From earlier thread, my latest readings

I had recently started a thread pertaining to my initial tank setup. I won't bore anyohe with the particulars, but I was having a cycle/ammonia problem. Let's just assume I started from scratch then.

It's been about 3 days since I had to start fresh with my tank cycle. By the way, the tank is a 75 gallon stocked with a Ghost Knife, an Elephant nose, 4 Blue Gouramies and 4 African Dwarf Frogs. All fish appear to be healthy. (My elephant nose acts a little strange, but I think it's just a character trait with him. He kinda just hangs in one place all the time between a rock I set up for him seperate from the Ghost Knife and another decoration that he likes to just hover under.) Since the big "do-over", I've done one 30 percent water change and my readings are as follows as of about an hour ago. Ammonia .50 PPM, Nitrates and Nitrates both at 0 PPM. My test kit for ammonia appears to measure both ammonia and ammonium. I use Prime water conditioner and have a Bio Wheel 400 filter.

Where do I go from here? I assume from the zero reading on nitrites that I haven't begun to cycle, yet. Assuming that since I once had AT LEAST 4 PPM of ammonia before, my fish have to be feeling some relief. My plan is to do another large water change tomorrow.

I'm posting this because I would like feedback. What am I to expect in the coming days now? What can I or should I be doing better?

Mgamer20o0 said:

well keep doing big water changes to keep the ammonia under .25ppm. your tank isnt cycled since it has no nitrates or nitrites.

i think ghost knife and elephant nose shouldnt be kept together. i could be wrong.

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With the GK and elephant nose, I don't seem to be having a problem. They each have their own rock cave and they each use it. I never "see" the GK harrassing anyone, and in fact, I have gotten used to some of his habits. He hides most of the day, but he knows when I'm feeding now and will come out to eat. He keeps pretty much to himself now.

nickmcmechan said:

keep up the water changes until your cycled, test every day, do 2 water changes a day if necessary, imo.

Theres very mixed opinions on the stuff, but with the way your cycling your tank it might be worth considering a bacterial additive such as Hagen Cycle or Bio Spira.

I used the Hagen Cycle for my cycle and found it worked. However it was very expensive as I found that I had to use one capful per gallon in every water change (i.e. I added one cap to my gallon bucket). This amounted to using a litre of the stuff to cycle my tank.

My Nitrites nver rose above 5ppm (and that was my spike which lasted one day at that level) and my Nitrates never rose above 10ppm.

However I did do daily water changes to keep the levels done.

I've had fish in for a week. They're fine. My Ammonia and Nitrites have stayed at zero, apaprt from last Tuesday where the Nitrites had a jump to 0.25ppm and that dissappeard after one day. My Nitrates have varied betwen 0 and 5ppm, have been at 0ppm last two days - tank is heavily planted so I think I actually neeed to add Nitrates in now.

Sorry if I've kinda taken over with my experiences...but suppose I'm saying there is a case for using a bacterial supplement, especially the way your cycling your tank?

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Hey....thanks for the info.

I appreciate every opinion I get here and hope to someday be comfortable enough to offer my experiences here.

I'm trying to keep this "au naturel" for the time being, for a couple of reasons.

One, the wife's already counting the gallons of water I'm going through on a daily basis and is prepared to put me on a street corner once the water bill comes in for that alone...not to mention the money I'm spending on the other things involved with setting up a tank that you HAVE to have...(testing kits, Prime, decorations....so forth and so on), on top of the intial investment of the tank itself. (they aren't cheap). So, to spend the extra money on a product that I'm getting mixed reviews on at the moment isn't the best idea for harmony in my home.

Two, I'm just not sold on it, yet. I need to see some consistent success stories to part me with the dough.

I suppose I can add a 2a here and say that I have a friend who is something of a fish guru and does not recommend it. He says he swears by it, but something about having to have it put in right when you establish the tank..not later.

nickmcmechan said:

Yeah...I see where you are coming from and yeah I've seen all the mixed reviews. Suppose its worked for me, so I like it, but see the other point of view...did it really make the difference or was it something else?

I'm also very lucky. Where I live charges for water are an annualised fixed bill, based on locally collected taxes and localised goverment (in Scotland). And theres lots of rain and water where I am so its very plentiful! I pay about equivalent of $200 / year fixed water bill which rise with inflation.

I guess you could sell the Wife, or at least loan her out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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LOL....yeah, I've considered that one. I pray she doesn't read this, but I have doubts that I'd get my investment back in the deal!