Tank Results

[Fryfly]

Hi. I’m looking for some understanding on my cycle and results. I’ve read through the cycle post and its excellent – only wish I was given that info before I started or that I realised I would need to find a forum like this before jumping in with broken feet.

Im in my 6th week of my first tank. It’s a 60 litre tank and planted. I have 5 glowlight tetras, 1 male and 2 female guppies. 1 singapore shrimp and two crystal red shrimps. Before I put any fish in... for two weeks I left the tank to run with the filter on and lighting adding stuff called cycle and added a pinch of food. As I hadn’t come on here and didn’t get any great advice from my LFS I was lead to believe it was a safe time to buy my fish so I bought them. Just the tetras for the first week to see if they were fine, the next weekend as all was good I went out to buy the rest of my fish adding a male guppie and 3 hatchets and 2 rams - bad mistake I now realise. LFS shouldn’t have tried for the extra buck but then I should have known better. I lost the hatchets first and then the RAMS because of putting too many fish in and almost lost the rest but with loads of water changes my fish have been fine for a week and a bit now. I bought a test kit and started doing tests to tell me when to change the water.
My results are consistently as below so I keep changing everyday trying to get it to 0. Just look at my nitrate ?! But it’s the same as my tap water ?! Is the 0.1 right or do i keep going till 0 before adding anymore fish.

PH 8
Ammonia 0.1
Nitrite 0.1
Nitrate 75

When I do a water change I use aqua + conditioner and add nutrafin cycle too
Is my tank cycling? Or do I need to continue the regular water changes.
Im worried im forcing my fish to live in a toxic environment and I don’t trust my LFS to help me without thinking of there profit line.

Glynn

 

[Duck and Dive]

Hi

Try feeding the fish a bit less and carry on doing water changes. I wouldent put any fish in just yet.
By the way the guppies have a good chance of breeding so you will have fry, be aware of that.

 

[Fryfly]

Hi

Try feeding the fish a bit less and carry on doing water changes. I wouldent put any fish in just yet.
By the way the guppies have a good chance of breeding so you will have fry, be aware of that.

Great thank you - It's hard to know how much to actually feed them. I'm crushing the flakes up to make them smaller pieces - is this wrong?
Fry - Yip 2 are hiding behind the filter.
So I assume the food is responsible for the trace Amonia and Nitrite but will that effect the Nitrate. Surely by others readings on here mine are sky hi?

Glynn

 

[Spooky76]

Your ammonia readings are because your filter isnt cycled properly yet. it is normal to get these readings though. Once your ammnia drops your Nitrite will also increase which again is toxic to your fish. Ammonia is the worst though.

OK - running the tank for weeks without fish does nothing, your LFS gave you BAD advice.

Do you always de-chlorinate your water before chaning any ? Also never put TAP water near your tank, filters, fish, anything !!

Try to use liquid bases test kits, not the crappy strips.

10% changes are not enough. Check your water again, if you have any ammonia or Nitrite, do a 20% water change asap, wait an hour, then check again, if you have readings again, do another change and keep going until they are both 0 !

Your Nitrate level is NOT as toxix. What is your Nitrate level ? Your Nitrate level will be kept down by weekly changes of water and plants, so dont worry too much about that.

Try NOT to add any more fish until those readings are 0.

Dont feed your fish much, once a day as it keeps ammonia levels down.

ANY QUESTIONS POST BACK. Dont feel guilty or silly or anything else, just ask, loads of people on here will be more than happy to help you and give you GOOD ADVICE.

Post back

 

[Davo86]

Hi. I’m looking for some understanding on my cycle and results. I’ve read through the cycle post and its excellent – only wish I was given that info before I started or that I realised I would need to find a forum like this before jumping in with broken feet.

