Second Stage Cycle Started Today Help

[lana]

aah, ok MW, my sentence and word choices probably were making a gravel changeout sound worse than it really is. Its not so hard (of course it helps if MW gives you a mere 11 steps and gets you started a week ahead )

Yes, I'd go very light and amused with the guy downstairs, eventually he'll become interested in how beautiful and healthy your tank is after its all settled and going. MW and the other experts taught me and my tank is looking crystal!

The guy downstairs, in my opinion, is making a common but subtle mental mistake, thinking of a tank as a natural environment. A fish tank is mostly only natural in looks (if we are successful in making it look that way) and in many other respects remains quite un-natural technically. We want to believe our illusion, but in truth mother nature uses thousands of gallons of water and acres of plants and substrates to do what we're trying to do. If you think about the amazon and african streams and lakes where these fish originally came from, you realize that in fact these resources for an individual fish are so large! Ammonia and Nitrite are just not likely to be an issue when a monsoon is sending thousands of gallons of water past you!

My own observation in my tank is that my fish virtually always seem to like water changes and perk up even more for a period after them, although they seem quite frisky and happy all the time. I still keep observing nothing but positive things from gravel clean water changes.

~~waterdrop~~

530 test results

ammonia was 1.0
nitrite was 0.25
nitrate was 10

did 50 % water change

will test again in 45 mins and update

all fish still happy and swimmig

hubby said he did not see anything weird alll day so guess it ws a one time thing this morning

ok off to the grocery store then i will test when i get back

 

[waterdrop]

man, those little guys can put out some ammonia can't they

 

[lana]

man, those little guys can put out some ammonia can't they

yup

so tested again at 8 30 3 hours after first water change and results were

ammonia between 0.25 and 0.50
nitrite blueish purple so between 0 and 0.25
nitrate yellowish orange

did another 50% water change will test again before going to bed

this 50% should get me to 0 across the board

 

[waterdrop]

Don't forget that once either poison gets above 0.25, then the benefits of smaller percentage water changes is not as great as the benefits of diluting the poison. So if it is comfortable to do larger than 50% in this instances then there is nothing wrong with it (forgive me, I've forgotten whether there is any ammonia or nitrate in the tap water which would be call for differing advice.) -wd-

 

[lana]

Don't forget that once either poison gets above 0.25, then the benefits of smaller percentage water changes is not as great as the benefits of diluting the poison. So if it is comfortable to do larger than 50% in this instances then there is nothing wrong with it (forgive me, I've forgotten whether there is any ammonia or nitrate in the tap water which would be call for differing advice.) -wd-

test as of 6 pm

ammonia between 0.50 and 1.0

nitrite 0

nitrate at 10

ph a little lower than 7.2

is it normal to have ammonia and nitrate and no nitrite

doing a major water change now

yes water drop i have ammonia in tap but prime takes it away as per my test i did last week

lost 1 fish this morning

 

[waterdrop]

yes we see that a lot, gets by the nitrite without you seeing it, its not linear

gads, were you getting 1ppm ammonia in tap and I forgot?

 

[lana]

yes we see that a lot, gets by the nitrite without you seeing it, its not linear

gads, were you getting 1ppm ammonia in tap and I forgot?

around 0.50 but i did a tet and the prime takes it right away so i added double right now to tank while cycling and that is working cause this morning it was at
0 to 0.25 and when i got home was alot higher

so i did a 80% water change will poost thoses results soon

 

[lana]

ok got ammonia levels down to almost 0 it is as close to 0 i have seen in a few days

we'll see what tomorrow brings

 

[Miss Wiggle]

excellent, sounds like it's moving on. just got to be patient.

 

[lana]

excellent, sounds like it's moving on. just got to be patient.

ok things looking goood this morning

ammonia 0
nitrita 0
nitrate bout 7

everyone happy

and if you seen my other post i had fry in tank last night but i didn't try getting them i figured they didn't stand a chance anyways between the other fish and cycling there is no ways any will make it

ok off to enjoy my day off..... ha ha not much to be done, i desided to go and check lfs and see if i could get a peice of used filter today hoping to speed things up a bit

ok check back later

 

[waterdrop]

Yup, sounds good

 

[lana]

Yup, sounds good

so i went to the lfs and asked for a peice of the filters....... they asked what for i told him and he did give it to me a i'd say 3 by 3 peice of cotton like stuff the you use in old in tank filters , i added to the back of my filrer and got a pack of water clear shine that i added to the front where the water comes back into tank and wow it cleared my water very clear not and to think i thought it was clear before,

i also added a bubble wall at the back to get that in i had to do a 30% water change , cleaned the rocks a bit, i should be good til tomorrow unless levels spike later when i test again

 

[waterdrop]

Mature media can never hurt. We assume you kept it wet coming home. Let's hope it gets in there and gives your beneficial bacteria colonies a boost! It sure seems like you've been doing a pretty good job with your Fish-In cycle.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[lana]

Mature media can never hurt. We assume you kept it wet coming home. Let's hope it gets in there and gives your beneficial bacteria colonies a boost! It sure seems like you've been doing a pretty good job with your Fish-In cycle.

~~waterdrop~~

yup had it in a bag of their tank water........

also just took my common plec back and got a yellow spot bushy nose plec

 

[lana]

ok 6 pm and just tested again and here are my reading


ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate bout 15

ph 7.0 dropped a bit

every body looks healthy