Water testing results..help.

[Northern Canuk Lady]

Hi

New member to the forum but have been reading it for a while though. I have a 36 bow front with a quiet flow 30 and two 10g internal filters plus bubble wand aeration. The tank currently contains 3 molly (one is a bubble molly), 6 platy, 2 guppys, 3 half grown swordtails, 5 neon tetras and 2 mystery snails. I have a second 20g fry tank.
I just bought the API master water test kit and received the following results:
pH: 7.6
High Range pH: 7.4
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite:0
Nitrate: 5

I am not sure what all of this means or if I need to do something for the tank. Please help if you can.

 

[Tifftastic]

Welcome to AC!

So, there's a few things to know here that may seem confusing at first, but are actually really simple. First off is the nitrogen cycle, well its probably the whole thing tbh.

Fish eat food, and they produce ammonia. Also, anything decaying produces ammonia.
There's two types of bacteria that grow. The first converts ammonia to nitrite, and the second converts nitrite to nitrate.
Nitrite is less toxic than ammonia, but still toxic. Nitrate is less toxic than both nitrite and ammonia. Its generally considered safe at up to 40 ppm, but many people (myself included) prefer levels around 20 ppm or less.

However, readings like yours are not necessarily indicative of a cycled tank. Depending on a few things.

1) How long have you had your tank set up?
2) How often do you do water changes and how big are they?

 

[Northern Canuk Lady]

Unfortunately the tank has only been set up for 4 days due to a sudden tank leak which I was unable to repair and had to go and find a new tank in a hurry from kijiji. I live in Northern Ontario, Canada so not much selection here so ended up with a 4 gallon smaller tank than what I had. I utilized the filters (existing filter cartridges still wet and not changed) from my other tank as well as decorations and plants (not real). I was able to get to the pet supply store this weekend and purchased a test kit because I had read a lot about cycling (although a little too late to have done this with my original tank but had no loss fish) and knew that since I was unable to do this that I may have some issues and I don't want to stress or lose any of my fish if possible. I have treated the tank with Prime to help with water quality at set up and again 2 days later. My water comes from a well so there is no chlorine etc. and no softener on the well. I changed water on my previous tank at 25% each week and treat with a conditioner. Any advice??

 

[Tifftastic]

I'd recommend continuing to test it and change the water as needed. You may be ok, if the filters retained any bacteria. I'd also give your tap water a test to see if that nitrate came from the tap or the tank. But I'd recommend feeding lightly, and testing the water often.