I have a new aquarium with 1- 2" Fantail and 1- 1 1/4" Black Moor. I have a 20gal tank. I just set it up last Wednesday. I purchased an Aquarium Pharma. Testing Kit after reading about water conditions and testing here at Koko's. I don't know if I am just dense, but I am not getting this cycling thing. I tested this morning and ther results are:

AMMONIA: 0.25 ppm (I think, the colors are so close together it's hard to tell)
NITRITES: 0ppm
NITRATES: 0ppm
pH: between 8.0 & 8.2 (again the colors are so close together that it's hard to tell)

I have been testing 2-3 times a day, depending on how bad my kids are being
When I tested last night all of the reading were at the same levels. This prompted me to do a partial water change. I would say I changed about 30% and retesed and the reading was down. The water is clear this morning, but my fish aren't swimming around very much. Just kind of hanging around the front of the tank. They are moving, but not really playing. Am I making sense?

I guess what my questions are:

1. Do I have to change the water everytime I read ammonia in the water?
2. Is it "normal" for the reading to flucuate that quickly. (I ask that because it was 1 a.m. when I changed the water, I am a night owl)
3. Will this get easier? I love my fish and I want them to be healthy. My husband says I stess too much over this, but I just want to do it right.

I hope that my ramblings are understandable this morning. My kids get up too early and I am still half asleep I think.

Thanks for all the help,
Kimma

I also wanted to ask if there is any easier to read kits out there? The colors are so close of these results cards that sometimes its hard to tell what the actau result is! I even take them outside in the sunlight when I can!

Thanks

The test kit you have, I believe, is one of the best. I know a lot of us here on Kokos use it. You want the ammonia YELLOW. Any color of green isnt good. Your tank is cycled when you have zero Ammonia and NitrItes and some NitrAtes. It will get easier once the tank is cycled and everything stays around where its supposed to be at. More stable. When a tank is cycling I find myself doing A LOT of water changes. It sounds like youre doing everything correctly. The nitrItes will go up after the ammonia goes to 0 so keep an eye out and keep up with the water changes to keep the levels down.



edit spelling

I just worry that I am changing the water TOO much! Would that make the cycling restart?

when my tank cycled, the ammonia at first would go from around .25 ppm to .5 to maybe 1.0... anything over .25 is a "time to change the water" sign. my tank was almost always around .25ppm ammonia when i was cycling it. i don't think you need to perform drastic water changes, but i changed about 10-15% water every day unless i tested higher amounts of toxins in my water... then i would change the water according to the readings.

i don't know if this is the best way, since i know you want to try and keep your ammonia as low as possible. but on a cycling tank, it is difficult to always keep it at a certain level. i think small daily water changes are ok, and just adjust the percent of water changed based on your readings.

hope this helped!

and i agree, at first reading the tests is difficult, but with the drop tests it gives a more accurate reading than the simple tests like the dip sticks. it will be easier to discern the colors with time. i also noticed that sometimes the color of the result would be between two of the colors on the chart... so i figured it might just be in between the two.

Doing water changes will have no effect on getting your tank to cycle. The benificial bacteria live on all the solid surfaces in your tank and on the sponges and other media in your filter. They do not live free swimming in the water.

As far as water test kits go... I prefer the Hagen/Nutrafin type test kits. With all their test kits if the test result is zero, the test solution remains clear.

Just retested and ammonia level is up higher thank this morning....Time to change the water! I will let yall know what happens.

I appreciate all the help!!!

Kim

Well, I changed between 2 and 3 gal. I retested the ammonia and it went down to 0.25 ppm.

What I am wondering about now is the pH, it it higher than ever before. Any suggestions?

are you checking it with the correct pH test? i think there should be two of them in the test kit. a high end pH and a regular one.

also, you might try testing the pH of the water you are doing water changes with. (ex. tap) i know my tap water here is around 8.0, and i use to use culligan water which was around 7.2 so when i switched to just tap, my pH kept increasing.

Why are there 2 tests? That confuses me too. Here are the results

TAP WATER
pH 7.6
High Range pH 7.8

AQUARIUM WATER
pH 7.6, but it was actually darker than that
High Range pH 8.2

I use the regular pH test, not the high range test. You could also add crushed coral in a media bag to your filter to keep the pH steady. Mine now stays at about 7.2. My tap pH is 6.6-6.8.
Also I change out 1/3 of the of water everyday since my tank is cycling but thats just me. My tank is 29 gallons.

