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new tank cycle


edress714

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Alright guys thst got back from myrtle beach. Checked the water before I left and had all 3 ammonia nitrite and nitrate. 5 days later and now I have no ammonia, really high nitrites and moderate nitrates. I was reading online that you shouldn't do any water changes until all 3 are at 0. Is this correct? It'll be 3 weeks tomorrow for the cycle. Am I almost there?

 

Once the bacteria that eats the nitrites and leaves nitrates and sets the nitrites to 0, how does the nitrates go to 0? TIA

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Your cycle is usually complete once you stop detecting both ammonia and nitrite. Nitrate is the last of the cycle and that will not turn to zero by itself like NH3 or NO2. In this particular instance, that's where water changes come in. So to reiterate, at the tail end of the cycling process, you should get zero on ammonia and nitrite and a relatively high number for nitrate. Once that happens, you can do a large water change to bring that down.

 

You should continue to add some ammonia source and test after that just to be sure your tank is fully cycled. Then you can try to add some snails and a short time later, you can probably add your first fish. Stock slow and allow your tanks bacteria levels to catch up in order to avoid a mini cycle.

 

Have fun!

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Well me being a noob and taking advice from petco. I have two damsels, a clown, and like 12 snails. It's a 55 gallon with live rock. Water actually looks a little cloudy.

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Aside from rehoming your livestock, you need to do water changes when you get elevated NH3 or NO2. NO3, unless super high, is not harmful. The live rock will help speed up your cycle or maybe provide enough of the beneficial bacteria to keep your tank from crashing.

 

That said, the cloudyness is not good. I'd do a large water change or so to get the NO2 down.

 

Are you fish showing signs of stress? They are hardy fish and have been known to get through periods like this. Fishless cycle is key though. Sorry you got bad advice.

 

Edit..You can add products like Amquel or Ammolock and a few others that temporarily bind the NH3 or NO2 as well. People use those products when QTing in a tank that hasn't been cycled.

Edited by howaboutme
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A few things.

 

First, I am wondering why you had such a strong cycle if you had live rock.  The benefit of live rock is that it is your biological filter.  Done right, biological filtration can be established immediately.  Was the rock uncured or dry when you added it?

 

Second, nitrite is not going to be a problem for the fish.  It is deadly to freshwater fish, but transporter that carries it into the fish is swamped by high levels of chloride in seawater.  They will not notice it.  It is, however, an indicator that you are partway through the cycle and the tank is not stable and should not really have livestock in it.  I expect it will probably be a few weeks before it settles down completely.

 

I agree that fishless cycling is the way to go, but the horse is out of the barn.  Just keep an eye on everyone.  

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The rocks were not live sorry. I keep saying live rock. They were life at one point. They were out of water for many days. Same with the sand. Were given to me from a friend so I used them in the tank. I did a measurement today after 48 hours after a water change. Nitrites are at 5.0 and nitrates are at 20. No ammonia.

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Nitrites are gone!!!!!!!! Nitrates are at 20. This is exciting!!! I'm going to check again in tomorrow and if all is well I will do my weekly water change. Then check again in 48 hours after the change and then if all is well with that add another fish!! Woohoo!!!

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Really try to give it a few more than 2 days...jumping in and adding another fish can flip everything back out...give it a little more time to catch up to everything you've done...

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Yea I wasn't going to maybe for another week or so. Still getting the canopy made. Just got my evergrows. How do I attach a pic?

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Check on those snails. They are much more sensitive to the nitrite than the fish. If a few died they may be starting to decay somewhere and your water may get foul fast. Did the cloudiness go away?

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