lillykinloo
Fish Fanatic
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- Jan 12, 2007
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Hi everyone! Well, I finally have some Nitrite in my tank. I've posted frequently on this forum about my cycle, so many of you may have already read this, but here's what's been going on in my tank:
I have a 37 gallon tank with a charcoal filter & bio wheel. I initially purchased 5 Diamond Tetras to begin cycling my tank (I'm a newbie and did not know about fishless cycling, so I just took the recommendation of the lfs. Now, I know better.
) In any case, the 5 Diamond Tetras were in my tank for about 1 month, and I had 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and 0 nitrate. At no point in time did I ever have an ammonia or nitrite spike. I tested my water daily with my API master kit, and I also took water samples to my lfs on 3 occassions, and they also got 0 readings on everything. In week 4, the lfs told me that with 5 fish in the tank for a month, there had to have been ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels. He thought our tests just were not sensitive enough to read them. He also told me that it is possible to cycle a tank with 0 readings, but it's very, very rare. He suggested that I go ahead and add 1-2 fish on a weekly or bi-weekly basis and continue to monitor the water perameters. So, on the 4th weekend, I added one Pearl Gourami. The readings were still zero. So, the 2nd weekend, I added 2 addtional Pearl Gouramis. The readings were still zero for the next two weeks. So, this weekend, I added 3 very small killifish (1 male and 2 female). Now, these are my readings today:
ammonia: zero
nitrite: 0.25
nitrate: more than zero, but less than 5.0 (probably about 2.5)
I have changed 20% of the water. Should I use something like Nitro-Zorb to get the nitrate levels down? If I use a product like this, will it still be able to convert to nitrate? Thanks!
Oh, and I forgot to add that when I added the 2 additional Pearl Gouramis, I also put in some Bio Spira just as a precautionary measure. It was expensive, but I wanted to be on the safe side. I don't think it really worked since I have nitrite readings now, but who knows?
I have a 37 gallon tank with a charcoal filter & bio wheel. I initially purchased 5 Diamond Tetras to begin cycling my tank (I'm a newbie and did not know about fishless cycling, so I just took the recommendation of the lfs. Now, I know better.
) In any case, the 5 Diamond Tetras were in my tank for about 1 month, and I had 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and 0 nitrate. At no point in time did I ever have an ammonia or nitrite spike. I tested my water daily with my API master kit, and I also took water samples to my lfs on 3 occassions, and they also got 0 readings on everything. In week 4, the lfs told me that with 5 fish in the tank for a month, there had to have been ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels. He thought our tests just were not sensitive enough to read them. He also told me that it is possible to cycle a tank with 0 readings, but it's very, very rare. He suggested that I go ahead and add 1-2 fish on a weekly or bi-weekly basis and continue to monitor the water perameters. So, on the 4th weekend, I added one Pearl Gourami. The readings were still zero. So, the 2nd weekend, I added 2 addtional Pearl Gouramis. The readings were still zero for the next two weeks. So, this weekend, I added 3 very small killifish (1 male and 2 female). Now, these are my readings today:ammonia: zero
nitrite: 0.25
nitrate: more than zero, but less than 5.0 (probably about 2.5)
I have changed 20% of the water. Should I use something like Nitro-Zorb to get the nitrate levels down? If I use a product like this, will it still be able to convert to nitrate? Thanks!
Oh, and I forgot to add that when I added the 2 additional Pearl Gouramis, I also put in some Bio Spira just as a precautionary measure. It was expensive, but I wanted to be on the safe side. I don't think it really worked since I have nitrite readings now, but who knows?