Im in my 6th week of my first tank. It’s a 60 litre tank and planted. I have 5 glowlight tetras, 1 male and 2 female guppies. 1 singapore shrimp and two crystal red shrimps. Before I put any fish in... for two weeks I left the tank to run with the filter on and lighting adding stuff called cycle and added a pinch of food. As I hadn’t come on here and didn’t get any great advice from my LFS I was lead to believe it was a safe time to buy my fish so I bought them. Just the tetras for the first week to see if they were fine, the next weekend as all was good I went out to buy the rest of my fish adding a male guppie and 3 hatchets and 2 rams - bad mistake I now realise. LFS shouldn’t have tried for the extra buck but then I should have known better. I lost the hatchets first and then the RAMS because of putting too many fish in and almost lost the rest but with loads of water changes my fish have been fine for a week and a bit now. I bought a test kit and started doing tests to tell me when to change the water.
My results are consistently as below so I keep changing everyday trying to get it to 0. Just look at my nitrate ?! But it’s the same as my tap water ?! Is the 0.1 right or do i keep going till 0 before adding anymore fish.

PH 8
Ammonia 0.1
Nitrite 0.1
Nitrate 75

When I do a water change I use aqua + conditioner and add nutrafin cycle too
Is my tank cycling? Or do I need to continue the regular water changes.
Im worried im forcing my fish to live in a toxic environment and I don’t trust my LFS to help me without thinking of there profit line.

Glynn

Hey Glynn, your tank is currently in the process of a fish in cycle so your readings will be constantly shooting up, Ammonia and Nitrites should be at 0 in a fully cycled tank but while cycling you need to keep them as low as possible, the fish you have added, (your starter fish) need to particular hardy species or will not survive through the cycle, i would advise not to add any more until your readings have all settled,i.e. ammonia 0, nitrite 0 and nitrate between 5 and 40.

Also as it is a fairly small tank you will need to take particular care with your stocking, as a beginner to this i would suggest that when your tank is cycled only stock your tank with around 16 inches of fish (this is the fully grown size of each fish added together), building up the tank gradually, one species at a time will also help to prevent problems

 

[backtotropical]

Hi Glynn,

Any detectable ammonia or nitrite should immediately ring alarm bells. In this case, I am sure it is because your filter is not cycled yet. You are doing the right thing with changing water regularly. This will ensure that your fish are subjected to as little ammonia and nitrite as possible.

Whilst cycling, keep ammonia and nitrite levels at 0.25 or below. Disregard nitrate for this purpose. If either ammonia or nitrite goes above 0.25, do a water change. Don't be afraid to do big water changes. Personally, i would recommend 50% changes for your purposes. Do as many water changes as it takes to keep these levels below 0.25.

Once ammonia and nitrite are both 0 and stay there without you having to do water changes to control them, your filter is cycled. Do not add any more fish until you achieve this or you will make things worse.

With regard to nitrate, if your tap water has the same concentration of nitrate as your tank, theres not much you can do. Most fish will be quite happy in nitrate concentrations up to 100ppm, and some research suggests that even levels of up to 150pm can be no problem for some fish. There are some nitrate sensitive fish, for example Discus, but they are the exception rather than the rule.

That said, it is best practice to keep nitrate low and you may want to consider buying a De-Ioniser or an RO system. Alternatively you can buy RO water from most LFS's these days. If you mix 50% RO / DI water with 50% tap water, that would half your nitrate concentration.

Another alternative would be to plant your tank with some nutrient hungry live plants which would consume some of your nitrate.

Nutrafin cycle is a waste of your money in my opinion. It claims to have live bacteria in it, which by the laws of science, isn't very likely. If you stick to your water changes, i would say it's really not required.

It is however a good idea to get some mature filter media from an established tank if you can. This would speed up your cycling. There is a list of members willing to donate mature media here. You may want to look through to see if there is anyone in your area.

Anyway, i've ranted enough. Hope some of this helps you out. As Spooky said, keep asking if you're not sure. The only stupid question in this hobby is the one you don't ask.

Cheers

BTT

 

[Fryfly]

Guys thank you for the help it's very much appreciated and great to get honest real information. LFS could learn something here that it would be better to take the time to explain why things happen than just saying buy this buy that.

Hi Spooky ,

My nitrate readings for both the tap and tank are 75, Yes I dechloronate the water on each change using a conditioner( not the hair stuff ) I'm changing 20 litres at a time so just over 30%

With my test kit you fill 2 containers with water then drop little tablets into them and shake to dissolve. You then match the colour to there chart. I've only got one tablet left so i'll buy another kit tonight.

Hi Davo86,
I won't be adding anymore fish then, instead of buying more fish tonight I'll buy another plant and a new test kit. When my reading are right and the tank cycled I'll replace the hatchets then let everything stabalise again.

