Not sure what to do???

Juice

Juice

KillaOJ
Jan 4, 2009
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NorCal
Hey everyone
I'm obviously a newbie here so I have a couple questions I was hoping someone could help me answer. Here's the breakdown.

I just set up a 12 gallon eclipse tank with the biofilter about 3 days ago. First day I had it I conditioned the water for chorine and chloramine or whatever it's called. Anyways I waited 2 days and then i added safe start ( I know it's controversial but I got impatient!!!!! and I guess I was just crossing my fingers) and I put 2 danios in there to start the cycle. I never checked the water before that but the night I put the fish and safe start in (last night) I checked it and the readings were as follows: Ammonia 0 Ph 7.6 Nitrite 0.ppm and NitrAte 5.0. My question IS; What should I expect level wise. I thought it was a good thing that the ammonia was low and nitrite were low but then I was told that it needs to spike in order for the tank to cycle correctly?? So i'm confused...do i want the levels high or low or what? What should I expect and what should I do to keep the 2 danios I have in there alive. I'm not sure what levels should be what and in what timeframe. So please please please if anyone can help this newbie out I would surely appreciate it and I'm sure my fishies Cheech & chong would too!!
 
50% water changes daily.

Using a good liquid test kit?

What are the readings on your tap water?
 
rbishop said:
50% water changes daily.

Using a good liquid test kit?

What are the readings on your tap water?
Click to expand...



Yeah I'm using the API master test kit for freshwater.
I'm not sure what the readings on my tap water are I didnt check should I check that with the ph test or what?
I put the conditioner in for the tap water but do those really help?
Thank you for the quick reply
 
What type of test are you using?

Test your tap for nitrates. It's impossible to cycle a tank that quickly with only the two danios. Any product that claims to cycle your tank within days wil not work. Either your tests are inaccurate or you have nitrates in your source water.

Since you are in the beginning of the fish cycle you will need to test ammonia and nitrite regularly. Both are toxic to fish so it is important to keep the levels are low as possible at all times. A good guideline is to do a water change (using decholrinated water) whenever these two reach .25 ppm. Fish cycles take patience so don't expect this process to take only a couple weeks. You can consider the cycle complete once you have ammonia and nitrite consistently at 0 ppm and have nitrates.

After this you will have to keep in mind that your bacteria colony, the stuff that converts the "bad" (ammonia and nitrite) to the "not as bad" (nitrate), can only handle your current fish load. When you decide to add more fish you will need to keep a close eye on the parameters for any spikes in ammonia or nitrite and do more water changes accordingly. Because of this you will not be able to add your entire stock right away.
 
What type of test are you using?

Test your tap for nitrates. It's impossible to cycle a tank that quickly with only the two danios. Any product that claims to cycle your tank within days wil not work. Either your tests are inaccurate or you have nitrates in your source water.

Since you are in the beginning of the fish cycle you will need to test ammonia and nitrite regularly. Both are toxic to fish so it is important to keep the levels are low as possible at all times. A good guideline is to do a water change (using decholrinated water) whenever these two reach .25 ppm. Fish cycles take patience so don't expect this process to take only a couple weeks. You can consider the cycle complete once you have ammonia and nitrite consistently at 0 ppm and have nitrates.

After this you will have to keep in mind that your bacteria colony, the stuff that converts the "bad" (ammonia and nitrite) to the "not as bad" (nitrate), can only handle your current fish load. When you decide to add more fish you will need to keep a close eye on the parameters for any spikes in ammonia or nitrite and do more water changes accordingly. Because of this you will not be able to add your entire stock right away.
 
Sorry for the double post...

Since you are using a reputable test (API) I'm assuming nitrates are in your source water. Test to be sure, with the nitrate test.

What brand of conditioner are you using? Most should take care of chlorine, but not all work if you have chloramines as well.
 
jpappy789 said:
What type of test are you using?

Test your tap for nitrates. It's impossible to cycle a tank that quickly with only the two danios. Any product that claims to cycle your tank within days wil not work. Either your tests are inaccurate or you have nitrates in your source water.

Since you are in the beginning of the fish cycle you will need to test ammonia and nitrite regularly. Both are toxic to fish so it is important to keep the levels are low as possible at all times. A good guideline is to do a water change (using decholrinated water) whenever these two reach .25 ppm. Fish cycles take patience so don't expect this process to take only a couple weeks. You can consider the cycle complete once you have ammonia and nitrite consistently at 0 ppm and have nitrates.

After this you will have to keep in mind that your bacteria colony, the stuff that converts the "bad" (ammonia and nitrite) to the "not as bad" (nitrate), can only handle your current fish load. When you decide to add more fish you will need to keep a close eye on the parameters for any spikes in ammonia or nitrite and do more water changes accordingly. Because of this you will not be able to add your entire stock right away.
Click to expand...

Okay so would you recommend just letting the 2 danios stay in there while the tank cycles or should I add more or a bigger hardier fish? Last night ammonio was 0 and nitrites were 0 and nitrAte was 5.0
 
*Ammonia
 
Yeah the bottle of stuff I used said it takes care of both chlorine and chloramine so I think i'm okay there but I just tested the water again for NitrAte and it came out at 10!!! So I dont know what to do you should I do a 20% water change right now or what? will that even lower the levels? The ammonia seems to be the same sitting at 0 and the nitrites are 0 but the NitrAte level changed.
 
jpappy789 said:
Sorry for the double post...

Since you are using a reputable test (API) I'm assuming nitrates are in your source water. Test to be sure, with the nitrate test.

What brand of conditioner are you using? Most should take care of chlorine, but not all work if you have chloramines as well.
Click to expand...


I just rechecked the levels and the ammonia is at .25 and the nitrite is at 0 and the nitrAte level has gone up to 10!!! What should I do? Do you think a 20 % water change right now would make a difference??

The Conditioner I used covers both chlorine and chloramines its by TetraAqua called Aquasafe it's what came with my tank.

Should I do a quick water change? And if so how much of the conditioner should I put in the new water because the bottle calls for a tsp. Per 10 gallons. So how much would you recommend that I put in the new water to make it safe for a quick water change?

Thank you so much for your help btw...your the only person that seems to be paying attention to this annoying newbie! :p
 
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