New Tank!

[GRJ]

Hi to everyone. I have just set up my tropical aquarium and its been up and running for a week. I added some stress zyme to the water(wasnt really sure if i should have or not) and yeaterday went and got some fish to begin the cycling. The tank is 108 litres and i have an external filter with sponge, carbon and biological media in it. I got 2 Zebra Danios and 3 Platys. The Danios are zipping across the tank like loonys and the Platys are coming out for 10 minutes and the hiding in the plans for a while, and then coming out again. They are lovely to watch. I thought these 5 fish would be strong enough to cope with the whole cycling thing. I am going to do a 10-15% water change every other day and test the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and ph in a weeks time. Am i doing this the right way? Any advice off anyone? I know i have to wait around 4 weeks or more before adding any more fish but i would love to know if i am going about this in the right way! I would hate to lose any of the fish! GRJ

 

[Christine1014]

The only other advice i'd give is don't wait a week to test your water (and don't bother testing PH at all at this point. It's going to swing all over the place during cycling). Test daily and let your ammonia and nitrite levels dictate how often you do water changes. You may find that 15% every other day is enough to dilute the ammonia, or you may find yourself doing two 20% changes every day...

Also, if you can, buy a bottle of Ammo Lock. It converts ammonia to ammonium. It will still show up on your test and it's still used the same way by the newly developing beneficial bacteria, but it's not harmful to fish. IN NO WAY SHOULD THIS TAKE THE PLACE OF WATER CHANGES but it can help make the whole thing more comfortable for the fish.

(Oh and nice choice with danios. They are most defininitely loony; i could spend hours watching mine)

Good luck!

 

[GRJ]

The only other advice i'd give is don't wait a week to test your water (and don't bother testing PH at all at this point. It's going to swing all over the place during cycling). Test daily and let your ammonia and nitrite levels dictate how often you do water changes. You may find that 15% every other day is enough to dilute the ammonia, or you may find yourself doing two 20% changes every day...

Also, if you can, buy a bottle of Ammo Lock. It converts ammonia to ammonium. It will still show up on your test and it's still used the same way by the newly developing beneficial bacteria, but it's not harmful to fish. IN NO WAY SHOULD THIS TAKE THE PLACE OF WATER CHANGES but it can help make the whole thing more comfortable for the fish.

(Oh and nice choice with danios. They are most defininitely loony; i could spend hours watching mine)

Good luck!

 

[GRJ]

Thanks for that reply, it was really helpfull. What sort of ammonia readings should i be getting? I am a little confused by the whole cycling issue and want to make sure i get it right. I tested my nitrite and it was 0.25 and my nitrate was 20 today. I am going to get some amolock and an ammonia test kit tomorrow. My platys have come out this afternoon and they are a pleasure to watch but the yellow one i think is female and seems a little shy. Do they rest a lot or may it be something to do with the ammonia ect? Thanks again for the advice.GRJ

 

[dthoffsett]

Here's a great link that should answer your questions. Good luck with your cycle.

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=175355

 

[GRJ]

Hi again, i have done a 10% water change today and added some ammo lock and here are my water parameter readings taken a few hours after the water change. Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 10 and PH 7. Now i know that my tank cant have cycled already but does that sound right, i mean its a good reading isnt it? I have also given my external filter a clean out and rinsed the media in water taken from the aquarium as it hasnt been done sinc the tank was set up 10 days ago. My fish didnt seem to bothered by the process, they just stay in the plants swimming up and down. I plan to do another water change, maybe 20% on Monday but i just wanted to know if i am doing this right. Thanks, GRJ

 

[dthoffsett]

Sounds like you're doing it right so far!

 

[GRJ]

Sounds like you're doing it right so far!

Hi again, glad i am doing ok so far but i have another question regarding Stress Zyme. Should i be putting that in now i have fish in the tank or not? Also, how often should i put the ammo lock in? It says on the bottle that every 2 days, so i think maybe whenever i do a water change i put some in. What do you think? My Platies have really come into thier own now, they have been very active today, almost showing off. The only thing is, since i changed the water today, one of my zebras is just staying at the top of the tank in the corner and not doing very much. He has been out a few times and had a play with the other zebra but keeps retreating back to the corner. He has fed ok so i am not sure what to make of it. Any advice? Thanks for everyones help. GRJ.

 

[dthoffsett]

Both prime and stress zyme are water conditioners, though Prime will help with ammonia, so you really only need to add it at water changes (meaning you don't have to use both products, I'd just stick with the Prime for now). Your zebra danio is probably stressed from the ammonia and nitrite, just keep up on your water changes, they're pretty hardy fish and will hopefully pull through the cycling process.

 

[GRJ]

Both prime and stress zyme are water conditioners, though Prime will help with ammonia, so you really only need to add it at water changes (meaning you don't have to use both products, I'd just stick with the Prime for now). Your zebra danio is probably stressed from the ammonia and nitrite, just keep up on your water changes, they're pretty hardy fish and will hopefully pull through the cycling process.

Hi, just wanted to say that i hae done a 20% water change today, i tested the water parameters before the water change and they were as follows: Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0.25, Nitrate 20ppm and ph 7. I will test water again tomorrow but i have had no ammonia readings at all yet. Is that normal or is it too soon as fish have only been in there 4 days. I will keep on with the water changes. When i got up and checked on them today, i found some small fry swimming around, i feel quite proud that my female platy has felt settled enough to do that. I shall keep you updated. Thanks.

 

[dthoffsett]

I'm not sure if the Prime will interfere with the ammonia reading or not, but since you have nitrite readings I'm sure your cycling is underway. Just keep doing what you are doing.

 

[GRJ]

I'm not sure if the Prime will interfere with the ammonia reading or not, but since you have nitrite readings I'm sure your cycling is underway. Just keep doing what you are doing.

Thanks for that, since doing my water change today i have tested the water again after giving it a few hours and the readings are ammonia 0.5 nitrite 0.25 and nitrate 20. I guess by this that the cycling process is under way, Hurrah! . I will test the water again tomorrow and do another 20% water change on wednesday! Thanks again GRJ.

 

[Christine1014]

Prime won't interfere with your ammonia readings. It will convert ammonia (toxic) to ammonium (non toxic) but your water test kit can't tell the difference between the two. It's odd though that you haven't seen any ammonia readings at all. The good thing is that you have nitrite, AND nitrate, which proves things are definitely moving along. Maybe your tank is cycling unusually fast and you had a big ammonia spike over a couple days when you didn't test the water??? Who knows.. but you're definitely getting there!

 

[GRJ]

Prime won't interfere with your ammonia readings. It will convert ammonia (toxic) to ammonium (non toxic) but your water test kit can't tell the difference between the two. It's odd though that you haven't seen any ammonia readings at all. The good thing is that you have nitrite, AND nitrate, which proves things are definitely moving along. Maybe your tank is cycling unusually fast and you had a big ammonia spike over a couple days when you didn't test the water??? Who knows.. but you're definitely getting there!

Thanks for that, i think i have problems with my ammoniatesting as i have been using tet strips and they are not as accurate as liquid tests. Today i got an ammonia reading after the water change, i thinks its definately cycling as i have readings for nitrite and nitrate as you said so i just have to be patient and keep up with my water changes. Do you think i should still add some Ammo Lock every few days?GRJ