Should I do a water change now?

[clementsx]

I started cycling my tank on Feb 12th. I take readings every other day.

I have 5 african cichlids in a 75 gal.

These are my last few days readings:

Before the 26th, the numbers were in the 0's except for the ammonia which stayed below .5 consistently.

2-26

N03 3
N02 0
Ammonia .5
Ph 7.8

Today, I got home for a long ski weekend and took these:

3-1

N03 5
N02 .25
Ammonia 1
Ph 7.8

Is this OK to fly with these numbers and just keep a close watch? The fish are showing no signs of ammonia or nitrate problems.

Assuming these numbers need to change to continue the cycling process, I don't want to do a water change and affect a possible delay in completing the cycle.

Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[MissFishy]

Since you have such a large tank, cycling will probably take awhile. The goal is to keep the ammonia under 1.0 ppm. As soon as it hits 1.0, do a water change until it gets below 1.0 ppm. Same with nitrite when that starts rising.

 

[ccondardo]

on the same idea, the guy at petco told me that i shouldnt touch a new tank for 2 months in order to get bacteria going. what do you think of this miss fishy? a friend who is a self proclaimed fish guru told me to do one a lot at the start, like at least weekly. any thoughts?

 

[brian1973]

there are a couple ways of doing this the best most humane method is to follow missfishys method. When I set up my first tank I did a fish in cycle with no water changes for a month, I didnt lose any fish and I didnt know any better, doing frequent water changes will make the cycle take a bit longer but is definately better for the fish as they may not make it through the cycle process.

CCONARDO is your 14G cycled if so why dont you just use established media to quicken the cycle.

 

[ccondardo]

i thought of that but didnt have any pantyhose...and currently have an empty checking account :-(...

the petco guy said that since my tank is only a month old (est. Feb 2) not much bacteria would really be in it to help expedite the cycle. not sure if he was right. thoughts?

 

[brian1973]

you probably arent completely stocked but IME once the bacteria starts it multiplies quickly, if your using a 5 to 15g filter on it as well you can just take the filter media from the one and put it in the other filter. I have found this better than using gravel.

 

[clementsx]

Since you have such a large tank, cycling will probably take awhile. The goal is to keep the ammonia under 1.0 ppm. As soon as it hits 1.0, do a water change until it gets below 1.0 ppm. Same with nitrite when that starts rising.

Thanks MF, I did a quick change late last night after you posted. I appreciate your help.

If I keep doing the water changes, and my numbers keep going to 0. How will I truly know when the tank is fully cycled?

 

[sombunya]

...as well you can just take the filter media from the one and put it in the other filter. I have found this better than using gravel.

Good advice.

I have a 100 gallon with two AC 110's and a 40 gallon with one AC 110. The 40 was well established.

I swapped the entire filter from my established 40 gallon tank with one from the 100 gallon unit. The 40 did a mini-cycle, very mini, because there was plenty of "good bacteria" in the gravel, fake plants etc. The 100 cycled very quickly after that.

 

[sombunya]

I would add that if the Ammonia is at 1 part, do a 50% water change. And use PRIME.

I would never let it get over a half part. Just my opinion.

 

[MissFishy]

You will know your tank is fully cycled when it stabalizes. Soon the ammonia levels will start reading 0 regularly and the nitrite levels will be reading 1.0 and you'll have to do changes to keep those down. Once the nitrite levels are down and reading 0.0 and nitrate is around 20ish, your tank is cycled. Usually after 3-4 weeks with fish in, but that can vary a lot with your size tank and stocking levels.

As a general rule, I would never take advice from a fish store employee. Most have no idea what they're talking about. If you are fishlessly cycling a tank, you should not do water changes. If you have fish in the tank, NOT doing the water changes will kill the fish! I do not suggest doing that. Be wary of any advice you get from fish stores, some sound knowledgeable, but many have just attended a basic animal care class and told to give advice while really having no clue what they're talking about.

 

[clementsx]

MissFishy and other fish friends,

Here are my latest numbers, I just want to know I am doing the right thing here.

3-2

N03 5
N02 .25
Ammonia 1
Ph 7.6

20% water change

3-3

N03 10
N02 1
Ammonia .5
Ph 7.8

3-4

N03 10
N02 1
Ammonia 0
Ph 7.8

20% water change

3-5

N03 10
N02 1
Ammonia 0
Ph 8.0

Do I do another water change to get the nitrites down again? And should I retest after a water change because I never do?.. I just assume the numbers drop and rebuild up by the next day.

 

[MissFishy]

As long as you keep the nitrite and ammonia below 1.0 everyday, you should be fine. Since the ammonia levels are going down daily, it looks like your cycle is progressing nicely as your nitrite levels go up.

