cycling?

[sarah-j]

Hi, I bought a tank about two weeks ago and its a 68 litre tank thats 13.8 gallons. Anyway, we got the tank from Fluval with a fluval filter, aqua clear filter, etc and we set it up according to the instructions adding the dechlorinator and then bacteria from the bottle. We had high ammonia and then no ammonia. We tested for Nitrites and everything seemed as it should be the ammonia was sitting at zero ppm and we had no nitrtites as we were told we shouldn't have any traces of ammonia or nitrites. We added tetra neons which we still have. However since we have added more fish the ammonia level has increased over the past two days and we have lost 4 fish. Three pregnant guppies and a swordtail. I was wondering if we had cycled properly as I was a bit confused about fishless cycling and cycling with fish?

 

[gadazobe]

I don't quite understand where the first reading of ammonia came from - did you add ammonia to start a fishless cycle?

 

[WILDER]

If the lfs told you to use nutrafin benefical bacteria, it means you add it to the tank when you start it helps to build the bacteria colony up faster, but it won't instantly cycle your tank, you add it at every water change, but you still have to go throw the cycle procedure.

 

[ajhainey]

If you followed the instruction in the tank pack (i have the same tank i think) then you have either not cycled at all yet and are currently 'fish' cycling or may have cycled with the neons and now be in the 'add more fish slowly and mini-cycle repeatedly...the 'cycle' bottled bacteria you get is just to help with fish-cycling.

However let us know exctly what you did as thats just a guess! As a basic guide if you have high ammonia and no other readings OR no readings at all you are definately uncycled. When you see nitRITES you are beginning to cycle. When you see nitRATES you are mostly cycled. With fish cycling (which I think you have done) you then have to continue to add fish very slowly - maybe you just added too many at once.

Whats your current ammonia/nitrite readings? You probably need to water-change to bring them down to help stabilise the tank and keep the remaining fishies alive. Neons are not know for their tolerance of bad water....

aj xx

 

[sarah-j]

My tank is starting to cycle as my nitrites have went up a few points. How high does it go. I have done a fish cycle without realising. Its my fiance's fault he wanted to add fish. I also have nitrate reading now. When my nitrites go up is my ammonia meant to come down because it has started to? I am going to do a partial water change is it 25%. My neons are doing really well suprisingly, They are the original fish I put in and they swim about looking healthy there are no signs of white spot or anything.

 

[ajhainey]

I'm sure there's a sticky on this at the top but basically as nitrite goes up ammonia should come down, as nitrate goes up nitrite should go down. These two facts then work together to give you various readings as you cycle. As long as you are seeing all three and nitRATE is increasing and the ammonia is falling you are doing ok, the nitrite fluctuates quite a bit depending on how the two types on bacteria are doing...

I did a fish cycle too with neons (same tank, same instructions, same lack of background reading ) so heres a bit of practical advice

If you have an accurate test kit then anything UNDER the following is reasonable - above these markers think about increased water changes to dilute them again. I was doing up to 50% a day at one point.

Ammonia 1ppm
Nitrite 2ppm
Nitrate 80ppm? (I know its not ideal over 40ppm but in real life plenty of fish cope fine)
<its been a while - if my numbers are wrong feel free to correct me someone!>

With fish cycling its important to wait for 0 ammonia and near 0 nitrite before adding the next fish - and ideally don't add more than about 20% of the current stocking level (in inches) or you overload the tank bacteria and you get a mini cycle. So if you have 5 neons and good readings(i.e no ammonia/nitirite) - you could add another 1 or possibly 2 small fishies. Between each addition remeber to wait for readings to stabilise again - and at least 2-3days regardless of readings.

I lost all my original neons bar 1, but the ones I have now are very hardy little beasts that have been going strong nearly a year so you may have just got a lucky hardy batch.

Good Luck!

aj xx