Water Reading Questions ???

[mishi8]

Hello,

I have a question regarding water readings after a "fishless" cycling process. My nitrites and ammonia have been at 0 for 2 days now and before I add the fish I wanted to take a nitrate reading. I did it and the reading was at 80ppm. I went ahead and did a 20% water change waited about 15 min for the water to cycle through everything and then checked it again. The reading came out at 70ppm after doing a 20% water change. My questions are:

1.) What else can I do to get it down to a safe level to add fish ?

2.) What level of nitrates would it be ok to add fish ?

3.) Once the fish are added how often can I do partial water changes since it is still in an "after-cycle" state ?

Any quick help or info would be appreciated, I don't want to leave the cycle complete tank empty for too long and damage the cycle process at all.

Thanks,

James

With a fishless cycle, you do a large volume water change to bring your nitrates down. It won't hurt your bacteria. Once you've done that water change, you're good to add fish. If you were adding around 4ppm ammonia during the cycle, you should be able to add a full bioload of fish to the tank. If it will be a while after completing the cycle before adding fish, then dose some more ammonia to keep the bacteria fed. Just test before adding fish, and do another water change if necessary.

1) Water changes. No way around doing a large one, and it won't hurt the biofilter
2) 20ppm or less nitrate is ideal
3) I've never heard of any significance of an "after-cycle" state. Just do water changes on a typcial schedule. Once per week is good. Test your water to see that everything is working as it should.