Cycling Question

[sirsears]

Hi Everyone,

I have had Danios in my 20G long tank for around 2 weeks, and i have been testing the water and have not had traces of Nitrites yet. Can anyone tell me approx how long it takes for the nitrites to start showing up?

[Star_Rider]

not really.. cycles are dependant on other factors/variable.

are you seeing ammonia?
what type of test kit do you have?

[ct-death]

As Star_Rider stated, it depends on a lot, but after you have Ammonia, it should be a couple of weeks (1-2)

Once I had Ammonia I had nitrItes in 5 days on one tank and 8 in the other -- I've heard people going 2 + weeks though...

[sirsears]

Yes, i have ammonia showing up on my API test kit...Ok, thanks guys, i was just curious..

[jm1212]

how much ammoina? when cycling with fish, the ammoina level should never be more than 0.25. ammoina is needed for nitrite to start appearing.

[Mgamer20o0]

can take weeks for the tank to cycle. are you doing water changes?

[Rbishop]

Yes, how many water changes and what size, are you doing? How many danios?

[sirsears]

I am doing a 20% water change (anywhere from 4-5 gallons) almost every day, i have been doing daily readings and my ammonia stays around .50 and have not had any signs of nitrites yet. I have had 6 danios in my tank for around 2 weeks...

[ct-death]

I would highly encourage you to use your readings as a guide ot determine WC frequency and %.

If Ammonias are at 0.50ppm please do a 50% WC to get this below 0.25ppm

Try and keep ammonia, and later on nitrItes at or below 0.25ppm

Don't worry about the water changes, the effects are nil on the cycle.

[davexstumpe]

after i first traced ammonia, it took about 2-3 weeks before i saw any nitrites.

[sirsears]

Ok, i didnt realize i should do such a big WC. Thanks guys..

[Dwarf Puffers]

You're danios are probably suffering gill and organ damage...

[sirsears]

I hope not... they actually seem fine...

[ct-death]

You'll be okay, just keep up on your WCs.

It's normal for nitrItes to take 1-2 weeks after ammonia is present, so things are progressing as expected.

Try and test more than once a day if possible and once your ammonia and nitrItes read zero for 6-7 days you should be okay to start adding 2-3 fish every 3 weeks or so.