starlyte Posted November 19, 2005 Report Share Posted November 19, 2005 I probably should have just replied to the other thread... but oh well, here goes The cycling appears to be happening - yay I did tests on the 15th Nov and just today (19th) ammonia was 4.0 - today its 1.0 Nitrite was 0.5 now it is 5.0 Nitrate was 0 now it is 5 Ive put in some 'cycle' to make the nitrites less toxic for the fish One question though, When i bought the tank it was a kit so it came with a couple of small bottles, One of them though is called 'waste control - waste eliminator' made by nutrafin There is no real information on the bottle, but its quite obvious what it does... It was only a tiny bottle and ive used it all but im wondering, Do i even need to buy more? What are other methods of waste control, Shouldnt the cycling be converting all the waste? Also, I went to the pet shop today to get more fish food, I got Nutrafin spirulina algae tablets - sinking tablets and nutrafin complete pellet food - floating tablets, are these better then just flakes? I was going to get some frozen bloodworms also but at the time i was not going to be home for quite some time so i left it, do i need them, or do i have enough food variety? Thanks in advance for your comments!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livebearer_breeder Posted November 19, 2005 Report Share Posted November 19, 2005 I hope with those readings you don’t have fish, because your tank has clearly not finished its cycle stage. Could we have some details on stocking if any, please? DO NOT use Chemicals to try stabilise a new tank, Your just going to make it worse and/or cause the cycle period to take a lot longer. Remember that over feeding causes many issues in the stability of your parameters, IF you are feeding then reduce the amount for a while. If you are going to use Frozen Bloodworms, remember that if you do not thaw out the small blocks first, it will increase phosphate, and cause algae blooms etc. Regards Shae Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustcooktea Posted November 19, 2005 Report Share Posted November 19, 2005 Hi Starlyte How are your fish doing? It does look like your tank is in the middle of cycling. Is the nitrIte reading of 5.0 correct? I have just looked at my test kit and it only goes up to 3.3 - perhaps you meant 0.5? Fish will suffer with a level over 1.0 and you will need to dilute it with water changes. Hopefully it won't be long now and your tank will be cycled. You won't need any more 'waste-control'. The nitrate cycle and water changes will take care of that. MCT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starlyte Posted November 19, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 19, 2005 Hello i do have fish, I bought the tank and ran it with no fish for 10 days or so then got some fish 6x glowlight tetras 2x gourami 1x algae eater The fish are doing fine, i have not noticed them doing any different since they got there, the tetras always stay together, the algae eater is overly active and speedy, the gouramis dont appear to like each other, right from the start they have seperated themselves and stay on thier end of the tank... they sometimes join up in the middle, but ive never seen them on opposite sides though! Ive used Aqua plus when i first put the water in the tank, Then again when i did a water change (25%), The tank came with a bottle of 'cycle' which is the same as 'prime' i think The pet store said to use cycle to help move along the cycle and apparently it helps detoxify the nitites and amonia I have not use any other chemicals... as for the results of the nitrite, My test for nitrite goes from 0 to 5, but it jumps up to 5 fast, ie 0, 0.25. 0.50, 1, 2, 5 The manual that came with the test kit (freshwater master test kit) says that during the cycle the amonia can spike up to 4 then go down and the nitrites can spike up to 5 and then go down... It was a bit of a tough decision between 2 and 5 as it almost looked like it was 2.. so it could be between 2 and 5... Im going to do a water change tomorrow, its been a week since ive done the last one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted November 19, 2005 Report Share Posted November 19, 2005 I doesn't matter realy what the results are, the nitrogen is being oxidized to nitrate during the cycling process and that process is not complete yet. Your tank is a living thing and living things develop at different rates. Time should cure all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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