Mid Cycling #'s HELP

[andi872]

HI all

I'm 2 weeks in to cycling, and did a 50% water change yesterday. Below is this evening #'s:
ph-7.0, amm-1.5, nitrite-1.0, nitrate-5.0

I just got the API master test kit tonight, before i was using test strips which are much harded to read.

I just want the least stress on the fish, who are acting just fine.ATM

 

[ct-death]

Water changes will not hurt your Cycle-Process, so please do what's necessary to get your Ammonia / NitrItes under 0.25ppm

It's very normal for these #'s to have periods in the cycle where they can spike 1.0ppm in under 24hrs! This is also why we recommend 2-3x tests per day. When you leave for work, get home and before bed.

Typical cycles last between 4-8 weeks with fish. Some are longer, some less...

 

[andi872]

thanks I'll do another water change

 

[ct-death]

I would do 1 50% Water Change and in 1.5 - 2 hours and do another 50%

For best results in your tests wait at least a hour after a WC, 2 is best

 

[andi872]

will this lower my nitrate #'s those need to get larger right?
I will be so happy once i get this stable

 

[southpaw]

:iagree:

Keep up with water changes to get ammonia and nitrites under .25ppm ...this might mean you will be having to do 2-3 water changes a day depending on the test results.

This is the main reason I went with a fishless cycle....no water changes to do...just tests.

 

[southpaw]

will this lower my nitrate #'s those need to get larger right?
I will be so happy once i get this stable

Dont worry about the nitrates now.... low nitrates is a good thing too.

Just take care of the ammonia and nitrites mainly now....when these two get to 0ppm then you can work on getting the nitrate levels good.

 

[andi872]

i didnt know any better, the fish lady at petsmart said i could add fish after 48hrs...no mention of cycling.

 

[ct-death]

will this lower my nitrate #'s those need to get larger right?
I will be so happy once i get this stable

Yes it will, but this is not needed.

Once you think of it this way it will make sense:

Doing a 50% water change replaces 1/2 the water and thus reduces 1/2 the Ammonia, nitrItes and nitrAtes.

So if your ammonia is at 1.5ppm currently, doing a 50% WC will get you down to ~0.75ppm...wait about 2 hours and doing another 50% WC will again reduce this by 1/2 and get you to around 0.3 to 0.4 (NOTE, this is still not low enough as the target is 0.25ppm or less with fish in a tank)

 

[andi872]

but i got the water test kit you sugested