What Do You Guys Think Of My Fishin Cycle Results?

[dirtbiker250dualsport]

hey guys i just started my 20gal. long on friday night with 4 zebra danios and so far 2 died but the other 2 are doing great so today i broke down and bought a water test kit (nutrafin mini master) and here are my results.
ammonia came up clear 0
no2 or nitrite came up 0.1
and no3 or nitrate came up 5 or below that
so is this good results or bad.

 

[waterdrop]

Hi there dirtbike,

Sorry to hear you had to sacrifice to lives to cycling a tank! The stats you've posted for your "Fish-In Cycling Situation" are good. Your goal (now that you've got a good kit) is to use the kit to help you figure out a percentage and frequency of water changes that will keep ammonia or nitrite(NO2) from rising above 0.30ppm (this is one of the color ranges on the nutrafin kit I believe) before you can water change again and get it back to zero or close to zero.

What most people do is figure out a time about 12 hours apart, both of which are times when they can be home, for instance 8am and 8pm. The most important tests are ammonia and nitrite(NO2), but pH is also good to take occasionally and nitrate(NO3) can be done even less often. Initially, if you test and find one or the other poison higher than 0.30 ppm then that means you needed a larger percentage water change or needed to change it sooner. Ideally you can figure out an amount of water to change once daily that doesn't allow either reading to go above 0.30 ppm at either time of day.

When you do water changes be sure to use conditioner (to remove chlorine/chloramine) and roughly temperature match (your hand is good enough.) Don't worry about the bacteria. They will have enough ammonia and nitrite(NO2) to eat even if your tests show zero ppm. Even in well-cycled tanks, there is a steady flow of ammonia and nitrite that the bacteria eat but the tests will always show zero, the zero just meaning "safe for fish."

~~waterdrop~~

 

[dirtbiker250dualsport]

alright cool thanks so far the test are staying perfect but im sure this will change when i put move then two fish in there