One observation though, I would be minorly concerned about your PH swinging around. Do a test on your tap water when it comes fresh out of the faucet, then set out a cup of water overnight from your faucet to test 24 hours later and see what the results are. A swinging PH can stress fish out and some water comes out of your faucet at a higher PH than it is 24 hours later, it depends on your water's buffering capacity. Typically you don't have to measure PH daily.

 

[jo3olous]

on the same idea, the guy at petco told me that i shouldnt touch a new tank for 2 months in order to get bacteria going. what do you think of this miss fishy? a friend who is a self proclaimed fish guru told me to do one a lot at the start, like at least weekly. any thoughts?

your friend is a selfproclaimed fish foolru, lol

 

[ccondardo]

so you dont think that ur supposed to do changes a lot at the start?

 

[jo3olous]

so you dont think that ur supposed to do changes a lot at the start?

Originally Posted by ccondardo
on the same idea, the guy at petco told me that i shouldnt touch a new tank for 2 months in order to get bacteria going. what do you think of this miss fishy? a friend who is a self proclaimed fish guru told me to do one a lot at the start, like at least weekly. any thoughts?

If we are talking about the same person here, then yes. If we are not, and that is how your friend speaks "do one a lot at the start", then lol still yes.

This is why a fish-in cycle complicates things. Ammonia levels go sky high, and you need water changes to lower them, and the water changes create mini-cycles everytime you do them, delaying the cycling. (when I was a newbie, I did the fish in cycle and lost 5 fish to it)

If you did a fishless cycle, and used chemicals and such to get the bacteria going, I don't think you need to do water changes. I once again do not know because when I upgraded my tank, I used the media from my first tank for my bigger one

 

[clementsx]

As long as you keep the nitrite and ammonia below 1.0 everyday, you should be fine. Since the ammonia levels are going down daily, it looks like your cycle is progressing nicely as your nitrite levels go up.

One observation though, I would be minorly concerned about your PH swinging around. Do a test on your tap water when it comes fresh out of the faucet, then set out a cup of water overnight from your faucet to test 24 hours later and see what the results are. A swinging PH can stress fish out and some water comes out of your faucet at a higher PH than it is 24 hours later, it depends on your water's buffering capacity. Typically you don't have to measure PH daily.

sorry for the confusion on the ph, my drop test came with a high and regular ph level test , I posted some bad numbers for the ph...its been been pretty consistent at 8.


So, now I am doing water changes because my nitrites are still at 1 every day, the water change also brings my nitrates down to zero from 10. Next day, same numbers, same scenario with the water change.

Ammonia has been at 0 for 5 days straight. Although, 4 of the 5 days I did a water change so it probably doesn't mean anything.

Is this normal? And am I on the right path?

 

[clementsx]

Since no one responded to my last post, I figured I will give it another shot before seeking out a more active forum. Not sure if it is the noob thing or nobody really watches this thread but here goes...

So now I am on day 3 without water changes and my numbers have stayed consistent.

N03 10
N02 1
Ammonia 0
Ph 8.0

Will the fish be OK with the nitrites sitting at 1?

 

[homebunnyj]

I think I'd probably do a small water change, maybe 20-25%, to bring the nitrite down a bit. It is interesting, though, that it hasn't gone up or down. You could leave it another day to see if it begins to go down on its own. IMHO your fish would be better off with the nitrite below 1, but it's your call, really. Kind of a borderline thing.

If it goes up at all, definitely do a partial water change, enough to bring it below 1. The ammonia staying at zero means the first part of your cycle is complete.

I noticed you said water changes bring nitrates down from 10 to 0. Are you doing full, complete water changes every time? because you don't need to, only partial ones are needed. A 25% change should bring a reading of 10 down to about 7.5.

 

[clementsx]

Thank you for replying...Since the nitrites have been at 1 everyday, I was originally doing a 20% WC, when they rose back up the next day, I would do another and so on for 3 days. I gave up on that and decided to wait and see if the nitrites were going to go any higher. They haven't for 3 days. I am waiting this out, if it does go higher, I will do another WC.

I cant for sure say what the nitrates are just after a WC as I haven't tested after one, just that the next day they are back at 1 again. Although the nitrates went to 0 after a wc and back to 1 the next day and stayed at 1 since

 

[DesignsOnYou]

Do you mean that the nitrates went back to 10 and stayed there? If so, that's actually good, because it means that you do have some of the bacteria that converts nitrite to nitrate, just not enough of it yet. When I was cycling my nitrites camped out a about 1 for over 3 weeks, but everyone agreed that that was a long cycle, especially since I used biospira. But other than that, it sounds like you're on the right track.