Is My Cycle Ready To Add Fish?

[ptyson21]

NO3 < 10
NO2 = 0
GH between 3 and 6
KH = 3
pH = 6.8

I have used tetra test strips to find these results. I am planning on putting shelldwellers in the tank and understand the pH is too low. But could I add some of my fish from my community tank to see if the tank is set up? I will of course remove them when i get shelldwellers and will have to raise the pH.
Cheers
Paul

 

[rdd1952]

How long have you had the tank set up, what have you been doing to cycle it and what is your reading for ammonia? Strips are very inaccurate and the 5 in 1 strips don't test for ammonia which is the first toxin your tank will have in it from fish waste. As for the pH, it is fine. Most fish can easily adapt to any stable pH and most community fish prefer slightly acidic water.

 

[ptyson21]

How long have you had the tank set up, what have you been doing to cycle it and what is your reading for ammonia? Strips are very inaccurate and the 5 in 1 strips don't test for ammonia which is the first toxin your tank will have in it from fish waste. As for the pH, it is fine. Most fish can easily adapt to any stable pH and most community fish prefer slightly acidic water.

I will test the ammonia in the next day or so, busy at the mo. I have had it running for a week now, not gonna put shelldwellers in till i know they will be fine as they cost £7 a pop!!Have just looked in the tank there and there are fry in it!! They must have come from the water i tranferred from my community tank.

 

[rdd1952]

If you have only had the tank running with the filter for a week and haven't added an ammonia source then your tank is definitely not cycled and ready for fish. Without an ammonia source, there will never be nitrite as nitrite is the second part of the nitrifying cycle. Ammonia is tranformed into nitrite which is then transformed into nitrate. I imagine that if you test your tap water, you will get the exact same results for nitrite and nitrate as there shouldn't be any nitrate either unless it's in your tap water.

If you don't wait to add fish until you know they will be fine, you have a couple options. First, you can do a complete fishless cycle. Here is the link to the pinned topic on how to do it. If you don't want to go that route, you can clone the tank with the existing tank you have. Take part of the filter media from you running tank and add it to the filter of the new tank. There will be bacteria present to start processing the fish ammonia generated by the fish. Or you can try one of the cycling aid products that are considered to be good. The only one I'm aware of in the UK is something called Bactinettes. I've obviously never used it since I'm in the US but the word is that it works. Stay away from the bacteria in a bottle products like Stress Zyme, Cycle, etc. as they are pretty much useless.