No Ammonia

[GRJ]

Hi all. I have had my 108ltr tank for 11 days now, i added 5 fish(2 zebra danios and 3 platys) after 7 days to cylcle my tank. I did add some Stress Zyme on day 5 and day 7. I did a 10% water change yesterday and my water parameters were Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 10. I added some Ammo Lock yesterday also. Today my water parameters are Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0.25, Nitrate 20. I intend on doing a 20% water change tommorow and every other day on advice i was given. Does this sound like the right course of action. I didnt know about the whole fishless cycling process before and only found this forum a few days ago. The fish seem happy enough and are eating and i wont be adding anymore untill the cycle is complete. I will carry on testing water every day and post them on here and i am gratefull for any advice. Thanks.GRJ

 

[mark.w.jones]

Avoid the ammo lock as this just gets rid of ammonia completely, well converts it to a less harmful but unusable form really. Good if you've had a high spike and want to protect your fish. Bad if you are trying to get "ammonia eating" bacteria to grow in your filter as there will be nothing for them to feed on. Just keep up your small regular water changes. 10% a day or 20% every other day for now. This will keep ammonia and nitrite at acceptable levels whilst leaving enough for the bacteria to grow. Keep up your water stat tests as well. Eventually you will get 0ppm readings for ammonia and nitrite. Then you can think about adding in your next school of fish. Take it slow and steady and don't be tempted to stock too many fish too fast. This will lead to certain disaster and loss of fish.

 

[GRJ]

Avoid the ammo lock as this just gets rid of ammonia completely, well converts it to a less harmful but unusable form really. Good if you've had a high spike and want to protect your fish. Bad if you are trying to get "ammonia eating" bacteria to grow in your filter as there will be nothing for them to feed on. Just keep up your small regular water changes. 10% a day or 20% every other day for now. This will keep ammonia and nitrite at acceptable levels whilst leaving enough for the bacteria to grow. Keep up your water stat tests as well. Eventually you will get 0ppm readings for ammonia and nitrite. Then you can think about adding in your next school of fish. Take it slow and steady and don't be tempted to stock too many fish too fast. This will lead to certain disaster and loss of fish.

Thanks for that, it all seems to get very complicated sometimes, thank goodness i can rely on you kind people to give me a nudge in the right direction. I will do 20% water change every other day and test every day. I wont be adding any other fish for a good few weeks and then it wil only be a couple at a time. ther seems to be so many products on the market that my head feels like it will pop. I shall just dechlorinate the water i put in and not add anything else untill the tank has matured then?Thanks.GRJ.

 

[mark.w.jones]

Dechlorinator is all you need to add regularly, when you do your water changes. As well as plant ferts every week if you have real plants. All the other products are a complete waste of money and just mess with your water chemistry most of the time, which does more harm than good.

 

[Matt_northants]

Dechlorinator is all you need to add regularly, when you do your water changes. As well as plant ferts every week if you have real plants. All the other products are a complete waste of money and just mess with your water chemistry most of the time, which does more harm than good.

Unless you use RO water in which case you need to remineralise it

 

[Hollymolly4]

I got a lot of my info from a great book (in my opinion anyway) The Simple Guide to Fresh Water Aquariums by David E. Boruchowitz. He is big on not adding anything to the water except dechlor. It just makes it so unstable. Stability is more important than the perfect ph or whatever.
Have fun with your fish! What else do you want to add?

 

[dthoffsett]

Since this thread was started in June, I imagine his tank is cycled and stocked by now.