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hello all, i once again need the help of the great minds.
I started my 20g a little over a week ago, i put five zebra danios and three black neons to cycle the tank with. I also put water from my 55g and a used filter in there. I also put some plants in there, some amazon sword and a plant that i can not identify. I have been taking my daily readings, my ammonia spiked a little bit in the first week, but now it is going down and my nitrites are going up. How should i interpert this? i know that adding the used filter, water, and the plants will affect the cycling. would you say that my tank is almost done cycling. it is done cycling when the nitrates go up and all the ammonia and nitrites read zero right? All info and opinions are greatly appreciated.


thank you

"The Earth is God's Fish Tank"

$ilver dollar,

You are correct. Your tank will be done cycling after the ammonia and nitrites read zero and you should see some nitrates. Have you tested for Nitrates yet? Adding in the filter and other items should help to speed up the cycle.
Just an FYI...be sure not to add too many fish after the cycling is done so that your ammonia doesn't spike again. If you want to add more fish, be sure to add them in slowly.

Enjoy your new tank!

Once the water parmeters are stable and the ammonia and nitrites are zero its should be done cycling. The bacterial colony might still be a little low so add fish slowly and i wouldnt add anything sensitive yet.

To make sure you have a good bacteria going I would add the Sera Nitrivec. I have been using it for several years and always add it when doing the weekly water change.

SERA NITRIVEC

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Keith

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To add to this thread... I have been working on cycling my 20 gal for nearly 4 weeks now. My ammonia had read up as high as 3 ppm but that was with test strips. When I began with the liquids it reads .5ppm steady. I have never had a nitrite reading. I've had to treat for Ich, done a few 25% WC, and have been using a LFS manufactured "bio-boost" to help cycle the tank.

What could be keeping the amm from climbing high enough to start the nitrites? Is it possible that the tank cycled very quicklyin thei first week and I missed it due to poor testing? I have had Tiger Barbs in there since day 2. The LFS said they would be good to cycle with. Perhaps it just happens to be going slowly? My pH has been steady at 8 and 8.2 nitrates been at 5ppm the temp has run between 76 and 82 degrees due to the Ich treatments.
Thanks!

If you have testable ammonia you have enough to make nitrites. There is no minimum. If you are getting nitrates and you haven't added water from another tank then you finished the cycle or at least close to finished the cycle. You may have had tiny amounts of ammonia and nitrites left that just weren't done being converted. However you then added ich meds and 4 more fish. This has probably put you in a minicycle. A minicycle happens when a cycled tank is overloaded or the bacteria is damaged. There is still some bacteria that convert ammonia to nitrites and some that convert the nitrites to nitrates but not enough of them. Everytime you add fish you risk causing a minicycle which is why you make sure the tank is fully cycled and then I suggest only adding an equivalent or smaller amount of bioload. For example if you had 2 tiger barbs at the end of the cycle you should only add 1-2 more tiger barbs and then wait 5-7days to see if there's a minicycle. You'll see small spikes in ammonia and nitrites while the nitrates continue to go up. Just handle these the same as a cycle. Test frequently and do water changes as needed. When it's done then you can add more fish again and continue until the tank is cycled. Minicycles generally resolve themselves in less than a week with very small spikes unless you really overloaded the tank.

Thanks Sham... The only reason I went with that many Tiger Barbs was to fill out the shoal. When I had 4, they were constantly nipping and fighting. They play much more nicely now lol.

I am finding out that it's tough to balance water chem, disease and correct stocking lol.

I do test regularly so that's good... I'll do another 25% WC after the third day of Ich per direction. I am sure they will be fine. I just thought it was odd to never have seen any nitrites show up and have this low constant amm. So, I guess I have been rpetty much cycled all aong, just disrupting the balance a bit with the addition of fish and the Ich meds...

Here's my log: [link]http://www.fishprofiles.com/logbooks/tanks.aspx?uid=15467&tank=223 [/link]

an update... I finally got a reading for nitrites! So, I am in the next phase of my cycling or as sham has suggested, my mini-cycle... That .5ppm reading I took today is the first sign of nitrites I have had in 4 weeks.