Good luck!

i believe the way the pH tests work is you use the regular one first, and if the color if your result is the very last one (highest), you take another test using the high range pH one, which will be a what your pH most likely is.

Yes, my pH result is the very last one. Actaully, its darker than the last one so I don't even bother with the regular one.
What range pH is OK for GF?

They can adjust to any PH, the main thing is that its stable

Well, I just retested and I just don't know. My ammonia level is back up to .50

Do I need to change the water again? Or is this a safe level.

This is what I am having the problems with. At what level to change. Like I said earlier, I did a 25% water change this afternoon and its back up. And this is a good sign right? That my ammonia levels are starting to rise?

My husband is rolling his eyes
He thinks I'm silly!

I just love my fishies!

Kimma

hmm ammonia levels can rise quickly in a cycling tank. just curious... do you have your tank salted? if not, you can try zeolite pouches. they look like white rocks, and they absorb ammonia. it helps to keep ammonia levels a little lower. however, if your tank is salted do not use zeolite unless you are going to slowly water change the salt out. salt releases the absorbed ammonia from zeolite rocks.

If your ammonia is .50 , whatever amount you take out and replace with fresh water, that is the amount your ammonia should drop.

Example, 1. in a 10 gallon actual water, not just tank size, take out 2.5 gallons = 25% your ammonia will drop down to .75.

I did 50% water changes sometimes twice a day when I was cycling my 30 gallons and it kept the prams in check and the cycle did not crash.

Also, to help keep the fish less stressed, you can use a water conditioner like Prime or Amquel Plus. These take out the chlorine and chloramines, so they are great for conditioning water before you add it to the tank (takes the place of things like Start Right or whatever you are using now), but they also help detoxify ammonia and nitrites from a cycling tank. They don't remove the ammonia or nitrites, but they change them so they are not so harmful to your fish. I prefer Prime myself, and you can buy a bottle that will last you ages for 7.99 or so. It is very concentrated so you don;t need to use much. If your nitrites get really high, you can also use salt (sea salt, aquarium salt or rock salt) to help with nitrite stress (1 teaspoon per gallon, making it a .01% solution, then add back salt for the amount of water you remove each time you change it). Of course, the most important thing is still water changes, but these things can make it a little easier on your fish.

I just went through all of this myself, and it was my first tme cycling a tank, so it is fresh in my mind! Good luck, and I hope you feel as accomplished as i did the first time I got my tank cycled! :-)

Just adding a few thoughts.

Hi Kimma, I can relate to you, we started our fishtanks 3 yrs ago, went through the cycling process. I am alot like you, LOVE my fishies (and kitties), I get into it all too, want them healthy and happy, and put alot of energy into testing, etc.

We have a 60 gallon tank here with 3- 5'6" fancies, we lost one girl last week, sadly, no signs of disease, she just died. my signature on this post gives the rest of our fish children. I am dealing with too low KH, and High Nitrates, and I am on a merry go round, mainly because the Aq Pharm test kit (we bought the Master kit too) is so hard to read the exact levels.. like you said.. the colors are TOO close together... ! and the master kit does not have the KH included like it used to...

SO... with water changes, we easily do 30% with ammonia showing up, sometimes more... I am doing water changes twice a week lately, it's getting tiring! to lower the Nitrates, we use Aqua Nova as the chlorine and chloramine remover/water conditioner as the water is flowing back into the tank, we use this big, long Python hose connected to our sink, it says it has a filter at the faucet, so, however good it really is...?

Our KH is rising, we are using baking soda to buffer it, but it goes up then down, the Nitrates go down with water changes, then back up again a few days later.. I'm a bit frustrated with the cycle so far...

I would stay with frequent water changes when ammonia is present, it helps cycle the tank...what temperature do you have the tank set at? we have ours at 76-78 normally.. if this helps you too.

Our PH is 7.2 -7.5 usually.

we use the Magnum Pro double biowheel filter, and have just put a 12" airstone in the tank bottom, I LOVE that addition! so do the fish, especially the orange and black Shubunkin, Colby.

hope we help you... this is a great place to come to share, get tips..

Lynn