OK - I have been reading about all of the water changes which are ahead of me & believe it or no have been doing a full test in am and pH and ammonia in pm. Currently my ammonia level is very stable at 1.0 - Do I wait for the spike and then start the water changes or ???

Thanks!

Jenn

Until someone else gets here, I have a couple questions.

First is there any fish in the tank?
Do you have the other readings of nitrites and nitrates? If so please post those as well.
How big is the tank and how long has it been up?

Laurie

It is a 37 gal tank - only up for a few days (I was in a 2gal previously)

Has 2 commons in it

Nitrates 40
Nitrites 0
Ammonia 1.0
pH 7.4


Thanks,

Jenn

Well I'm still a newbie, but I think you could do a small water change. I am assuming you took your filter media and or water from the 2 gal. and put it in the new tank? Since your nitrates are 40.

Your nitrates should be okay to handle a water change. I think you might be going into a mini cycle.

If you didn't want to do the water change, adding something like ammo-lock to neutrilize the ammonia would be okay to. I wouldn't want to see the ammonia climb or stay too long at 1. At 1 you can have damage to your fish.

Good luck,
Laurie

up for a few days and nitrAte is already showing??

did you check the reading for the water fresh from ur tap??

does the water turn cloudy?? or did you use anything to speed up the cycling?? things like old water or filter media from old tank?

anyway, no need to change water so often during cycling unless it is very dirty.. best thing is to prevent than to rectify by reducing feeding...

cheers

I dI didn't use anything from the other tank (it had an undergravel filter and I was tx the fish for ich)

I have been using Biozyme (in the hopes that it may speed up the cycle). (I know it may be ineffectual )

I just wasn't sure when to do/start water changes when the tank is cycling. I want to cycle as fast as possible BUT I don't want to do any damage to my fishes (Bacon & Nikki)

I don't want any more ammonia damage. (My poor fish Bacon is finally looking great after getting over burns)

Jenn

fi5hkiller

I've been hanging out waiting for advice- so I didn't see you post until after I posted the other.

My water turned very slightly cloudy this AM. Ammonia level stayed at 1.

I just checked it and it's still at 1 - is this OK for cycling or should I do a water change??

I didn't even think about my tap water- I did treat with stress coat instead of just letting the water age. (In the 2 gal I was using bottled water - long story)

Should I be treating it with something else???

Thanks,
Jenn

PS I just checked my log and Nitrate level is still the same as it was just before I put my fish in the tank- so I have to conclude that it's the tap water - what do I do???

You can test the water straight out of the tap and see what it says. That way you will know if the Biozyme is helping.
Water changes do slow down the tank cycling. In my case it took almost 3 months for mine to cycle because I was having ammonia problems and then nitrite problems.
I took my time because I didn't want to lose any fish. I also used ammo chips in the filter media and I used "Jungle Labs" tank buddies to remove (or neutralize) ammonia.

I hope this helps.

Laurie

Another thought. I ran all the tests on my tap water to see what it's readings were before I ever added it to my tank.

YOu could do that as well.

Laurie

Ammonia is .5 from the tap & nitrates are 20

What now ?? - Do I treat this or?????

Hellllp

Jenn

Well I would neutralize the ammonia with ammo-lock or the tank buddies from jungle labs. As for the nitrates I'm not sure. Nitrates of 20 - 40 are wonderful. As long as they don't go over the 40 mark.

I know for cycling the ammonia has to spike then the nitrites and finally the nitrates will kick in. I'm not sure in your case with the nitrates already at 20. I think that will help you.

I'm not sure if you do a water change how helpful it would be since the tap is .5. Common sense would say if you took out 10 gal at .5 ammonia, putting 10 gal back in with .5 you'd be in the same spot.

Hhhmmmm....
Let's think and maybe someone will come along.
Laurie

I would not worry about your nitrates from the tap, unless you have special needs fish (like one with nitrate sensitive swim bladder). You will not be cycled until the nitrates start going over the 20 that your tap has though.

Why in the world would tap water have nitrates in it?

I can't answer that question. Some people on this site suggest that you can call you local water dept. I don't have any tap water issues so I have not done this. I do know there are all kinds of things they put in there.
Do you have city water?

Laurie

Another note: With 40 nitrates, you should be able to grow plants really well. I have a ton of Anachris. They grow like crazy and my nitrates stay level. I have almost 20 Nitrates level coming out of the tap. It occurs naturally as far as I know, and it's not neccesary to remove from drinking water.

Some plants are known for absorbing nitrates very well, but I can't remember which one mentioned on this board recently. hmmm....

I do have city water. (It's not too bad in taste though)

I hadn't thought about plants because everyone says that the gf eat them. Can you put plants in with a cycling tank or???

Thanks so much everyone for your advice!

Jenn

Jenn yes GF will eat most plants. However there are some that they don't. Now I don't know what these are but if you look under the plants and aquascaping you should be able to find their names. As for planting a tank while it's cycling, I guess you could start another thread or maybe find it when your looking up the names.

Your very welcome!!!

Laurie

Jenn, I did alittle research for you. Now I only have plastic plants, so what I'm going to tell you I'm only repeating from another thread.

Plants that GF usually leave alone are: Amazon Swords, Anubias, Java Moss, Java Fern.
Also for beginners the Java Moss, Anacharis and Onion Plant are good.
Now I don't know what an onion plant is but it probably isn't the ones we get onions from.

Good Luck

Laurie

Laurie -

You are the best! B)

Thanks so much!!!!!!!!!

Jenn

You're welcome. I'm still new but learning fast and I love this hobby.

Laurie

Hey Jenn,Try the anubias,onion plants,java moss.They are so easy,and reasonably priced too.I 've had great luck with crypts also.Having plants will help eat up some of your nitrites too!

Thanks Sharon!!!!

Do I wait for the tank to cycle first???

Jenn

I'm certainly no expert at cycling,but I don't see why plants couldn't be put in now.Plants help turn bad nitrItes into good nitrAtes so.... I'm able to talk myself out of anything sometimes lol I don't know Jenn,I've always had some kind of live plants in my tanks when I started them up-plants are always beneficial!!! (tonite is my last nite to work then I have 7 off so I can talk again! ) Hope everythings going good with bacon,and your other baby!

Oooh - have fun at work (I got home not too long ago myself) - I don't envy you your schedule!!

My fishes are doing great! They love the space and their colors are becoming beautiful. Ammonia burns are healing well & I haven;t seen any ich since they moved out of the other tank-dare I speak too soon?? )

Jenn

That's great news keep up the good work.

Laurie