Question on getting cycled
- Thread starter New_To_Hobbie
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Fish produce amonia, that's why to fishless cycle a tank you need to add amonia. Fish-in cycling can be hard on fish, and is a lot slower than fishless. (I'm still cycling my twenty technicaly. My nitrates and nitrites are still kinna up there.)
You need to do a water change at LEAST weekly, probably more. And you need a test kit, I reccomend the api master kit, it's at petco or petsmart.
It will cycle, but it takes longer and kinna hurts the fish.
You need to do a water change at LEAST weekly, probably more. And you need a test kit, I reccomend the api master kit, it's at petco or petsmart.
It will cycle, but it takes longer and kinna hurts the fish.
the tank i got has been running for 6-8 months . Same fish same deco same tank and filter. And it was getting alot of changes and i even change water once aweek if not twice a week. But i was thinking couldnt my tank be cycled now? I got no test. I got a crappy walmart that only sells 1 test and thats PH ones. Anyways i was wondering if u guys thought it was cycled now... ? And if it was cycled then my stress is whats making fish color fade.
You have to have ammonia to start a cycle. Otherwise you can't sustain the life of the bacteria that breaks down the ammonia. Even if you used the refridgerated Bio-Spira to "instant cycle" you have to add fish to keep it going. So you need pure ammonia or fish to start the cycle. Or you could add fish food that would eventually break down over time and produce ammonia. But that would take a long time.
I'm not real sure I understand your question. Does your tank already have fish in it? I think I'm reading that it does. If it's been set up for 6-8 months with fish in it then it should be cycled. Order you an ammonia, nitrite and nitrate test kit. Then you'll know where you stand. Ammonia and nitrites should be 0. Nitrates under 20. And that's a cycled tank. Once a week water changes is great. Sounds like you're doing good!
There could be different reasons why fish color might fade. Probably stress of some sort.
I'm not real sure I understand your question. Does your tank already have fish in it? I think I'm reading that it does. If it's been set up for 6-8 months with fish in it then it should be cycled. Order you an ammonia, nitrite and nitrate test kit. Then you'll know where you stand. Ammonia and nitrites should be 0. Nitrates under 20. And that's a cycled tank. Once a week water changes is great. Sounds like you're doing good!
There could be different reasons why fish color might fade. Probably stress of some sort.
If the tank has been up and running with the same filter for 6-8 months I would have to venture to say that it is cycled. As far as the fishes color fading: What kind of fish do you have?? It could be water quality, it could be they are sick, really a number of things. Id get a test kit and test your water just to find out where its at. What else do you do to your tank? Add any chemicals? How do you feed?? How much do you feed???
With the fish that you have the reason the colors are faded is because of what you have. There is obviously a dominant fish in the tank (my bet is on the Zebra or the Jewel, but knowing what they others are...) and the other fish are trying to keep a low profile and avoid getting beat up. I do recommend getting a bigger tank very soon if you plan to keep what you have currently.