Cycling With Prawns Help!

[bubble87]

i have a 180 litre tank
its been running for 2 weeks today.
i have always cycled with prawns so i have decided to with this tank.
anyway, when i first set it up i put about 5 small prawns in the end of a pair of tights as these help stop the rotting prawn making a mess in the tank.i peg it to the side of the tank and lower it half way down near to the outlet pipe of my filter.
after 1 week there was no ammonia reading at all,as before when i have used prawns i always got a reading after 3 days.
so then i put a total of 12 small prawns in the bag and after 2 weeks there is still no ammonia reading.


for the last 2 weeks i have only tested ammonia and ph but i just tested all of them and i have noticed the nitrate is at 10 why??? whats going on??

ammonia- 0
nitrite - 0
nitrate - 10
ph - 7.4 - 7.6

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

The prawns were alive when you put them in the tights?

 

[bubble87]

no they were frozen lol

please real answers and help if poss

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

If the temp i snot that high anyway, try turning the stat to 28 or 29C, which which help accelerate the rotting process

 

[bubble87]

i didnt state the temp buts its at 25
also why do i have a nitrate reading?

 

[benjoey]

is the nitrate the same as ur tap water or higher?

 

[bubble87]

how can i tell that im going by the api liquid test chart

 

[ajs2294]

how can i tell that im going by the api liquid test chart

Test a sample of your tap water. In the nitrogen cycle ammonia becomes nitrite which becomes nitrate all part of your cycle

 

[bubble87]

yes i know all about the cycle just didnt know why i had a nitrate reading before an ammonia reading?

 

[Essjay]

Tapwater often contains nitrate. In the UK, regulations allow as much as 50ppm in drinking water. You should always measure the amount of nitrate in your tapwater and subtract that reading from the tank reading.
Unless you are using RO water of course.

 

[Curiosity101]

Just out of interest...do you have any other tanks running? If you do you could always seed this tank from one of your others (taking half the filter media from a cycled tank), and put a very light stocking of fish into the 180.

 

[bubble87]

just tested the nitrate in my tap water and the results are 0 so why do i still have a result of 10 in the tank?
surley it cant of cycled in 2 weeks?
i dont have any other tanks

 

[Curiosity101]

Perhaps it has cycled in two weeks. It's rare, but it's happened before *shrugs*. Keep an eye on it for another week. If the nitrates in the tank have risen again then you'll have your answer.
You may be out buying fish by as early as the coming weekend

I'm sure you already know this but be careful how many fish you add in one go. 180l is a large volume but you don't know how much ammonia the prawns are leeching (hence why we suggest household ammonia instead). So air on the side of caution when beginning to stock, fish are always easier to add than remove.

 

[bubble87]

well i wanted to add neon tetras first so i will test the water everyother day and and at the weekend buy some neons.how many do you reccomend i buy?
eventually in time i want a total of 12.

 

[Curiosity101]

There is no sense in testing the water every day for nitrates. The colour scale is ambiguous enough is it is. Fair enough if you're testing for ammonia... but just wait till friday for the nitrates.

I personally wouldn't put neons in first into any tank...what else are you wanting to stock it with? If there are other more suitable alternatives I'd definitely avoid the neons.