So I never knew if my tank actually cycled, but I started with an established media from another tank. It never measured anything for a long time, even with fish. No ammonia, no nitrite, no nitrates. My ph was high at 7.8, but I've recently brought it down. This is my first "big" tank. It's a 75 gallon planted. I have Congo tetras, diamond tetras, and kubotai loaches. I put the loaches in only recently, all the levels were still reading well except for a tiny amount of ammonia. .25ppm. I did my water change. Now, all my levels are reading high. Ammonia has been at .50ppm, nitrite also 50, and nitrates are .10. I am using the api master kit so I know my readings have been accurate. This has been going on for three days. I have been doing significant water changes every day to make sure my fish aren't poisoned. I also recently added peat moss about a week ago. It was from home depot, but it had no additives, and read as being for organic gardening. I have no idea what could be causing this torture to my tank, but I need some advice. I bought some api stress coat which said that it detoxifies heavy metals and dechlorinates. Can I use this in my tank without destroying the cycling process to keep the toxins down? I don't know what to do other than to keep water changing every day, but I don't know how long it's going to stay this way.
My tank is measuring high everything!
- Thread starter Something_fishy_in_here
- Start date
It's going to take a while until the cycle is complete. About a month or a little longer. Just keep up with the water changes making sure ammonia hovers around 0.25-0.50 ppm. Any higher than 0.50 ppm, then do a water change to get it down. And below 1ppm for nitrite.. Gotta keep it nice and low until nitrates start to appear and ammonia and nitrite are at zero.
Make sure you don't overfeed those guys, by the way. pH at 7.8 is fine, by the way.. fish can adapt, so there's no need for it if you ask me. And plus, peat moss will tint the water brown, so yeah.
Keep up the good work.. you'll be done cycling before you know it.
Make sure you don't overfeed those guys, by the way. pH at 7.8 is fine, by the way.. fish can adapt, so there's no need for it if you ask me. And plus, peat moss will tint the water brown, so yeah.
Keep up the good work.. you'll be done cycling before you know it.
Well I already have nitrates as I mentioned. So the other two will drop on their own? Because everything I've read said the ammonia will spike and drop, then nitrate will do the same, and then there should be nothing but nitrates. So it doesn't make sense to me for them all to be spiked.
Well, that's strange.. well, I don't know what say...
Just keep being diligent with the water changes until both ammonia and nitrite both drop to 0ppm.. ignore nitrate for now. Important thing is to keep the ammonia and nitrite at low levels so the fish don't get poisoned and lethargic. Within a few weeks, you should see results with the cycle. Good luck and I hope everything works out for you.
Just keep being diligent with the water changes until both ammonia and nitrite both drop to 0ppm.. ignore nitrate for now. Important thing is to keep the ammonia and nitrite at low levels so the fish don't get poisoned and lethargic. Within a few weeks, you should see results with the cycle. Good luck and I hope everything works out for you.
I would still give the tap water a test. It sounds like its only been a few days with these readings? Something could be going on with the source water.
Yes, stress coat is fine to use during the cycle. Its a water conditioner and detoxifies heavy metals, it won't do anything for ammo, nitrite or nitrate though.
Have you completely rinsed your testing vial with DI water?
As a chemist I found I had to rinse at least 3 times with DI water after each sample was tested, otherwise I would get noise (false readings).
And I just googled the LA water quality drinking water report, and found the average nitrate reading for tap water is 0.6ppm.
As a chemist I found I had to rinse at least 3 times with DI water after each sample was tested, otherwise I would get noise (false readings).
And I just googled the LA water quality drinking water report, and found the average nitrate reading for tap water is 0.6ppm.
Ok update. Today I tested my tapwater...it read zero nitrates. I just tested my tank, it's reading zero ammonia, low nitrite (as in not blue enough to hit .25 mark), and maybe a smidgen of nitrates. It's not quite yellow, but not orange enough to read as 5.0ppm. Not sure what happened, but I guess my tank just spazzed out randomly?? Also I do rinse my vials very well, but I rinse them in tap water. Since I've been doing this the whole time, and my tap water is reading nothing, it shouldn't make a difference consistency wise I don't think. Hopefully it stays consistent now, and all my fish can go on living happily ever after. Even when my levels were reading high, none of my fish were acting weird so who knows. Thanks for all your comments.
