?? Cycle Question

[n0zqh]

My tank has been running for a month and a half. I've been cycling with convicts and tetras in the tank.
I have not done a water change now for 3 days my water prams are
Ammonia 0 ppm Nitrites 0.01 ppm Nitrates 20 ppm or higher.... I'm color blind with reds.
When I did my water change 3 days ago I ran out of Amquel+ and just added Tetra Aqua safe, this brought my ammonia up from 0.01 ppm to 0.05ppm, now I'm back to 0.0. I have found enough Amquel+ to do 5 gallon water change, but I don't know what my nitrates should be safe up to
How high should I allow my nitrates to get before I can get more Amquel+ on Saturday.
Besides what I have listed in my Sig for fish and tank size, I also have 20 to 25 convict fry, that become swimmers this last Thursday the 29th of June.
Is my Nitrates going to be ok till Saturday, or should I do a water change tonight? Remember I can only do a 5 gallon change and keep my ammonia at 0.

 

[Chickieepooh2u]

Well, I might be wrong and if I am I'm sure someone will be around to tell me so but.... Accoring to your params it seems to be that your tank is cycled already. Your nitrates should come down with a water change. A 5 gallon change should bring them down. If you ran out of conditioner and can't get any right away, let some water sit out for a day to let the chlorine dissipate and use that. A Nitrate level of 20 is fine, my last level was at 60 and a 25% water change took care of it.

 

[kveeti]

If your water supply has chloramines, then sitting the water out won't help with that.

20 for nitrates is a good target reading. They won't go awfully higher by Saturday, I wouldn't even worry about them for the few days. Maybe go lighter on the feedings, anyway. Just keep an eye on the ammonia and nitrIte.

 

[n0zqh]

Yeah, my water has chloramines, and the very first thing that is added to water at the water plant is ammonia. That is why when I add the Tetra aqua-safe I have an elevation of ammonia. I think that is the reason anyway.
Ok then I'll not panic with the 20ppm of nitrates. Thanks for the replys