Ten Gallon New Setup

As soon as I start reading ammonia I do a 30-70% water change. I don't want my son's fish to die again. Before I got the test kit I was doing 20% daily water change so the test kit is confirming that I was on the right track.
The PH thing has me stumped though. Apparently our tap water is very inconsistent. I have checked it 3 times and got 6.4, 7.2, and 6.6 so I guess it could have been a bit higher on a few water changes. But my last water change was a 6.6 70% tap water to a 30% 7.8 and it only pulled it down to 7.6 Something about that doesn't add up or am I wrong in assuming that PH would be calculated by a simple average?

I just rechecked PH this morning and the standard range test showed 7.6 and the high range showed 7.4 Does this mean I have 7.5 or is there a little inaccuracy at the end range of both test?

OldMan47 said:

Jokerrr, this is not your cycle thread. At over 0.25 ppm of ammonia, you need a major water change.

Click to expand...

Not trying to steal 4seasons' thread, I was just telling him about my similar experience...it's good to know some people go through the same "issues" that we have. Since i'm a few weeks ahead of him, I thought it'd be useful to tell him about what happened to me as he is likely to go through the same thing.

I have discovered that the PH of my tap water is very inconsistent. If I check the tap first thing in the morning it is 6.6 - 7.0 By mid afternoon it has dropped to 6.0 then by late evening it is back up to 7.2- 7.6 This is right in the middle of town. But the water out at the farm is running 7.8 - 8.4 (same county water supplier.) I have read that you don't want drastic PH changes as the fish will suffer and that for cycling low PH can stall the process. The tank is currently running 7.2. If I do a 50% water change when the tap PH is 6.0 would that hurt the fish or stall the cycle, or should I use a little baking soda to pull the PH back up before adding the water? Does anyone else have this problem with their water or is it really a problem? I know that our water supply is not the greatest as we get a letter in the mail every year that says something along the lines of:
The Federal Government requires us to notify you that the water we charge you for is below federal standards and isn't good for you. We are not going to change it or make it better but we may increase your rates. Consider yourself notified that your water is poisoned. Thank you for your business.

lol, that sounds like a good deal... poor water quality will stay poor, but rates might go up. Sounds like govt services in Quebec... we'll make you pay more for the same old crappy services you'll never ever want to use.

That PH issue in your tap water is pretty weird though... wonder if a R/O unit could fix this... don't know much about those things.

OK. Just think about what your water department is doing. In order to minimize the lead in old lead pipes being dissolved by tap water and becoming a drinking water problem, many water treatment facilities add things to raise the pH. When almost no water is used over the night, the water just lays in the pipes and starts to revert to its natural low pH. When everyone gets up in the morning and starts using water, the chemical treatment that was added starts to show up in your home's tap water as it gets carried along by the water flow in the pipes. During the day, people all go off to work so again the water flow slows a lot and the pH reverts. When all come home and start working on supper, taking showers, etc., the flows again pick up and the treatment again shows up at your home. Normal water treatment systems with primarily residential users and a naturally low pH will follow your pH pattern.

Whoooooooooooo Hooooooooooooo!
I finally am showing some nitrites.

This reading came after 2 days with no water change. Ammonia looking good, my eyes tell me little less than .25ppm nitrite, (maybe .15-.2) and just a bit of nitrate. This is also the first nitrate reading I have seen but really havn't been testing for it much since I have been doing 30-60% daily water changes to clear the ammonia. So now that I am reading some nitrites after 5 weeks the cycle is what? 1/3 complete? 1/2 way there? Or since some nitrates are showing as well am I almost there and just need a week or two for the nitrating bacteria to catch up to the nitriting bacteria?

Well done It's hard to say how far through it you are but you're definitely getting there! When you have a few days of 0 ammonia 0 nitrite you know you're done

After doing a water change and waiting overnight I checked the readings again. No ammonia and .25ppm nitrite.
But then I noticed something else.

