water level and cycling questions

Yikes... lots to reply to...

First of all, welcome and congrats for asking your questions.

Second, most of the junk you've been told to add to your tank is just that... junk. Most of it is unncessary, and much of it does nothing but separate you from your money.

Third, it's a good idea to hold off adding any fish until you get a handle on on all this.

Now, you sound as if you have some test kits. Can you tell us, in numbers, what your tap water's pH is? That's the place to start.

Next, if it were me, I'd drain the tank and start over with plain water, adding only a dechlorinator. You have added enough stuff (e.g., Stress-Zyme, pH Down) that it's going to be hard to know what some of your test results mean (in terms of progress toward cycling) until that stuff is gone.

I assume you're fishlessly cycling (http://www.aaquaria.com/aquasource/cycle2.shtml) your tank? If so, good for you. After you refill the tank, you'll want to dose the tank to 3-5 ppm ammonia. Then test in 24 hours for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate (if you have all those tests). That will give us all an idea where you are in your cycle.

If you can do that, and let us know specifics, we'll be able to help you out.

While we're at it, what sort of filtration is on the tank, and what kind of fish do you hope to keep?

Jim

I'll second everything from JSchmidt's post, and add one more question...What manufacturer indicates the use of marine salt in a freshwater system?

carttman, you need a good basic book. You won't be able to get the general picture just from posts here. David E. Boruchowitz, The Simple Guide to Freshwater Aquariums, TFH (2001), in glossy softcover, is the one to buy. Get it from www.amazon.com right now. Faster than getting to a bookstore, probably-- and you need a guide right away!

Everything will fall into place if you're patient and don't rush the initial cycling.

Cartman, are your tap water readings done immediately after drawing the water, or did you let it sit. That's important, because it's not uncommon for tap water to have dissolved CO2, which will give you an artificially lower pH (CO2 is acidic in solution). If you didn't do this, try aerating the water for a half hour or shake it vigorously after it's reached room temperature, then test.

The reason I'm asking about this is that your tank pH is higher than what you report for tap water. This is generally caused by two things: dissolved CO2 in the tap water (which gasses off in the tank, giving a lower pH there) or some sort of calcareous substance (e.g., limestone rocks, crushed coral, shells) in the tank. I'm guessing the pH difference is cause by CO2, because your KH, which measures carbonate hardness, is lower in the tank. If you had crushed coral in the tank driving up pH, I'd expect KH to be higher in your tank than in the tap water.

You don't need to add any salts - you want to keep tetras, rasboras, etc. They most likely will do fine with your tap water. You do have some ammonia in your tap water, which probably means your water is treated with chloramine. You'll want to make sure you use a water conditioner that works well on chloramines. I like Amquel or Prime for that. Beyond that, I'd try to not add anything to your water.


If you are fishlessly cycling, which it sounds as if you are, you'll want to dose your tank (after emptying it and removing all that crud from the additives you've used) to 3-5 ppm ammonia. Does the tank have live plants? If not, that will make it easier to interpret test readings while cycling.


I'd go ahead and start dosing with ammonia; we can help you figure out the water chemistry stuff as your tank is cycling.

HTH,
Jim