I have been adding Ammonia to my 10g for about 3 weeks. 2 weeks into the cycle I introduced a rock from the pet store, it had alot of green "moss" on it and apperaed to be well established. My tank is eating hrough 3ppm of ammonia overnight super fast. Except one problem. My Nitrite is at 0.50 and has been for the past 2 weeks can I do a massive water change to get my nitrates and nitrites down and then begin adding fish slowly? BTW my ebo jagar heater is on and my temp is 77*F I leave my 15w hook on 11-12 hours a day.
My cycle... when is it over?
- Thread starter Hpisavage21
- Start date
Anyone? Can I add my fish but watch the water for changed and do water changes? Also to help the water changes I read the Prime helpsdetox nitrite...anyone??
Your tank is cycled when the ammonia is at zero, nitrites at zero, and nitrates below 40 preferably. Please note that nitrates could be rather high at first, but water changes will bring them down.
It's usually not a good idea to rely on chemicals like Prime to deal with nitrites. It sounds like your fishless cycle is progressing pretty much normally. Why are you considering jumping ship midway? As hard as it is watching an empty tank cycle, it beats worrying about the fish you put in and whether they're in distress due to toxins in the water. If your tank is consuming 3 ppm overnight, you're halfway there.
The easiest thing to do is hang in there, let the tank cycle and then stock fully. Alternatively, you could abandon the fishless cycle, begin adding one or two fish every several weeks, all the while testing daily and doing sufficient water changes to keep the fish alive/healthy. Obviously, I would choose the former but it's an individual decision.
Good luck,
Jim
The easiest thing to do is hang in there, let the tank cycle and then stock fully. Alternatively, you could abandon the fishless cycle, begin adding one or two fish every several weeks, all the while testing daily and doing sufficient water changes to keep the fish alive/healthy. Obviously, I would choose the former but it's an individual decision.
Good luck,
Jim
Appearently my test kit, is screwed.I get some weird test results.It a MAster Test Kit from Aquairum Pharmecuticals. My LFS tested it and he said its ready to go 0 eveyerthing PH is 7.6 and he said add fish SLOWLY! I added 4 painted testras todays.Over a 3-4 week period, 3 at a time to give the tank some time to establish the "mini recycle" he said. for some odd reason i used mine again and the ammonia is at 0 and nitrate is 10ppm, I didi a 1/3 water change my darn Nitrite is at 2ppm now itsweird at the LFS it was fine. I tested my tap and its 0 I think my test kit is not screwed. So what can I do now to get my Nitrite down. The fish seem active, eating and not gasping for air, Since I did a 1/3 water change its still at that and now I added Prime to detoify it. Tomorrow I will do another water change. I read its good to use table salt? How much??
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Back.. Just checkedmy exp. dates on the bottles. The Ammonia expired on 7/04 and Nitrite 5/04 I guess those are my culprits, darn maybe my tankhas been cycled ever since I added teh rock from the established tank and I have been adding ammonia everyday. I will go out and get me a new test kit tommorrow and check to make sure. The fishes gills are nice and pink (one of the painted tetras has a little more red to it) and they are not at the surface gasping for air, they are eating and are playing around. I added 1 teaspoon of table salt disollved in some water and added to the tank to help counter react the presence of nitrites if there are any. I knew something was fishy with the test kits since they would give me mixed results everyday as far as nitrites go. Oh well