Need Help With Water Test And Cycling!

[verdamper]

Hi people i need some more help!!

I am curently adding stress zyme to my new 60 litre tank the tank has been establised about a week now!! I want to fisless cycle so know i also have to add ammonia. Where do i get ammonia? is it a cleaning product? I looked in my local supermarket but then realised that i didnt realy know what i was looking for!

I have also bought a water testing kit and want to post the result as it slightly baffles me!

Ph 7.2

carbonate 3d

general hardness >6d

nitrite 5

nitrate 10

Are these ok?

The kit is a strip tester that the shop assistant said also tested ammonia levels which it does not! bit annoyed about that as i still canot test for ammonia!

is there any digital water testers on the market?

P lease help!

 

[dizzied]

There's a pinned topic on fishless cycling, you should look there.

Yep, you can find ammonia with other cleaning products in your supermarket.

Though, I wonder where your nitrites and nitrates came from.

 

[mark.w.jones]

Hi people i need some more help!!

I am curently adding stress zyme to my new 60 litre tank the tank has been establised about a week now!! I want to fisless cycle so know i also have to add ammonia. Where do i get ammonia? is it a cleaning product? I looked in my local supermarket but then realised that i didnt realy know what i was looking for!

I have also bought a water testing kit and want to post the result as it slightly baffles me!

Ph 7.2

carbonate 3d

general hardness >6d

nitrite 5

nitrate 10

Are these ok?

The kit is a strip tester that the shop assistant said also tested ammonia levels which it does not! bit annoyed about that as i still canot test for ammonia!

is there any digital water testers on the market?

P lease help!

Test strips are a bit crappy and if youre fishless cycling a waste of time really. Theyre OK as back up but dont always give accurate readings, especially if you touch them with your fingers, drop them, get anything on them you shouldnt or if the lid isnt kept on tight. They also dont have a very long shelf life. Get a Aquarium Pharmaseuticals API fershwater master test kit with liquid tests for everything you will need as a beginner. Digital testers cost the earth by the way.

Your readings sound fine for a new tank.

Ammonia you can get from Homebase in the UK, in the household cleaning stuff section. Then just follow the add & wait method in the pinned article on fishless cycling.

Stress zyme will do very little in a new tank so save it until you fishless cycle is over for when you add your fish. To speed things up, try and get hold of some filter sponge & ideally filter media from an established tank's filter.

 

[Silverlady]

Hi welcome to the Forum. Ammonia can be bought in most Hardware shops.

 

[fiona and my babies]

iv been recomended to do this cycling thing with my tank but im fully stocked
everyone has said it is really worth doing but what am i ment to do now that i have my fish in there??
the place i got my tank from make out they know everything about fish but they know nowt!!!

now i think that i should have done this at the start, what sgould i do, will it be alright not doing it or is something that they can live with out doing??

 

[ImperfectFaerie]

Well (to fiona), you are pretty much past the point of being able to fishless cycle. What you need to be doing now is watching your water stats and doing frequent water changes. If it's possible to move them the fish to an established aquarium for awhile then it would be possible to do a fishless cycle, but if not you are just going to have to keep up on the water changes and cross your fingers.