Cycling with Fish/Need Hlp w/h20 paramtrs

lovemypleco

lovemypleco

Jessica
Oct 5, 2005
13
0
0
USA/Brazil
Anyone know why my Ammonia is reading 0.25 and Nitrites 2.0?

I thought when you cycled a tank, the Ammonia is supposed to read ideal all of the sudden, then that's when the Nitrites start kicking in?

Another question. I woke up this morning and checked both levels, Ammonia was 0.25 and Nitrite was 2.0.

I just did a 50% water change and Nitrites are now reading 1.0.

Should I keep water changing until it reads a specific lower number? Or should I stick with the 50% change now and do another at night?

Tank Stuff:

16 US Gallons
1 adolescent Gold Nugget Pleco L-177 (will get a larger tank when he grows he's only like 3" right now)
9 Cardinal Tetras
Two live plants
Almost 2" of gravel
Driftwood
Rockcave
...well..here's a picture ehehe makes it easier

pb0300101rc.jpg
 
If you plotted the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate concentrations as a function of time, they would look kind of like humps, the end of the ammonia hump will overlap with beginning of the the nitrate hump, and the end of the nitrite hump will overlap with the beginning of the nitrate hump.

Now that you're seeing nitrites, the ammonia levels should drop, but it's not unusual to see both.

What test kits are you using? The instructions often have suggestions for suggested maximum nitrite levels.
 
how's the plant growth?

The plants, assuming they are getting enough light, will take in ammonia but not process nitrite. I think you probably would benefit from more plants and be sure that there is enough light to get the plants actually growing so they can take in ammonia. As those plants reach the surface, let them trail along the surface, it will help them grow as they have more access to carbon dioxide in the air.

so, continue doing water changes to keep nitrites at or below 1.0, you can add a tiny bit of salt to help the fish deal with the nitrite, but I'd skip it since the cardinals and the plants won't appreciate salt.
 
Plant growth is so-so. Nothing spectacular. The Bitter Cress that I have doesn't seem to be flourishing at all. Seems to be just hanging on and dying off little by little, that interpretation may be wrong. I'll take a better pic of it now to show you.

The Amazon Sword seems to be doing okay. In fact just in the last fwe days it seems to be getting greener and larger.
 
Bitter Cress:

See how it's browning and the little hairs/strands growing out are dying off?

pb0700253hs.jpg


Amazon Sword:

pb0700314ie.jpg


pb0700306xr.jpg


Cute pic of my Gold Nugget and Cardinals:

pb0700289zo.jpg
 
I'm just looking at my pics, do my Cardinals have gill burn? It's red near their faces, is that normal?

I know my little pleco's color isn't all that it should be. Hopefully this cycling will go fast! So everyone can flourish.
 
ammonia at 0 and nitrites under .25? that's what you want in a tank with fish. above .25 can harm them over time.
 
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