Ammonia Levels

[MVandenberk]

Well it looks like my tank is starting to cycle, I do have fish in there, they have been in for a week, I did a water change on Friday and the Ammonia was a 0 after that. I tested the water the day after and it was at 0.5 and I tested again today and it is at 1.0.

My question is should I watch it for another couple days and see if it starts to fall, or do I preform a water change?

 

[icecubez189]

while i do not agree with using fish to cycle a tank, it is being cycled nontheless. now you should be watching for nitrIte levels and soon after nitrAtes. if you want these fish to live or limit discomfort, you'll do a water change before ammonia and nitrIte levels rise.

 

[Rbishop]

You are in the tedious and time consuming part of a fishy cycle...constant monitoring and numerous water changes.


Perform water changes as frequently as necessary to keep ammonia and nitrites below .25 ppm...or risk damage to your fish and decreased life span. Even if that means twice a day.

 

[johnlarson66]

I am curious about this also. Ammonia is going up. Do you wait until nitrIte goes up and then start water changing. How high will the Ammonia get before nitrIte appears. How much Ammonia is too much and how much is not enough (for starting a cycle)?

After killing lots of fish on my first tank, a person at a LFS told me about transfering rocks and filters and I have always done my new tanks that way.

The term cycling is new to me (and checking water). I have always just done water changes, I had well water at my old place, now I add water conditioner. I kept all my filter media and rocks wet for the move.

I am just wanting to learn more about the cycling process...

 

[kveeti]

Ammonia will drop when there are enough bacteria to handle the CURRENT fish load, it is not dependent on a higher reading. As long as there is any reading at all, things will progress. As previously suggested, water change, water change, water change. Keep those levels low. At 1.0 it is WAY too high and will damage your fish.

I am curious about this also. Ammonia is going up. Do you wait until nitrIte goes up and then start water changing. How high will the Ammonia get before nitrIte appears. How much Ammonia is too much and how much is not enough (for starting a cycle)?

You do not wait until nitrite shows up. Any ammonia is too much, but if you are fishy cycling the 0.25 mentioned above is a mark to keep it below. Nitrite will appear regardless, not because of any specific ammonia level. Again, you want to keep it as low as possible. Water change, water change, water change.

 

[johnlarson66]

Thanks

That is what I thought, but wanted clarification and thought this would be a good thread.

I think MVandenberk was unclear also. It seemed they were waiting for something else to happen. Once the ammonia hits 0.25, start changing water.

Can you change water too much while doing a fishy cycle? Or as long as you are only changing water and not cleaning the bacteria will grow.

 

[kveeti]

Can you change water too much while doing a fishy cycle? Or as long as you are only changing water and not cleaning the bacteria will grow.

No, you cannot change the water too much. It is a misconception that changing the water will slow your cycle. Any ammonia reading means there is excess that the biofilter can currently process, therefore it will grow in its regular timeframe. It does not say to itself, "Whoa, there's a LOT of ammonia we should multiply faster." It just multiplies. But when there are more present, it is quicker for them to catch up, i.e. it takes the same time for 2 to multiply to 4 as it does for 200 to multiply to 400. But obviously the 400 will eat more. That's why (eventually) it suddenly seems your readings drop to zero.

Also, you are not throwing away good bacteria with water changes. There is little to none in the water column, they are attached to surfaces.