Hi BTT,
Really helpfull, my readings are staying below .25 and I'll keep my eye on it. RO system is definitly a consideration, I'll look into the costs. My LFS sells it though so may just start using that. If I start doing RO changes will that have any negative effects I'll need to keep my eye on?
I do have live plants in the tank but I think I'll get a few more. I'm going to read through the filter media thread as I dont truely understand right now.

Thanks again
Glynn

 

[Spooky76]

Never seen the tablet one before. Not sure about that. Ive always used a liquid test kit which does Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate, plud KH and PH it was about £25 on ebay and has lasted me months and months and I test every week and tested every day at the start. Might be cheaper to get one of those.

 

[backtotropical]

Hi BTT,
Really helpfull, my readings are staying below .25 and I'll keep my eye on it. RO system is definitly a consideration, I'll look into the costs. My LFS sells it though so may just start using that. If I start doing RO changes will that have any negative effects I'll need to keep my eye on?
I do have live plants in the tank but I think I'll get a few more. I'm going to read through the filter media thread as I dont truely understand right now.

Hi,

Using pure RO water could cause problems due to the lack of minerals in the water so i wouldn't advise this, however a 50/50 mix with tap water shouldn't cause any problems at all as tap water will provide all the necessary minerals. Pure RO water is literally too pure to keep fish in.

Mature filter media is media (sponge, ceramic rings, bio-balls etc) which has been in a filter which has been filtering a tank for a while and therefore has some of the necessary bacteria living on it. Cycling is the process of building a colony of this bacteria in your filter and so adding media from a 'mature' filter helps this along by simply adding some bacteria to your new filter. Many members on here are willing to donate some mature media and the thread i linked to above is a list of them. You may find someone local to you who is willing to help you out.

Keep an eye on your water parameters, particularly ammonia and nitrite, and do water changes as required to keep these levels low, and you should be just fine.

With regard to test kits, i'm not sure about the accuracy of tablet tests, but i can assure you that liquid test kits are much easier and quicker to use. I used to use tablet tests and get a sore wrist from shaking the test-tube for so long!

BTT

 

[Fryfly]

Hi BTT,
Really helpfull, my readings are staying below .25 and I'll keep my eye on it. RO system is definitly a consideration, I'll look into the costs. My LFS sells it though so may just start using that. If I start doing RO changes will that have any negative effects I'll need to keep my eye on?
I do have live plants in the tank but I think I'll get a few more. I'm going to read through the filter media thread as I dont truely understand right now.

Hi,

Using pure RO water could cause problems due to the lack of minerals in the water so i wouldn't advise this, however a 50/50 mix with tap water shouldn't cause any problems at all as tap water will provide all the necessary minerals. Pure RO water is literally too pure to keep fish in.

Mature filter media is media (sponge, ceramic rings, bio-balls etc) which has been in a filter which has been filtering a tank for a while and therefore has some of the necessary bacteria living on it. Cycling is the process of building a colony of this bacteria in your filter and so adding media from a 'mature' filter helps this along by simply adding some bacteria to your new filter. Many members on here are willing to donate some mature media and the thread i linked to above is a list of them. You may find someone local to you who is willing to help you out.

Keep an eye on your water parameters, particularly ammonia and nitrite, and do water changes as required to keep these levels low, and you should be just fine.

With regard to test kits, i'm not sure about the accuracy of tablet tests, but i can assure you that liquid test kits are much easier and quicker to use. I used to use tablet tests and get a sore wrist from shaking the test-tube for so long!

BTT

I went to LFS on Friday and bought a new plant on a piece of Bogwood - Popping it in the tank has really made a difference to my shrimps they seem to really like it and have been active all weekend. Think I have enough plants in there now any more and it'll get overcrowded.
I also bought a new test kit as recommended and tested the water as I got home.

My results:

Amonia 0.1
Nitrite 0.1
Nitate 50

My Nitrate is much lower. I did a water change and tested my water again.

Amonia 0
Nitrite 0.1
Nitrate 50

I haven't changed any water on Sunday And my results are staying the same with no ammonia and just a trace of nitrite. I'll test again today and do a water change but I think I'm getting there. I'll Hopefully be able to get my hatchet fish on the weekend.

Thank you all for the help.