Ammonia is at ~1.5 mg/l

[TheShocker]

The color looks to be between the .25 mg/l and 1.5 mg/l colors on my chart, but closer to the 1.5 mg/l mark. Is that pretty bad? I've been doing a gallon water change each day which comes out to be a weekly 35% water change. I've had the tank set-up for about 3 weeks, and the fish were in a smaller tank prior to moving into the 20 gallon for around the same amount of time. I switched the gravel to the 20 gallon when I moved them over. The small tank didnt have a filter.

Just tested for nitrite... nitrite is 3.3 or above... not good.

I'm going to go to a water change and see if my LFS can give me a filter element from a mature tank to speed up the cycle.

 

[suemack]

it can take a while for the tank to cycle.....are your fish showing any signs of stress?

it would help if you could get hold of some seeded filter material......what sort of filter have you got on the tank?

keep up with the daily w/changes.....it will make the cycle take longer but will also lessen the stress to the fish......if they start to show any symptoms of being stressed you may need to increase the amount of water changed each day.

Things like bio-spira are not available here in NZ (we only have things like cycle) but have heard that they can make a difference.....hopefully the others will be able to advise you on that

sue

 

[Dragonslair]

The levels of Ammonia is not serious, but does need attention. The levels of nitrite is high. What this shows me is that your tank is still quite immature. You have too many fish to support an immature tank at this moment in time. To alleviate the distress that you are causing to the fish, what I qould recommend is to invest in some Nitra-zorb and some ammo-rocks or ammo-carb. granules. These will absorb the harmful substances and allow your tank to fully mature without you having to constantly do a water change. This in itself does not help the cycling process.

 

[TheShocker]

Ok I did a ~35% water change. The fish look great and seem to be doing fine. My Blood Parrot is actually getting adopted by my LFS because I want him to be able to live in a larger, more mature tank. They have no problem selling them so he will go to a better home than mine I'm sure. The danios are hardy, and with only 2 I don't think overpopulation is going to be a problem. I guess I will let time telll!

Oh, where online can I buy bio-spira?

Thanks!

-Seth

 

[TheShocker]

it would help if you could get hold of some seeded filter material......what sort of filter have you got on the tank?

It's a power-filter (hang on back) made by Top Fin. It's doing a good job of filtering so far. I asked my LFS if they could give me a filter from a mature tank, but they use a really huge filtration system and it wouldn't really be possible for them to give me anything like that.

Should I try bio-spira?

 

[tstenback]

The main thing is the fish and if they are not showing any signs of stress right now then just keep doing what you are doing. the ammonia level should be kept around 1ppm with most fish but i have seen those zebras swimming like crazy in levels over 4 so it may not affect them as much as it might other fish. The niTRITESwill stay high for a while and then in the space of hours drop like a rock to 0ppm. I would watch the niTRITE level as it can really hurt your fish try and keep it down if you can. The regular daily water change may slow the cycle some but at the stage you are in right now it should not affect the time very much at all.
Some signs of niTRITE problems are gasping for air, very deep red around the gills or laying on the bottom. HTH