OK - I am patiently (or not so patiently) waiting for my tank to cycle.

I have a ques about water changes.

I am now at day 8 in my new tank (37gal with 2 small commons). My water params haven't changed at all.

Nitrates still at 40 (they come out of the tap at 20)
Nitrites 0
pH 7.4
Ammonia 0.5

I haven't changed the water because my params look fine & I would really like to start cycling. Should I be???

Also should I still gravel vac approx 1/week??? (I have to admit I haven't yet- but I will tonite if I should).

Do I have enough fish?? (since my guys are sooo small-is there enough waste??)

Help!

Thanks,

Jenn

Hi Jenn, I'm not sure on this one. It sounds like the cycle is begining, hold on for the ride. lol
About the water changes, I'm not to sure, I'll let someone else handle that one. All I can say is that I did, just alittle. I did this for several reasons, one to get into a routine and to keep the ammonia under control (i had big ammo probs), and two was to vaccum the gravel.
Now that is just what I did. I'm not sure in your case. Let's see what others have to say.

Good luck (is your seat belt fastened?)

Just kidding, it'll be okay, really!

Laurie

Laurie-

thanks for the advice (I'm ready.....I think... )

I feel so strange not having done a water change (I was changing water daily in my 2 gal - so this feels really weird to not change it ).

Also I bought a gravel siphon, but I'm not sure if I should use it or ?????

aack!

Jenn

Are you testing the water daily or every other day?
As for the fish I'm sure they're creating enough waste, it just may take alittle longer. I wouldn't wait too long to vaccum, I know bad stuff can hide in there. I would wait and see where you are in week 2 and go from there, unless the params change.

Keep us posted
Laurie

You really should be doing water changes one a week, and same with gravel vac - poop can add up fast! and ya don't want it getting stuck under things and causing param issues...
Are you putting anything in the water when adding it? i mean like aquaplus or cycle or stuff that takes out choloride, etc from tap water?
when i started my tank, i used both and the ammonia never spiked! my nitrites went up a bit (.8-1.0) for about 2 weeks but now they're back down, and everything is at 0.

I was checking full params every day & ammonia before I went to bed, but it hasn't moved at all (AARG - I just want it to cycle - watch me eat those words later) So I'm back to testing once per day (I did get one of those clip on ammonia readers - more as an alter so if I had a sudden change I could see it there as well-I'm not relying on this for any real testing though)

I'll vac it out tom night (I'm exhausted tonite - I left my house at 8:30 am today & got home at 9pm)

Thanks Laurie!

Jenn

You're welcome, keep us posted.

Laurie