Can you help me read this?

D

diane6

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Jan 21, 2010
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I am trying to cycle my 60 gallon tank... I have 2 mollies and 2 guppies and 6 tetras in there. I added some media from a cycled tank (from pet store) about 4-5 days ago. I am hoping to be cycled soon so I can take out these fish (put them back in my daughters tank) and get some cichlids. The ammonia is at 0, the nitrites at 0 but I can't tell if this is 0 or a tiny bit more...

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I would call it zero...but photos play with the true color...and the test is only so accurate. And that is a very light bio load for a 60 gal tank...may take awhile for nitrates to build up.
 
Yep, as soon as you start seeing nitrates you are close to not seeing ammonia or nitrite any longer. I think your test is reading 0 ppm though, personally.

There's really no need to have fish in there, you could return them now if you wanted to! Just feed the tank a few pinches of flake daily, as though there were fish in there. It's called "fishless cycling" - Google it...shouldn't take long if you've got established media in there. You could also use a single cocktail shrimp, just leave it to decompose naturally. (Really not as messy as it sounds.)
 
platytudes said:
Yep, as soon as you start seeing nitrates you are close to not seeing ammonia or nitrite any longer. I think your test is reading 0 ppm though, personally.

There's really no need to have fish in there, you could return them now if you wanted to! Just feed the tank a few pinches of flake daily, as though there were fish in there. It's called "fishless cycling" - Google it...shouldn't take long if you've got established media in there. You could also use a single cocktail shrimp, just leave it to decompose naturally. (Really not as messy as it sounds.)
Click to expand...

I agree.
 
I will return the fish to my daughters tank. I hope the media was seasoned enough... Where can I buy just one shrimp?!! I do not like to eat shrimp! Does it have to be a "cooked" one? Or one of those raw ones?? *clueless*
 
I would wait another week or so, then I would still only add the new cichlids slowly.
 
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