Help with new tank

[Radar]

Wow, I was sure hopeing this was going to go easy but tonight I see signs that it may not.
I seeded my new 55 gallon from my 29 gallon 5 days ago.
all my water checks have been good untill tonight
The last 4 days Tonight
Ammonia 0 Ammonia it's almost to the colour of .25
NitrIte 0 NitrIte 0
NitrAte 5.0 NitrAte 5.0

Any advice ? I have 4 Angels in there that I moved from the 29 gallon. Would it help to cut back on the food? Keep the lights off ?
Or should I start with the water changes?:help:
My 29 gallon is doing good (so far) Ammonia 0
NitrIte 0
NitrAte 20

 

[Hooked Newbie]

You're off to a way better start than I was / am... I'm gonna try to "channel" the experts on here (rb, Coler, Jim, Mg, etc.), but I think they'll say to feed conservatively and do 25 - 50% water changes until Ammonia is at zero. Is the tank planted or no? What type of filter? Their advice is gold so wait for that before you make any plans. Best of luck!

 

[Radar]

The plants are artificial,And the filter is a Aqua Tech 30-60.

 

[grannylvsfish]

your doing fine, just do water changes and keep testing. I also seeded my 20 gallon from my 29. it went well, but several days later it showed traces of nitrites. Just do water changes and you will do fine,

 

[Nolapete]

Go with the experts, feed conservatively and start water changes.

 

[Radar]

O.K. THANKS Is the 5.0 A good reading for NitrAtes for only 5 days?

 

[mee-mee]

your doing fine, just do water changes and keep testing. I also seeded my 20 gallon from my 29. it went well, but several days later it showed traces of nitrites. Just do water changes and you will do fine,

Agreed to what Hakuna said...just keep up on the water changes...and just make sure to keep up on the testing....we seeded our 29 from our 80...and that isn't much water from the 80...and we did the daily parameter checking and pwc's...and it was 1 week to 2 weeks before the 29 was fully cycled...and we even used the media filters from our Magnum350 and put 1 filter in our little Magnum for the 29...and everything went well...haven't lost any fish (except for one of our minors...due to bullying by the blue gourami we gave to the LFS)...but no fishy loss and the 29 has been up and running for a little over a month...so just keep doing what you are doing ...how many times a day do you feed the AF...

 

[Radar]

Just a quick update. I did 2 20% water changes last night and got the Ammonia to ZERO.
Today so far I have tested 3 times and still staying at zero.
How many times a day should I be feeding them? I am trying not to get another ammo spike, if that is what it was.
My 29 gallon I feed them 2 times a day, but with this one untill I am certain it is cycled good I do not want to over do it.

 

[Coler]

You're off to a way better start than I was / am... I'm gonna try to "channel" the experts on here (rb, Coler, Jim, Mg, etc.), but I think they'll say to feed conservatively and do 25 - 50% water changes until Ammonia is at zero. Is the tank planted or no? What type of filter? Their advice is gold so wait for that before you make any plans. Best of luck!

yowzers ! very flattering to be mentioned in that company but I'm raw as a fresh hewn steak compared to those guys...always double check my advice lol

Radar - sounds like you're going well on the 55 cycle. Just keep testing and changing water as necessary. You have Nitrates (so handy to be able to use media from an established tank) so it really shouldn't be long before everything catches up. Once you're at 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and increasing nitrates give it a couple of weeks before adding anything else. As regards food just make sure you net/vac out anything uneaten. I'd say the 5 ppm reading is very encouraging for 5 days in and shows a good development of bacterial colonies. Might be 10 days to 2 weeks by the time you're done, might even be slightly quicker.

I found it very hard to get a handle on how much to feed...eventually I find you just kind 'know' when they've had enough...you see them passing up a pellet or too etc. I give my guys 2 minutes worth per day in two sessions, plus some at night for the catfish.

 

[Hooked Newbie]

yowzers ! very flattering to be mentioned in that company but I'm raw as a fresh hewn stake.

Just going by the quality of the advice I've read so far...