Just above Spongebob's head and the treasure chest that brown leaf.
I have a couple of plants that have a leave or 2 that look like this. The rest of the plant looks healthy, just a couple of leaves doing this. Do I need to remove these leaves? I have heard that dieing plants give off toxins, how much and what kind? Could my nitrites be coming from dead leaves rather than my cycle starting? (or nearing completion)
Please tell me this is unrelated to my nitrites!

I believe dead leaves produce ammonia, not nitrite... so you're on the right path

Have some curious results from the last week. On the 11th I get my first reading of nitrites. Did a water change to get them down to undetectable levels, and checked again the next day. On the 12 the nitrites were back to .25ppm and no ammonia so I figure I am fighting the nitrite spike, do a large water change again. On the 13th I get a reading between .25 and .5ppm of nitrite so I do a darn near 100% water change (just a little water left in the filter and gravel) and I figure I will be doing this for the next few days to keep the nitrite in check. 14th I get a 0 reading on ammonia and nitrite, figure the 100% water change must have done a huge blow and do no water change. 15th again 0-0 reading. Same on the 16th so I check the nitrates as well, figure the nitrogen must be going somewhere. Looked between 5 and 10 ppm so I figure I must be getting a good colony of nitrite eating bacteria growing. I check yesterday and get another 0-0 reading so I think my cycle is starting to finish. So today I do a full check and this is what I see:

Looks like zeroes across to board to me.
Then I get to thinking about the silent cycle or a heavy planted tank. Now we have no nitrates in the tap water here so a large water change will drop them but I have not done any water change for 5 days. Now 2 days ago I got a reading on nitrate so the only thing I can figure is my plants are eating them. Now I have added no plants to this tank in the last 2 weeks although they are getting a bit bigger than they were only a week ago. I have only done a little reading on planted tanks and thought that the plants didn't care what form the nitrogen was in. They would eat ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate but it seems like these plants waited until I got nitrate to start eating it. Now I know a single betta in a 10 gallon tank isn't going to make a ton of ammonia so maybe these few plants can handle it but it seems odd that I am just reading it now. Here is a current pic of the plant growth:

Sorry for the bad reflection but you get the idea of the size and amount of plants in the tank. Does anyone think that the plants are eating all the nitrogen? Is it time for more fish? I'm not in a rush to put more fish in right now, just wondering if the plants would handle it or if it would start a "mini-cycle."

One Betta in a ten gallon with several plants...perfectly possible.

Monitor the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate for the next few days to make sure.

I went over 2 months without any nitrate readings... I never really had a nitrite spike and I had 3 WCMM's. Once I had those zero's across the board, I went ahead and bought 3 more wcmm's. 1-2 week2 later, I had close to a 5ppm nitrate reading. I didn't even have plants at the time either.

So I would simply keep on monitoring every couple days for a week or 2 and if the ammonia and nitrite stay at zero, you are cycled imo!

Well I guess the plants aren't doing everything yet. Had a .25ppm nitrite reading yesterday so did a water change to get it back down. Seems odd that it took almost a week to show some nitrites again though.

If you have a single betta it does not surprise me that it could take a week for nitrites to show up. The only thing driving your cycle is the input of ammonia. With nothing but a single betta that process could be rather slow. Relax, as much as you can, and just test and be guided by your testing.

We just spent the weekend moving and now I seem to be fighting the nitrite spike again. All the filter media, gravel and plants were transported submerged in old tank water. But I guess just disturbing everything has killed off some bacteria because Friday when it was set up I had all zeroes. Saturday had .25ppm nitrite so did a water change. Sunday got a .5ppm spike in nitrite so big water change. This morning had another .25ppm nitrite but had 20ppm nitrate as well so I think that nitrite eating bacteria is making a comeback now. Hopefully I can report a fully cycled tank in another week or 2. I just feel like I was so close and now have to start checking every day again.