Is my tank ready for more fish? Is it cycled?

[parfoo]

Hi

I have a 90L freshwater tank and been running for nearly 2 weeks. I recently put in 2 white finned tetras and ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are all showing zero. Had the fish about 2 days. I have about 5 live plants that are growing already. I added api quick start when starting the tank. I was ghost feeding for a week but nothing was happening so added two small tetras but still nothing. Do we think the live plants are doing the cycle. And do you think it’s safe to add a couple more tetras now or should I wait longer?

 

[AJ356]

Hi

I have a 90L freshwater tank and been running for nearly 2 weeks. I recently put in 2 white finned tetras and ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are all showing zero. Had the fish about 2 days. I have about 5 live plants that are growing already. I added api quick start when starting the tank. I was ghost feeding for a week but nothing was happening so added two small tetras but still nothing. Do we think the live plants are doing the cycle. And do you think it’s safe to add a couple more tetras now or should I wait longer?

Might be the plants that are consuming the ammonia, hence no nitrite and nitrate, as you suspect. Maybe a picture if the tank with the plants might help others here. What is the ghost feeding? You might need a priest for that issue? Or some kind of exorcism if that works on ghosts. Who you gonna call?

 

[parfoo]

This is tank. Two small tetras in it

 

[10 Tanks]

Hello. You can have a few small fish in 25 gallons of water. You just need to remove and replace half the tank water every three to four days. Always dose your water treatment and bacteria starter according to the instructions every time you change the water. You need to realize that you do have a small tank and you can't miss a water change or you put your fish at risk of getting sick from the nitrogen that builds up because of their waste dissolving in the tank water. Feed a little every other day and your fish will be fine. It would be wise to consider a larger tank. One at least 30 to 40 gallons. 55 gallons (over 200 liters) is really the best in my opinion. The more water, the better your chances of success in this hobby.

10

 

[parfoo]

Hello. You can have a few small fish in 25 gallons of water. You just need to remove and replace half the tank water every three to four days. Always dose your water treatment and bacteria starter according to the instructions every time you change the water. You need to realize that you do have a small tank and you can't miss a water change or you put your fish at risk of getting sick from the nitrogen that builds up because of their waste dissolving in the tank water. Feed a little every other day and your fish will be fine. It would be wise to consider a larger tank. One at least 30 to 40 gallons. 55 gallons (over 200 liters) is really the best in my opinion. The more water, the better your chances of success in this hobby.

10

Thanks for that.

Do you know why I’m not seeing any ammonia nitrite or nitrate? I was ghost feeding the tank every day for a week and never saw ammonia nitrite nitrate raise . Quick start was added. I do have a few live plants in tank. But I have 2 small white finned tetras for 2 days and still not seeing any rise in ammonia nitrite or nitrate

 

[10 Tanks]

Hello again. If you perform your water changes as I said before, you won't see traces of ammonia or nitrite, because you have removed these toxins by changing out the polluted water. The water change removes toxins before they ever build up to the point your fish are affected. You also have the benefit of liquid bacteria you're putting into the tank water. Aquatic plants don't have much affect on water toxins, their roots and leaves are too small. They're just using a few nutrients from the water. The water change will replace nutrients the fish and plants use every day.

10

 

[parfoo]

Hello again. If you perform your water changes as I said before, you won't see traces of ammonia or nitrite, because you have removed these toxins by changing out the polluted water. The water change removes toxins before they ever build up to the point your fish are affected. You also have the benefit of liquid bacteria you're putting into the tank water. Aquatic plants don't have much affect on water toxins, their roots and leaves are too small. They're just using a few nutrients from the water. The water change will replace nutrients the fish and plants use every day.

10

Hi

Thanks

Yes I understand that however I’m just wondering why no ammonia nitrite or nitrate have shown even when I was ghost feeding and now that I have two fish in there. I have only done one water change and that was before I got the fish. Hope that makes sense. I’m just wondering if I could add a couple more tetras yet as I know they like to be in groups

Thanks

 

[10 Tanks]

parfoo. You'll never need to worry about pollutants in the water if you follow an aggressive water change routine. There will never be a build up of any toxins in the water if you keep a few fish in a large volume of water and remove and replace most of the water every few days. You can definitely have a few, small tetras in 25 gallons of water. Eight or even 10 small tetras will be fine. Just remember to feed them just a bit of food every other day. Fish are small and their stomach is very tiny. It doesn't take much to sustain them. In their wild habitat, they're lucky to eat once or twice a week. So, why feed them more than that? No one knows more than nature, so it's best to follow nature.

10

 

[Sparx]

To have no ammonia or nitrite is a good thing.. the more fish you put in, you will probably see your nitrate level raise once there is more waste (poop) in the tank. As 10 Tank said, frequent water changes will keep these levels low, which is where they need to be.

 

[parfoo]

Okay yes that’s fine. I plan to get three more tetras just to get them to 5 and then I’ll keep an eye on the tank

 

[Seisage]

Okay yes that’s fine. I plan to get three more tetras just to get them to 5 and then I’ll keep an eye on the tank

I would honestly recommend getting enough tetras to make a comfortable group all at once instead of adding fish incrementally. Tetras are schooling fish and need to be in large groups. It's very difficult, if not impossible, to truly replicate a school in a small tank. However, your fish will still be much more comfortable in a group of about 10. A 90L tank should be able to handle that number of fish just fine, especially if you add more plants and stay on top of water changes.

Make sure to quarantine your new fish for 3-4 weeks to make sure they don't have diseases that could spread to your existing fish. Or, find a store that quarantines their fish before putting them up for sale. Most stores won't do a full 3-4 weeks, but some will quarantine for 1-2 weeks, and that usually is enough to give at least some peace of mind.

 

[parfoo]

Thanks

Yeah I probably will get more in the coming weeks but I don’t want to overload filter so I’ll just get three more tomorrow and build them up I think

 

[TwoTankAmin]

One of the biggest advantages of doing a fishless cycle and then fully stocking (or close to it) is that the tank is both the Q tank and the final home for the fish. This is especially helpful if your entire stock comes from one place as opposed to several.

Also, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are all measured in their level of concentration- ppm which is parts per million. You can have 2 ppm of ammonia in a 1 gal. fish bowl or a 500 gal. tank and everything in between. Even a public aquarium with 100,000 gallons of water can have 2 ppm of ammonia. But I doubt that happens but I doubt that happens often or if at all when there are fish in it.

edited for a compund typo/spelling issue

 

[parfoo]

So I’ve had about 6 fish in tank now for a couple days. 2 fish have been in it for about a week. Everytime I have tested it has been 0 ammonia, nitrite and nitrate? How come everything showing as normal? Surely there should be nitrates? Or are the live plants sorting it?

 

[MaloK]

Give it some time...

Don't feed too much. You risk a sudden spike. I would expect that you will have sign of cycling process starting within the next weeks.

Don't waste your nitrate test for the moment... Watch ammonia and nitrite. be ready to start doing water changes at moment notice.