Water Parameters....in The Middle Of Cycling

[Meggie :)]

Hey all so I'm in the middle of cycling my approx 30 ltr/5.5 us gal tbetta tank....my betta is already in there after letting the tank run empty for one right and I'm using mature filter media...he's in there already cause I just wanted to get him out of his bowl....well the tank has only been up and running with my betta in it for about two days...yesterday I tested the water, ammonia was between 0 and .25 ppm, nitrite was 0, nitrate was about 5... Did a 50% water change, tested again, got same results....tested today, same results...tested my tap water, apparently there's between 0 and .25 ppm ammonia in it....so I'm doing a water change using a tap water ammonia remover this time....where do you think I am in the cyle? Still at the very beginning or moving along a little faster due to the mature filter media?

As of right now I am in the middle of a 50-60% water change to get rid of some of this ammonia that came with the tap water...will post up results when I'm done...


Any suggestions other than this?

thanks,
Meg

 

[waterdrop]

Reading the cycling of little tanks with one fish in can be really difficult. You just have to hang in there for a long time and keep monitoring things. Way, way on down the line the biofilter will become established and it will remove that little bit of ammonia that your tap water has. I don't know if others would disagree with me but I don't particularly think your trace of ammonia below 0.25 (which may be due more to the kit anyway) would necessarily be a bad problem for a betta. Just keep remembering that one of the most important things you are doing is being vigilant for nastier spikes like 0.50.. especially later on with the nitrite.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Meggie :)]

Thank you

Change of plan, can't post results tonight, don't have time to test right now...will try to do it tomorrow...should I keep doing 50-60% water changes every day or do less or more?....

Can I put in live plants right now? Or will that mess with the cycle because they absorb the ammonia? Or will it not matter since there's only one betta in there...

When is it safe for shrimp? (what kind do you suggest for right now?)

Thank you,
Meg

 

[waterdrop]

If you can't test and don't have a feel yet for what kind of ammonia level the betta can produce in a day in your 5.5 then just change something between 25% to 50%. Always use good technique, meaning the use of a good conditioner like Prime and rough temperature matching (your hand is good enough for this.) If you can make the new water come in slowly, that is always good but if that causes time problems for you it is still better to change water. As soon as you can of course the changing should be based on your testing as I've discussed elsewhere.

WD