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Is my tank cycled ?

Emma and the angelfishes

Emma and the angelfishes

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I have recently got a 25L aquarium (around5.5 gallons) and I set it up and filled it with water on Sunday I put in some fish food a tiny bit of my established tanks water and one or two handfuls of gravel that has been in an established aquarium for almost a year the aquarium has been running for about 4 days and I’m just wondering if it will be ready for fish and plants this Saturday (in two days) and aswell how can I make my pH higher as I was hoping to keep a Betta they like pH around 7 though here is the results from the test

pH :less than 6.4
Nitrite :0ppm
Nitrate : 25-50ppm
Carbonate Hardness : 3-6
Ammonia :around 3ppm
 

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Here is a pic of the tank unfortunately I had to put in a young blue gourami on Sunday ( the day after putting water in )I know this is very bad but it was going to kill another fish in my 200L the gourami will be moved from this tank back to the 200L ASAP probably today I did put in a few handfuls of gravel from my 200L to hopefully help out a little so it’s less harmful to the gourami if the gourami continues to be aggressive I will have to rehome it
 

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Do a 80% water change now to keep from killing the fish. You are not cycled until you have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and are showing nitrates. Do you have a liquid test kit? You need one. Please don’t add any fish. A betta is all you can add to that size but only after the tank is cycled. I would suggest getting some Safe Start+ bottled bacteria to help kick start the cycle. You can also add more used gravel and some filter media if you have any extra. It could take a week or so more to cycle but with more used media it probably won’t. :) Edit
 
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Deanasue said:
Do a 80% water change now to keep from killing the fish. You are not cycled until you have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and are showing nitrates. Do you have a liquid test kit? You need one. Please don’t add any fish. A betta is all you can add to that size but only after the tank is cycled.
Click to expand...
Thank you I was thinking about only a Betta anyways no I don’t have a liquid test kit but I am going to get one as I now have 3 aquariums I’m doing a water change now will adding more established gravel help or not ?
 
Yes, I edited my post above. If you move the gourami out you will need a source of ammonia. You can add a few flakes of fish food to do this.
 
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GH is the important one rather than KH. Looking at the photo of the test strip, your GH is round about 6. The top one of the 3 squares has a hint of purple at the edge of the blue-green but not enough to call it partially coloured. That's perfect for a betta.
 
Deanasue said:
Yes, I edited my post above. If you move the gourami out you will need a source of ammonia. You can add a few flakes of fish food to do this.
Click to expand...
Thank you I have now done the 80% water change it is so much easier than my 200L I have different filters otherwise I would have already put in some filter media I will add more gravel and will definitely have a look at buying some “bacteria in a bottle” as u think that will help a lot thanks :)
 
essjay said:
GH is the important one rather than KH. Looking at the photo of the test strip, your GH is round about 6. The top one of the 3 squares has a hint of purple at the edge of the blue-green but not enough to call it partially coloured. That's perfect for a betta.
Click to expand...
Oh thank you I’m glad to know that I won’t have to change my water GH and KH around and the Betta will be happy I’m assuming that will be ok for plants then aswell :)
 
Deanasue said:
Do a 80% water change now to keep from killing the fish. You are not cycled until you have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and are showing nitrates. Do you have a liquid test kit? You need one. Please don’t add any fish. A betta is all you can add to that size but only after the tank is cycled. I would suggest getting some Safe Start+ bottled bacteria to help kick start the cycle. You can also add more used gravel and some filter media if you have any extra. It could take a week or so more to cycle but with more used media it probably won’t. :) Edit
Click to expand...
A master test kit is quite expensive is there anything similar to one but cheaper ?
 
Emma and the angelfishes said:
A master test kit is quite expensive is there anything similar to one but cheaper ?
Click to expand...

The API master freshwater test kit usually is around £26-£28 from Amazon for example. And is a proven accurate test as long as the instructions are followed really well.

Thats for 800 tests, ammonia, nitrite, nitrates as well as pH tests.

It’s pretty good value actually.

The dip strip kit is about £15 and that’s for 25 tests and the ammonia tests are separate so that’s extra cost.

So the API master kit is much cheaper than the test dip strip kits in the long run.

There are other test kits but I cannot comment on the accuracy and costs of those kits as I’ve not used them before.
 
Ch4rlie said:
The API master freshwater test kit usually is around £26-£28 from Amazon for example. And is a proven accurate test as long as the instructions are followed really well.

Thats for 800 tests, ammonia, nitrite, nitrates as well as pH tests.

It’s pretty good value actually.

The dip strip kit is about £15 and that’s for 25 tests and the ammonia tests are separate so that’s extra cost.

So the API master kit is much cheaper than the test dip strip kits in the long run.

There are other test kits but I cannot comment on the accuracy and costs of those kits as I’ve not used them before.
Click to expand...
Ok that makes me feel better about investing in a liquid test kit I think I will after hearing that thank you
 
Deanasue said:
Do a 80% water change now to keep from killing the fish. You are not cycled until you have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and are showing nitrates. Do you have a liquid test kit? You need one. Please don’t add any fish. A betta is all you can add to that size but only after the tank is cycled. I would suggest getting some Safe Start+ bottled bacteria to help kick start the cycle. You can also add more used gravel and some filter media if you have any extra. It could take a week or so more to cycle but with more used media it probably won’t. :) Edit
Click to expand...
Is this the right stuff if so when I add it in how long will I have to wait before adding fish or is it just until ammonia reaches 0 if so how long approximately will that take ?
 
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