Water Parameters

[HelenC1987]

Hi,

I am in need of a little assistance. My tank has been running for 6 weeks. Unfortunately I did a fishy cycle with 4 Zebra Danio's that have been moved recently to a different tank. The current tank is setup as follows:

100 Litre
Filtration: Fluval 105 external
Fish: 6 Bronze Cory's, 5 Platy's, 4 Cardinal's and 1 betta
Plants: 5 various

Having just done some water tests today the readings are showing:

Ammonia - 0.1mg
Nitrite - 4.0mg although it changed straight away so could be off the chart
Nitrate - 50mg

The tests were done using an Interpret Easy Test (Tablets).

What can I do about these parameters as the nitrite seems very high especially while there is little or no trace of ammonia? From reading on here about the nitrogen cycle this would suggest that the ammonia is being broken down by bacteria colonies in the filtration media but my concern is why the nitrite continues to be sky high? has the tank not cycled yet? just to note there is a lot of brown algae building up on my ornaments and glass.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers.

 

[locust267]

Hi and welcome to TFF!

Bad news is your tank is not yet cycled, good news is that you are on the second stage of cycling.

The bacteria which break down ammonia and convert it to nitrite appear first hence why you ammonia readings are low and nitrite high.

Another bacteria needs to colonise, this bacteria converts that nitrite to nitrate which is less harmful to fish and will be removed by a large water change at the end of your cycle.

Soon your nitrites will begin to drop and your nitrates will continue to raise.

Take a look at [URL="http/www.fishforums.net/content/New-to-t...shless-Cycling/"]http/www.fishforums.net/content/New-to-t...shless-Cycling/[/URL]

That should explain it further.

Sorry to be a pain but I'm a little confused, the danios which have moved, have they gone from the uncycled tank to the cycled tank with all those other fish or all the other fish in the uncycled tank?

If the uncycled tank is empty go and grab yourself a bottle of household ammonia as you must continue to feed the bacteria which breaks down ammonia or they will all die off. You probably have another week or 2 left of the cycle but follow the above link and you'll be fine

Vicki

 

[HelenC1987]

thank you