain't bust son't fix it n'll that.

I'd go along with 20% water chages. Like I said your stats are fine re: fish. Your filters are coming into line with your current stocking level.

Cycling with fish is fine IMHO if done properly (as I believe the case to be here), it's just a bit more difficult and of course needs constant monitoring.

Andy

 

[bradmarsh]

thanks. how frequently should i do my 20% changes?

should i do it every X days or when one of the test results reach a certain level?

i dont want to do water changes i dont need to but dont wanna neglect doing them if they're needed.



thanks

 

[Underwurlde]

Like Jonsey said, every other day... test daily after the water changes and continue to do so until you are happy with the results.

You know, play it by ear sort of thing.

Andy