More pondering with new tank...

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spd7143

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Feb 29, 2004
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Ok, I think that adding the bio-spira helped in my tank (as well as getting rid of the goldfish). The current readings in my tank are ph 8, gh 10, kh 6, nitrates approx .5 mg/l, nitrites 3.3 mg/l. The nitrates have significantly decreased in the past few days from a high of 3 mg/l and the nitrites have significantly increased. The tank has been up for about 2 and 1/2 weeks now.
Question 1- Is this "cycling" and do the numbers seem right for the nitrates and nitrites?
Question 2- While my kh has stayed steady, the gh has risen from 7 to 10 in the past two weeks. Is this a problem and any idea why it would change like that?
Question 3- I'd like a lower ph for the fish I'm planning on introducing and have read about products with "buffers" but am absolutely ignorant about doing this and keeping it lower safely for this fish and plants. Any help with this?
Thanks again for helping me through this process!
 
Sounds like you're confusing your nitrites and nitrates--nitrites are more toxic, and the second 'stage' of cycling, while nitrates are not toxic and the final 'stage'. If that's the case--ideally, nitrItes should be zero, and nitrates should be kept as low as possible, and you're right on target.

Anything in the tank that could be dissolving? Rocks, shells, etc?

For the pH--really a bad idea. Fish are easily acclimated to most conditions, but suffer from sudden changes. Very very few of the commercial products will give you a stable pH, all require constant fiddling and testing. This is a complex process, and I would not encourage a newbie to take on this monumental and frustrating task. Fish purchased locally are most likely already acclimated to your water conditions, and those that are not likely can be successfully acclimated with a bit of time and patience.
 
Ok, I guess I really am lost then. When I started the tank on 2-22, my nitrites were neglible <.3 mg/l and stayed there until 3-4 when it rose to .3 mg/l and then to the current level of 3.3 mg/l today. During the same time, nitrates went from 1 mg/l on 2-29 up to 3 mg/l by 3-4, stayed there through 3-6 until the current decreased level today of .5 mg/l. There's nothing in the tank that I'm aware of that could be effecting the levels other than the original overstocking of the goldfish but they're all gone now, the majority of the being gone for about a week now. The gravel was rinsed good and is a freshwater fish gravel with no shells in it (that I'm aware of and wouldn't that tend to raise the ph as well?). I have a couple live and fake plants as well as a couple plastic "rocks" again which were all rinsed well. Haven't been doing big water changes but about 10% a couple of times a week to remove fish poop and try and lower levels somewhat. Also adding de-chlorinator to water before adding to tank. Any of this info help?
 
I think I figured out at least part of what my problem is. I have been equating ammonia=nitrate when it looks that that's wrong. I went out and got a seperate test kit just for ammonia and it's reading about less than the total nitrates reading of about .5. So, if I finally have it down now, ammonia is part of nitrates but not all of it. First step in cycle is the fish make waste=ammonia. Second step, bacteria converts to nitrites. Third step, bacteria converts to nitrates?
 
Ammonia is a separate entity entirely from either nitrites or nitrates. Some ammonia tests will give ammonia and ammonium--which is ammonia that's picked up an extra ion, and is non-toxic but still bio-available. Ammonia is the first stage. Nitrites are produced when ammonia is oxidized by bacteria. Nitrates are produced when nitrites are oxidized.

Since the tank has been running for a while, it's likely that some nitrates will be present from colonies that established them selves early on, but inadequate in size to handle a large bio-load.

On the hardness--have you had significant evaporation? With the small water changes, it's possible that the water changes are not removing enough concentrated water (from the evaporation), but the KH is still being replenished. If you have fish in there--do more water changes, and I'd probably do bigger ones. Water changes are nothing but good--I'd do them every single day on all my tanks if I had the time.
 
Nitrates less than 10 (seems like you are at 3.3) are fine. Nitrites in a cycled tank should be 0 or very very close. I have used BioSpira with great results, obtaining zero readings on ammonia and nitrites within 48 hours. If nitrites are still a problem I would redose with the BioSpira which contains nitrifying bacteria for both ammonia and nitrites.

One of your posts indicated that you cleaned your gravel. Depending on the stocking level and the type of fish (you had goldfish at one point I think) then getting the gravel clean can take multiple siphonings in a short period of time with the concommitant water replacements. I like the common pond and ramshorn snails as "janitors" but they do leave quite a mess behind which accumulates in the gravel.
 
While I agree you need to learn some, don't worry--most of us started out in the dark as well. Have you picked up any books? There are some really good ones out there. I really like A Simple Guide to Freshwater Aquariums--doesn't talk about fishless cycling, but it breaks the chemistry and biology into comprehensible chunks, in laymens' terms. Under $20, so quite a bargain. And, it has really nice pictures, and good, sound advice on stocking a tank.
 
Thanks for the book idea. I had picked one up when we bought this tank but it was pretty lame. Learned much more from asking here than I read in the book.
 
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