Questions About My Results.

[Vethian]

I setup my tank, 29 gallon, and started a live fish cycle before I found this forum.  I ordered my master test kit, but I just got it today.  I did nutrifin cycle after I couldnt find the test kit.  I didnt want my fish to die.    So, the tank is 6 days old and did my first test.  The results are:
 
PH looks like it is close to 7.6
ammonia is 0.50 ppm
nitrite is between 0.25 and 0.50 ppm
nitrates are at red...i cant tell.  but 40 or 80 ppm
 
how does this look.  should I do a water change yet?

 

[NickAu]

Yes you should, IMO at least 50%.

 

[TallTree01]

With a ph like that I'd definitely change the water.

 

[Akasha72]

hi, yes. Immediate water change - I'd go further than 50% I'd do 75% but then I'm over cautious. It's what I'd expect of a cycling tank but I was hoping that you'd get away with it with the fish being small and young - guess not.
 
You're now in a fish-in cycle. You'll need to test the water now daily - or twice a day if you can and each time you see any ammonia or nitrite then change the water.  It's always worth re-testing for Ammonia and Nitrite after you've done the water change to check you've zero'd the readings
 
Hope that helps

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Since you did not provide any info on your water temp., I used 78F as a guess. At your total ammonia reading of .5 ppm and pH 7.6 and my assumed temp, you only have 0.0118 ppm of the toxic NH3 form of ammonia. Your fish should handle this for a bit of time, so unless they are showing signs of ammonia poisoning. I would not change any water unless the numbers are rising. If anyone would like to check the NH3 number, use the ammonia calculator here http/www.hamzasreef.com/Contents/Calculators/FreeAmmonia.php
 
As for nitrite, I ran the calculation for your tank from this article http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/433778-rescuing-a-fish-in-cycle-gone-wild-part-il/
To be safe I used .50 ppm. If you add .71 gm of table salt to the tank you will block the nitrite from being able to affect your fish. I am not sure you will be able to measure this little salt accurately since 1/4 of a teaspoon = about 2 grams. So you need 1/3 of a 1/4 teaspoon. This is very little salt. I would suggest the easiest thing to do is take a 1/4 teaspoon of salt and dump it into a small pile. Then, by eye divide, the pile in half. Scoop a cup of water from the tank, add the salt to and dissolve it, then pour it arournd the surface of the tank.
 
I would be most concerned by the nitrate level but given how poor this test can be and how easy it is to fail to shake things sufficiently. I would be less concerned about that here.
 
While most of the cycle aids on the market do not contain the bacteria which actually end up in our established tanks, they may provide some help. But they do not tend to shorten cycles by a lot and they will not make a tank safe for fish as quickly. Because you live in the states you do have access to an excellent product, Dr. Tim's One and Only Nitrifying Bacteria. I just ordered a bottle on sale from here http/www.drsfostersmith.com/default.cfm to put in my fridge for emergency use when I cannot use filters from my biofarm or seed from other tanks. I use it for certain wild fish imports where they must not go into an established tank.
 
You can read about this product here: http/www.drtimsaquatics.com/resources/helpful-hints/one-and-only-nitrifying-bacteria-faqs

 

[Vethian]

thanks for that calculator!  I will check again tomorrow and if the trend is upward, I will do a water change.  the fish show no sign of stress at this time.

 

[Vethian]

All is going well...still spiking ammonia and nitrites.  Did my water change.  my nitrates still read high.  I added some pothos plants to help leach nitrates.
 

 

[Vethian]

Going on 2 weeks.  Ammonia and Nitrites keep going up.  I am doing water changes to keep things under control.  Nitrates were still reading high even after water changes.  However, tonight the Nitrates are dropping since I dangled that Pothos in my tank.  I am going to add a sponge filter on payday.  

 

[Akasha72]

have you by any chance done a water test on your tap water? We see quite a lot of member in the States that have Ammonia and Nitrates in their tap water and so getting a tank to cycle is hard work on you guys.
 
It might be worth a check if you havn't already. If you find there's Ammonia in the tap water then you guys in the States have access to Prime dechlorinator (we struggle to get it here in the U.K) and that stuff will deal with any Ammonia present in the tap water. Not sure what you do if there's Nitrates there though

If Nitrates are high then you could plant heavily with lots of live plants. The live plants will use up some of the Nitrate as food

 

[Vethian]

I didnt test the tap, but after a change the levels drop.  I will check tonight just to know.

 

[Akasha72]

it is worth checking so you know what your dealing with
 
I always advise just checking all the stats on the tap water if that is what we are using to water change our tanks. It helps to know what the pH is and the gH and kH and whether there's any Ammonia in there or Nitrates. In my case I need to know that there's a Phosphate (PO4) level straight from my tap that is harmful to fish and this is why I have to run a PO4 remover constantly

 

[Vethian]

I am on well water and when I bought the house a few years back there wasn't high phosphate.  I started looking for that paperwork, but have yet to find it.  I seem to remember a high level of copper, though.

 

[Ch4rlie]

It might be worth a check if you havn't already. If you find there's Ammonia in the tap water then you guys in the States have access to Prime dechlorinator (we struggle to get it here in the U.K) and that stuff will deal with any Ammonia present in the tap water.

 
A heads up to help those in UK who wants to get some Seachem Prime, this is where I got my bottle from

 
I have seen this in a few LFS before, few and far between though, but they ARE available.
 
Not the cheapest stuff but well worth it as you use very little compared to other well known brands of dechlorinator.
 
Seachem Prime 250ml - Amazon
 
Seachem Prime 500ml - Amazon

 

[Akasha72]

a lot of the metals in water are dealt with by our dechlorinators so I tend to ignore things like that. I have a PO4 level of 1.8 straight from my tap and so this sends the tank off the scale on my chart. If I ignore it my fish become lethargic and then prone to illness so I add a remover to my filter to soak it up. My recent batch of ill fish has come from me letting it slide and forgetting to test. We're back on track though now thankfully

 

[Akasha72]

thanks Ch4rlie. I had seen it on Amazon a couple of years ago and then it disappeared the next time I checked, and then I was told on another forum that it was no longer available in the U.K and so hadn't checked again. 
 
To quote my favourite author - "A lie can run around the world before the truth has got it's boots on"