Tank Cycle Help Please

[voyagerxp]

Hi guys i'm new to the forum and fish keeping and could do with some guidance. Me and the wife have brought a 55 liter tank and last week started to do a fishless cycle & i've used API Quick start and Tap Safe. The water was a bit cloudy but has cleared up. I've been testing the water with NTLABS Aquarium Lab multi test kit but it seems the NO2 and NO3 are raised, is there anything i need to do.

KH is 11
GH is 18

 

[Essjay]

The first thing is - test your tap water for nitrate. Most places have some and the nitrate in your tank may well have already been in your tap water.


The fact that your nitrite level is so high suggests some ammonia has been added to the tank - have you added any ammonia? Historically, some brands of bottled bacteria contained ammonia, but I do not know which ones, or if they still do.

Ammonia is necessary for a fishless cycle. The bottled bacteria you used may or may not do anything, but assuming it works, you need to feed the bacteria you added to your tank.
Fishless cycling involves adding ammonia to the tank and waiting until certain targets have been reached, then adding more ammonia. When the tank can covert a dose of ammonia to zero ammonia and zero nitrite in 24 hours, the cycle is complete. This is the method we recommend on here

Cycling Your New Fresh Water Tank: Read This First!

Cycling Your First Fresh Water Tank What is Cycling and Why is it Important? Fish waste, and especially fish breathing, plus uneaten food and other organic matter breaking down in a tank all produce Ammonia. This can quickly become toxic to fish if it is allowed to build up to any measurable...

www.fishforums.net

GH is an important parameter. We should choose fish which come from water with a similar GH. I assume your 18 is the number of drops it took? That means 18 dH or 322 ppm. This is very hard water, so you need to avoid all soft water fish and look at hard water fish.

 

[voyagerxp]

Thanks for the reply, i've tested the tap water at my home for nitrate and its clear. I've not added any ammonia except for the API Quick start that a gathered would have all that is needed, that's what i was told where i brought it. So do i need to add ammonia and whats the best method. GH 18 is 18 drops it took to change the color in the test, is there a way to lower the GH, my wife has set her heart on gupp's and neon tetras.

 

[Colin_T]

Don't bother testing the tank for nitrate (NO3) until it has finished cycling because nitrate test kits read nitrite (NO2) as nitrate and give you a false reading.

When the tank has finished cycling, then start testing for nitrates.

 

[Essjay]

Thanks for the reply, i've tested the tap water at my home for nitrate and its clear. I've not added any ammonia except for the API Quick start that a gathered would have all that is needed, that's what i was told where i brought it. So do i need to add ammonia and whats the best method. GH 18 is 18 drops it took to change the color in the test, is there a way to lower the GH, my wife has set her heart on gupp's and neon tetras.

Yes you do need to add ammonia. If it was the shop that said adding Quick Start was all you need to do, don't believe it. One of the first lessons in fish keeping is don't believe anything a shop worker says. Some of them know what they are talking about, the majority haven't a clue.
No bacterial starter cycles a tank instantly.

You need to buy some ammonia. This is getting harder to source nowadays but we can use use this product
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B006MP4QG6/?tag=
The bottle says to add 1 drop per 4 US gallons, so 1 drop per 3.75 litres. That's actual water not the volume the tank manufacturer says. I would add a bit less than that rate, wait half an hour for it to mix in thoroughly then test for ammonia. If it's not 3 ppm, add some more. Make a note of the number of drops you add altogether to get 3 ppm as you'll need to add the same amount again, and also one third of that amount later in the cycle.
Once you have the ammonium chloride, follow the method in the link I gave you in post #2.



I'm afraid 18 dH is way too hard for neon tetras, but is good for guppies. Neons are soft water fish while guppies are hard water fish. There is no happy medium I'm afraid. And if you soften the water for neons, guppies won't be happy.

Hardness is a measure of the amount of calcium and magnesium in the water. Hard water has a lot of these minerals and hard water fish have evolved so that they excrete most of the mnerals they take in from the water. If they are put in soft water, they still excrete the minerals but there aren't enough in the water to replace them so they suffer calcium deficiency. Soft water has few minerals so soft water fish have evolved to hang on to the minerals. When they are put in hard water they continue to hang onto them, resulting in mineral deposits in their bodies, particularly in the kidneys. Both of these, calcium deficiency and calcium deposits, shorten a fish's life.


While you are waiting for the tank to cycle, you could browse your local shops - but ignore any advice they give - and see which fish they stock. Make a note of the ones you like, then go home and look them up on Seriously Fish

Knowledge Base — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

The fish profiles on there tell you the hardness a species needs, the temperature, the minimum tank size, suggestions for compatible fish, and any quirks a fish might have (eg needing a shoal of a certain number, special feeding etc)

 

[voyagerxp]

Yes you do need to add ammonia. If it was the shop that said adding Quick Start was all you need to do, don't believe it. One of the first lessons in fish keeping is don't believe anything a shop worker says. Some of them know what they are talking about, the majority haven't a clue.
No bacterial starter cycles a tank instantly.

