Nitrate at nil

[Country joe]

Well, did a test today,
Ammonia 0
nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Ph 8
Do I now do a 25% waterchange or add a few fish.
I'm a bit concerned about the nitrate being nil as I do have live plants I did a second nitrate test in case the first was wrong, but it wasn't, and I did exactly what was on the instructions.
It was all NT Labs liquid tests.

 

[sharkweek178]

It's rarely a bad idea to do a water change. Byron once told me that the reason we do water isn't to fix bad water parameters; it's to keep the parameters stable so that the parameters never get bad.

 

[Essjay]

Have you added ammonia recently? The only way to be 100% sure it's safe to add fish is to add ammonia to around 3 ppm then test next day. If both ammonia and nitrite are zero, it's safe to add fish. And not just a few fish but most of the fish you plan for the tank, leaving till later any fish which need a mature tank - one that's been running 6 months.
Edit to add - if they do test zero, do a water change before adding fish.

With fishless cycling, time has been spent growing enough bacteria to support a sensibly stocked tank. Adding just a few fish means the numbers of bacteria will decrease as there won't be enough food to support the colonies in their end-of-cycle numbers.

 

[Country joe]

Essjay, I last added 104 drops of ammonia six days ago, and nothing since, as I thought that was too much, if adding more an email from Dr Tims said one drop per gallon.i wouldn't know how much ammonia to add to get at 3ppm, it doesn't say on the bottle, I was thinking of adding at first 8 or 10 Harlequin Rasboras.and mynext would be either 8 glow light tetras and 8 green neon tetras

 

[Essjay]

With Dr Tim's ammonium chloride, 4 drops per gallon/3.8 litres gives an ammonia level of 2 ppm on the ammonia-N scale. Our testers use the ammonia-NH3 scale and that level on the other scale is the same as 2.4 on our tester scale. So add 4 drops per US gallon.

Since the nitrite level is now zero, adding ammonia now won't push nitrite over stall point, but adding ammonia now will tell you tomorrow if the tank is cycled - if ammonia and nitrite are both zero after 24 hours.



I'd get all those fish at the same time, unless the shop has a rule about how many fish they'll sell to one person in which case go back every day till you have them all. And I'd get 10 of each fish.

 

[Country joe]

If things are okay, would 8 harlequin rasboras, 8 glow light tetras,and 8 green neon tetras be okay.

 

[Essjay]

I would get at least 10 of each. Shoaling fish to better in groups of at least 10.

The way fish are bred at fish farms nowadays I always expect at least two to die from every purchase so I buy more than I want hoping I'll end up with the amount I want.

 

[Country joe]

Today at 5 pm.
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 2
Nitrate 80
Ph 8.
Will do another test tomorrow, and will I also do a water change ?

 

[FishyD]

Today at 5 pm.
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 2
Nitrate 80
Ph 8.
Will do another test tomorrow, and will I also do a water change ?

You may get conflicting opinions, but personally I would do a WC. I am pretty sure it is possible to stall a cycle with nitrate levels that are high. 80 would be sky high if you had fish. It may not in fact be harmful to your cycle, but I would get it down some anyway. Lower nitrate levels aren't going to hurt anything. With your nitrate high, they should be making more nitrate very soon.

 

[Essjay]

Yes, I agree. Do a big water change, then after 30 minutes test for nitrite. If it is zero or just above zero, add another 4 drops per US gallon ammonium chloride. Test again after 24 hours. If ammonia and nitrite are zero, the cycle has finished. If they are not zero, wait until they have dropped to zero then add more ammonium chloride.


Today's nitrite reading shows the tank does not yet have enough nitrite eaters. Nitrite needs to read zero 24 hours after adding ammonia.

 

[Country joe]

Should I do a 25% or 50% water change ?
The white floss sponge on top of the filter will very dirty I'm going to change it I'm sure you said this is okay

 

[Essjay]

Look at it like this. Your nitrate level is high so you need to get it down.
A 25% water change will lower it from 80 to 60 ppm which is still too high.
A 50% water change will lower it from 80 to 40 ppm, which is still too high.

You need to change at least 75% which will get it down to 20 ppm - OK for cycling but when you finally have fish it needs to be under 20 ppm, tap water level permitting.



The white pad will go all shapeless and holey after washing it. Because it's such a tiny part of the total media it will hold just a tiny proportion of the bacteria. Replacing it won't do any harm. And when you have fish you'll probably need to replace it regularly so it won't have time to grow many bacteria before you throw it away.
Juwel filters have the white filter wool/floss pad first in the direction of water flow to stop the bits getting into the sponges. This means it gets dirty quickly. Before I removed the Juwel filter from my Rio, I put a new white pad in, washed it next week and the week after, then replaced it the week after that. Or sooner if it went holey. That's a maximum of 3 weeks in the filter.

 

[FishyD]

Should I do a 25% or 50% water change ?
The white floss sponge on top of the filter will very dirty I'm going to change it I'm sure you said this is okay

As Essjay said, go big lol. We are confident you can make some new nitrates so get rid of the old ones. It's easier to do a couple large WCs, rather than six smallish ones trying to walk the nitrates down.

 

[Country joe]

hi Essjay, my nitrite reading after 24 hrs is 1.0, I don't know if I'm adding too much ammonia, taking 10% of for gravel, rocks, wood etc and 4 drops per US gallons, I added 80 drops, is this to many for a 27,5 UK gallon tank,
I will add more ammonia tomorrow as I'm sure then the nitrite will be nil I'm wondering if I'm getting there, my wife says I should put in Tadpoles, lol.

 

[stuhyde]

@Country joe Not sure where you are in the UK, my tap nitrates are about 40ppm ... Got a filter to sort that and are now at 0