Where Are We Going Wrong With Our Cycling?

[chocolatedelight]

Morning.

Fistly my tap water for today is as follows:

Ph 7.6
Ph high 7.8 (until yesterday it was always around the 8.0/8.2 mark)
Nitrite 0
Am 0.25
Nitrate 40

Once we add the seachem it brings it down the tap water to around 10/20, however over the last few days from around the 28th June the Nitrates when testing the tank water (we have one fish) have been around 40/80 (40 mostly), we then manage to get it down to around 20/40 after water changes, we have had our tank for 2 weeks and started off with the cycling stuff in the bottle, but we have had a fish in the tank for just over a week, since we have had the tank up and running from 2 weeks ago we have not had Nitrites and so far at worst on the 31st July we had ammonia of 1, on the 28th we got hold of some Mature filter sponge that we put into our filter and since then, with the exception of this pesky Nitrates issue, the ammonia has been at the lowerish end and usually goes back to 0.0/0.25 after a water change (we have never been able to get the ammonia to a clear dead on 0)

I took out the zeolite/carbon thingy in the stingray filter as I read it was no use and replaced it with some more of the mature filter I had dangling in my tank from the 28th.

Is what's going on with my tank normal, the fish seems ok, and looks ok, but what's up with my nitrates and why am I not getting any nitrites (not that I want any) but I thought I needed to have some sort of Nitrites to get the cycle really going?

Now with that said, this morning the tank readings were:

Tank Temp 26 (is this too high?)
ph 7.6
ph high 7.4 (, wonder if hubby took reading right)
Amm 0.50
Nitrate 40
Nitrite 0

We have just done a big water change around 80% so will test the water in a couple of hours.

 

[CrystalClear16]

You aren't 'going wrong' - your tank is still cycling. It takes a good couple of months for a tank to become fully cycled (although having mature media will speed this up).

Because you already have fish you are doing what is called 'fish-in cycling'. Have a read of this - http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=224306

 

[chocolatedelight]

You aren't 'going wrong' - your tank is still cycling. It takes a good couple of months for a tank to become fully cycled (although having mature media will speed this up).

Because you already have fish you are doing what is called 'fish-in cycling'. Have a read of this - http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=224306

Ok, I just didnt expect I would be having high Nitrates and no Nitrites, so thought I may be missing something

Ok, 11am and 2 hours since big water change this morning and the readings are now:

Ph 8
Amm 0.0/0.25
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 40

The dechlorinated water before adding to tank was 10/20 Nitrate

 

[Shelby]

I think: and I'm sure someone will correct me... Ammonia turns to Nitrites which turns to Nitrates. The only wat to rid a tank of nitrates is with your weekly (or however often you do) water changes.

 

[chocolatedelight]

I think: and I'm sure someone will correct me... Ammonia turns to Nitrites which turns to Nitrates. The only wat to rid a tank of nitrates is with your weekly (or however often you do) water changes.

At the moment, as I'm cycling its usually twice a day watehr changes, however what we are finding odd is that when we add the dechlorinated water that we usually test before adding and is around 10/20 nitrates, even if we do a 90% change after 2 hours or so when we take the tests its back up to 40 And I noticed though since using Seachem it has been doing this, with the Nutrafin stuff that came with the tank kit, that got our Nitates lower....hmmmm, think I will go back to using that and see how I get on

I may get some plants to help "suck up" the Nitrates

 

[CrystalClear16]

Your first posts says that your tap water has Nitrates of 40, so getting below that will be tricky. I wouldn't worry too much though as fish can handle higher levels of nitrate - ammonia and nitrites are more of a problem.

 

[chocolatedelight]

Your first posts says that your tap water has Nitrates of 40, so getting below that will be tricky. I wouldn't worry too much though as fish can handle higher levels of nitrate - ammonia and nitrites are more of a problem.

The Nitrates in my tap 2 weeks ago was a lot lower though, goodness knows what Thames water is up to

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Nitrate levels in tap water do tend to vary, for example in Southampton it can be anything from ~20 to ~50mg/l.

Now if you have a planted tank with medium-fast growers, with suitable fertilisers/lighting and possibly carbon dioxide, the plants would use up the nitrate. Apparently, a decent planted setup can commonly use ~5mg/l of nitrate per day.

 

[OldMan47]

Shelby is correct. Ammonia turns to nitrites once the filter is even partly cycled and nitrites turn to nitrates. With a 2 week history of operation, your tank is in the very early stages of cycling and probably has almost no ability to convert ammonia to nitrites, much less to move nitrites to nitrates. That means you are going to be controlling ammonia with water changes and the rest of the chemistry will be fine. Water changes of over 50% daily are not at all uncommon when you have a tank that is only 2 weeks old. You need to do enough water change that the ammonia never rises above 0.25 ppm as measured by a liquid type test kit, not strips. Once that chemical is being controlled without water changes, start measuring nitrites and again do huge water changes to control it below 0.25 ppm. After a typical 6 weeks, sometime it can be quite a lot more, you will have control of nitrites without water changes. That is soon enough to worry about the nitrate levels. Until you reach that point, the water changes for other chemicals will be more than enough to prevent any build up of nitrates.
I have a link in my signature area to an article by one of our members on how to do a fish-in cycle, which is what you are doing right now.