Ok I'm Confused... Help!

[asheyna]

So I've had my tank set up and cycling for about a month now. The Ammonia was 0, the Nitrite had spiked and was coming down and nearly 0 and Nitrates were good.

Today I swapped the tank from gravel to sand, put it all back together, ran it for about 2 hours and tested it.

Ammonia 0.6
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5

Seriously... seriously?! Did my entire cycle restart because I changed the gravel to sand? That would make me really sad. The barbs seem happy, adjusted to the new tank really well. They enjoy the extra plants.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Contrary to what you will often read about where the bacteria in our tanks lives, there is a fair amount to be found in the upper layers of one's substrate and other decor such as rocks and wood etc. This is why you are seeing a mini cycle. Depending you your pH and temperature, 0.6 ppm of ammonia should not be a huge worry short term. You need to have a pH of 8+ and temps in the 80s before it is a worry. But not only does changing substrate remove some of the bacteria, but is also usually stirs up some of the mulm settled into the substrate and this creates more waste and hence some more ammonia. There is nothing wrong with doing a water change now to lower the ammonia level, its just that you don't need to panic about it all.

There are a couple of things to monitor to be safe. First, if the ammonia level rises, you should do a water change. If it does not drop in a day or two, do a water change. Second, ammonia leads to nitrite, so you should see a mini-spike there too. The same thing applies- short term lowish levels of nitrite wont cause serious harm to most fish. But higher levels or persistent lower levels should be dealt with via water changes. Again doin a water change now would mitigate this somewhat.

While there is a decent amount of bacteria outside the normal filter setup, this doesn't mean that the majority of it is not in one's bio-media. This means you should still have enough bacteria to quickly multiply you out of the mini-cycle. Morover, if you do a water change now to lower the smallish level of ammonia you have, it will take longer for the bacteria to multiply back to full strength and this can actually mean having lowered levels of ammonia and nitrite but for a longer amount of time.

 

[asheyna]

Thank you for the response I'm treating this as a mini-cycle. For now I'm not worried about the Ammonia level. I'll test it again tomorrow afternoon and do a water change if I need. Keeping a close eye on the fish too, they seem super happy. They love all the new plants

 

[asheyna]

So, I tested the water this morning,

Ammonia 0
Nitrite less than 0.1

Looks like it was a really little cycle. I'll leave the tank a little bit and then look at adding the loaches. Trying to locate Dwarf Loaches.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

If you are in the states, I can help you re finding the loaches.

 

[asheyna]

If you are in the states, I can help you re finding the loaches.

Yeah I found a few places that sell them online in the US, unfortunately I'm in Canada which is making it difficult. Fortunately, I seem to have found some. There's a LFS like an hour from here. Staff seem friendly and nice on the phone and they apparently have some in stock. Going today to check them out. Thank you though.