You need to buy some ammonia. This is getting harder to source nowadays but we can use use this product
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B006MP4QG6/?tag=
The bottle says to add 1 drop per 4 US gallons, so 1 drop per 3.75 litres. That's actual water not the volume the tank manufacturer says. I would add a bit less than that rate, wait half an hour for it to mix in thoroughly then test for ammonia. If it's not 3 ppm, add some more. Make a note of the number of drops you add altogether to get 3 ppm as you'll need to add the same amount again, and also one third of that amount later in the cycle.
Once you have the ammonium chloride, follow the method in the link I gave you in post #2.



I'm afraid 18 dH is way too hard for neon tetras, but is good for guppies. Neons are soft water fish while guppies are hard water fish. There is no happy medium I'm afraid. And if you soften the water for neons, guppies won't be happy.

Hardness is a measure of the amount of calcium and magnesium in the water. Hard water has a lot of these minerals and hard water fish have evolved so that they excrete most of the mnerals they take in from the water. If they are put in soft water, they still excrete the minerals but there aren't enough in the water to replace them so they suffer calcium deficiency. Soft water has few minerals so soft water fish have evolved to hang on to the minerals. When they are put in hard water they continue to hang onto them, resulting in mineral deposits in their bodies, particularly in the kidneys. Both of these, calcium deficiency and calcium deposits, shorten a fish's life.


While you are waiting for the tank to cycle, you could browse your local shops - but ignore any advice they give - and see which fish they stock. Make a note of the ones you like, then go home and look them up on Seriously Fish

Knowledge Base — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

The fish profiles on there tell you the hardness a species needs, the temperature, the minimum tank size, suggestions for compatible fish, and any quirks a fish might have (eg needing a shoal of a certain number, special feeding etc)

I've got the solution you linked from amazon, how many drops would you had to a 55 liter tank?.

 

[Essjay]

Does the bottle say 4 drops per gallon?

If the tank manufacturer says the tank is 55 litres, it will be less than that as the quoted volume includes the thickness of the glass and the air space between the water surface and the top of the tank walls. I once had a tank which was quoted as 54 litres but held only 45 litres water.
So assume your tank holds 45 litres (you can always add more ammonia).
45 litres = 11.9 US gallons. Call it 12 gallons. I would add 48 drops, wait half an hour with the filter running and test the tank water for ammonia. If it's 3 ppm, good. If it's not you'd need to add some more. If it is lower than 3 ppm, tell us what the reading is and how many drops you used and we can work out how many more you need to add.

 

[Slaphppy7]

"One of the first lessons in fish keeping is don't believe anything a shop worker says. Some of them know what they are talking about, the majority haven't a clue."

This is gospel in fishkeeping, as well as with many other store-bought animals

 

[voyagerxp]

Does the bottle say 4 drops per gallon?

If the tank manufacturer says the tank is 55 litres, it will be less than that as the quoted volume includes the thickness of the glass and the air space between the water surface and the top of the tank walls. I once had a tank which was quoted as 54 litres but held only 45 litres water.
So assume your tank holds 45 litres (you can always add more ammonia).
45 litres = 11.9 US gallons. Call it 12 gallons. I would add 48 drops, wait half an hour with the filter running and test the tank water for ammonia. If it's 3 ppm, good. If it's not you'd need to add some more. If it is lower than 3 ppm, tell us what the reading is and how many drops you used and we can work out how many more you need to add.

I've put 48 drops in and i get the following, looks 2-5ppm. What do you think?.

 

[Essjay]

It's hard to tell. Does the colour look more definite if you stand the tube on its end, remove the lid and look down into the tube?

From the photo it looks more than 2 but less than 5. I would stay with that, don't add any more. But perhaps when you reach the stage of adding another 3 ppm dose, use a bit less, say 42 drops, then 14 drops for the 1 ppm dose.

 

[voyagerxp]

It's hard to tell. Does the colour look more definite if you stand the tube on its end, remove the lid and look down into the tube?

From the photo it looks more than 2 but less than 5. I would stay with that, don't add any more. But perhaps when you reach the stage of adding another 3 ppm dose, use a bit less, say 42 drops, then 14 drops for the 1 ppm dose.

Yes more like 2 but less than 5, so whats my next step. Do i keep testing?.

 

[Essjay]

Read this sticky.

Cycling Your New Fresh Water Tank: Read This First!

Cycling Your First Fresh Water Tank What is Cycling and Why is it Important? Fish waste, and especially fish breathing, plus uneaten food and other organic matter breaking down in a tank all produce Ammonia. This can quickly become toxic to fish if it is allowed to build up to any measurable...

www.fishforums.net

You'll see that you don't test every day at the beiginning, and ammonia is only added once the test results reach certain targets. This is because too much ammonia makes a lot of nitrite which then stalls the cycle. Adding ammonia only at certain stages stops nitrite getting to stall point.

 

[Tez_20]

. If it was the shop that said adding Quick Start was all you need to do, don't believe it.

Essjay they told my hubby that and i let him carry on

 

[Essjay]

I was in a shop once and they told the customer in front of me that he should add this bottled bacteria (forgotten which one) and add a whole tankful of fish at the same time or it wouldn't work. I googled the product when I got home and the website said to add fish a few at a time........

 

[Tez_20]

I was in a shop once and they told the customer in front of me that he should add this bottled bacteria (forgotten which one) and add a whole tankful of fish at the same time or it wouldn't work. I googled the product when I got home and the website said to add fish a few at a time........

Some of these shop keepers and those who help haven't got a clue..totally disgusting.