Aquarium Salt

[sfromsf]

With nitrites at 0.25 ppm, a water change should be done. You want to keep levels below 0.25 ppm and not be starting at that level.

No question about it, I did a water and have been doing them regularly. I've managed the Nitrite with water changes, what hasn't increased thought is the nitrate. I keep expecting to see higher levels but it has been staying constant for about a week now. Normal?

 

[sfromsf]

after an hour and a half after a 40% water change the readings are

ammonia - 0 ppm
nitrate - 5 ppm (unchanged)
nitrite very light blue - 0 ppm

not sure if this is a good thing or not...

 

[waterdrop]

That's a good thing. It will give you more time before it gets back to approaching 0.25ppm.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[sfromsf]

after an hour and a half after a 40% water change the readings are

ammonia - 0 ppm
nitrate - 5 ppm (unchanged)
nitrite very light blue - 0 ppm

not sure if this is a good thing or not...

As of this morning there are no changes... the "fish-in" cycle guide states that once levels of ammonia and nitrite are at zero you can add a couple of fish, never to double the fish (in inches) that are already in...

well, how long should the levels be at zero before adding additional stock?

 

[OldMan47]

Give it a week with no water changes and see how you are doing. If the whole week goes by and you don't see any ammonia or nitrites, you should be safe to increase the stocking levels somewhat. Depending on how many fish are already in the tank, try to make each step much less than 50% of what you have. Of course if you only have 1 fish, that would be a bit hard to accomplish.

 

[discus_lover]

now your tank is cycled..and now you can add fish in your tank...

 

[waterdrop]

Agree with OM47. You always want to watch your morning and evening ammonia and nitrite liquid tests and confirm that there are no traces of either showing up for the week while you are not doing any water changes. It takes about this much to confirm that the two bacterial colonies are up to the job.

~~waterdrop~~