Has My Tank Cycled?

[New tropical gal]

Hi all

My new 100litre tank has been up and running for 4 weeks now. During this time I have had ammonia peaks (which subsequently declined) and nitrite peaks.

For the last two days I have received the following readings

- Ammonia: 0 ppm (mg/L)
- Nitrite: 0 ppm (mg/L)
- Nitrate: 5 ppm (mg/L)

Has my tank cycled OR should I wait a while longer since the above positive readings have only come about over the last two days?

Thanks for your help

 

[Assaye]

Looks cycled BUT always keep an eye on things. I'd never consider a tank cycled until I had several days of perfect readings in a row.

 

[waterdrop]

What concentration of household ammonia (5ppm?) are you squirting in when the ammonia level drops to zero each day or so? And how many hours is it taking for it to drop to zero?

~~waterdrop~~

 

[drobbyb]

It could be cycled already. To find out for sure, keep adding ammonia up to 4 or 5 ppm for another week and test. If the ammonia and nitrite both fall to 0 within 12 hours everyday, you can then say that it's cycled. The qualifying week will work out any bumps along the way. I know it's hard to be so close and you are ready to go to the LFS and get your fish, but it's best if you can be patient

 

[New tropical gal]

Hi all

Thanks for the prompt replies.

Well, I started the cycle fishless and added ammonia, however, the reason I bought my new 100litre tank was to rescue my fish from the terrible Biorb within which they sadly lived.

The Biorb was awful from day one. Unfortunatley, I bought the Biorb blindly (having never kept fish before) and quickly realised its inadequacies.

Two weeks into my new tank cycle the Biorb's water appeared to be seriously deteriorating. I was concerned for my fish and transferred them to the new tank. I'd like to point out that the Biorb only housed 3 small black fin tetras (I never puchased anything else because the Biorb couldn't cope).

So my 3 black fin tetras (& one small glass shrimp) have been living happily in my new tank for the last 2 weeks. During this time I've been very careful and have conducted daily water changes. I also have some live plants in there too which seem to be thriving (bright green + they've made roots).

So - from your comments, I see the consensus is to hangfire with the celebrations and check that my positive readings continue for a few more days?

Again, thanks for the advice

 

[IONMEL]

sorry to interrupt but i have a fish tank for about 4 months and i do once a month test for ammonia etc, how often should i check it to see if it cycled

 

[ajs2294]

sorry to interrupt but i have a fish tank for about 4 months and i do once a month test for ammonia etc, how often should i check it to see if it cycled

Ideally during a cycle should should check a minimum of once a day for fish-in cycle and daily for fish-less. After the cycle its up to you when you want to test water parameters but I'd say its best to do it once a week or so, or if you notice any problems or abnormal behavior

 

[IONMEL]

sorry to interrupt but i have a fish tank for about 4 months and i do once a month test for ammonia etc, how often should i check it to see if it cycled

Ideally during a cycle should should check a minimum of once a day for fish-in cycle and daily for fish-less. After the cycle its up to you when you want to test water parameters but I'd say its best to do it once a week or so, or if you notice any problems or abnormal behavior

i changed my water about a week ago and its cloudy already, i feed them just enough, im going to do the testest today but what else could that be

 

[ajs2294]

sorry to interrupt but i have a fish tank for about 4 months and i do once a month test for ammonia etc, how often should i check it to see if it cycled

Ideally during a cycle should should check a minimum of once a day for fish-in cycle and daily for fish-less. After the cycle its up to you when you want to test water parameters but I'd say its best to do it once a week or so, or if you notice any problems or abnormal behavior

i changed my water about a week ago and its cloudy already, i feed them just enough, im going to do the testest today but what else could that be

It could be any number of things. It would be best to check your filters and test your water and post the results (Nitrite, Nitrate, Ph, Ammonia) here on the forums so multiple people can give their opinions of the problem. Also are you using Liquid or strip test kits? Strip test kits are very unreliable and I would recommend getting a liquid test kit ASAP.

 

[IONMEL]

sorry to interrupt but i have a fish tank for about 4 months and i do once a month test for ammonia etc, how often should i check it to see if it cycled

Ideally during a cycle should should check a minimum of once a day for fish-in cycle and daily for fish-less. After the cycle its up to you when you want to test water parameters but I'd say its best to do it once a week or so, or if you notice any problems or abnormal behavior

i changed my water about a week ago and its cloudy already, i feed them just enough, im going to do the testest today but what else could that be

It could be any number of things. It would be best to check your filters and test your water and post the results (Nitrite, Nitrate, Ph, Ammonia) here on the forums so multiple people can give their opinions of the problem. Also are you using Liquid or strip test kits? Strip test kits are very unreliable and I would recommend getting a liquid test kit ASAP.

i use liquid test only, i get off work in a little i will post them up in a bit

 

[drobbyb]

Hi all

Thanks for the prompt replies.

Well, I started the cycle fishless and added ammonia, however, the reason I bought my new 100litre tank was to rescue my fish from the terrible Biorb within which they sadly lived.

The Biorb was awful from day one. Unfortunatley, I bought the Biorb blindly (having never kept fish before) and quickly realised its inadequacies.

Two weeks into my new tank cycle the Biorb's water appeared to be seriously deteriorating. I was concerned for my fish and transferred them to the new tank. I'd like to point out that the Biorb only housed 3 small black fin tetras (I never puchased anything else because the Biorb couldn't cope).

So my 3 black fin tetras (& one small glass shrimp) have been living happily in my new tank for the last 2 weeks. During this time I've been very careful and have conducted daily water changes. I also have some live plants in there too which seem to be thriving (bright green + they've made roots).

So - from your comments, I see the consensus is to hangfire with the celebrations and check that my positive readings continue for a few more days?

Again, thanks for the advice

Ahh ok! That changes things! Yes, just test the water on a regular basis over the course of the next week. Also, make sure you resume testing when you add more fish. This raises your bio-load and the new stock produces additional ammonia that your bacteria are not used to. I find that you if only increase your stocking in thirds, there seems to be little or no "extra" ammonia. What I mean by that is, if you have 10 fish and want to add more, do so in a third of the stocking in inches, in this example, about 3 inches of fish. Not everyone goes by this method of course and people do it different ways. I would rather play it safe. There's no reason to buy the same stock over and over due to losses from ammonia poisoning.

 

[waterdrop]

Actually, yes, you sound like you've exactly met our test, which for fish-in cycling is to get no trace of ammonia or nitrite for two days running, during which you do no water changes. The one outstanding question is whether you got those numbers by using a good liquid-reagent based test kit, but assuming you did then you could consider your tank cycled and just watch it for another week to make sure no more glitches show up and then add a few new fish if that's the plan.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[IONMEL]

i tested i got .50 to 1.0 ammonia
nitrite 0
nitrate 5.0 to 10.0

 

[New tropical gal]

Thanks Drobby & Enthusiatic re-beginner!

Yes, used an API Master Test kit to obtain my readings. Just checked my levels again with the following results

- Ammonia - 0ppm
- Nitrite - 0ppm
- Nitrate - 5ppm

Looks like everything is headed in the right direction

 

[drobbyb]

I'm glad! Isn't it great when a plan comes together?