Just Started Cycling My 29 Gallon Tank! Recommendations/tips Pleas

[eaglesaquarium]

1ppm ammonia processes to 2.7 ppm nitrite, so that would explain the first picture. So a drop of only 1ppm ammonia will process to nearly 3ppm. The colors are more rough guidelines than exact figures, so it is all within the uncertainty range.

You are on your way, just stick with it.

 

[gdoggy1678]

1ppm ammonia processes to 2.7 ppm nitrite, so that would explain the first picture. So a drop of only 1ppm ammonia will process to nearly 3ppm. The colors are more rough guidelines than exact figures, so it is all within the uncertainty range.

You are on your way, just stick with it.

Alright awesome! thanks for the help.
I got worried when i saw the nitrates so high, but i see what your saying with the guideline type of thing. Ill keep with it and hope to have my fish soon!

 

[eaglesaquarium]

1ppm ammonia processes to 3.6ppm nitrate.

Did you test your tap for nitrate? Unfortunately some folks have nitrate in their tap water, as high as 20-40ppm!

 

[gdoggy1678]

Just tested and my tap water is 0ppm nitrate

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Good news, on two fronts. 1) No nitrates in tap during water changes. 2) All the nitrates in your tank are the result of the cycle.

 

[gdoggy1678]

Awesome today I read 0.00ppm of ammonia, I re-dosed it back with about 3.5ml.
Very exciting, now the wait for the nitrite to drop

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Yes. It can seem to take forever, but does happen... eventually.

 

[gdoggy1678]

Allright since i last added ammonia i have had to re-dose every day because it is reaching zero in 24 hours. Im re-dosing with 5ml of ammonia which brings it up to just about 4ppm!
I cant wait for the nitrite drop to take place, but i guess i still have a few weeks for that to occur.

Alright so im sticking with the stocking some one gave me on the first page with:
8 Bleeding heart tetra
6 Corydoras
1Powder blue dwarf gourami
and some shrimp later on down the line

Also my substrate is currently 20pounds of gravel but i will be switching over to 40 pounds of "Super naturals" white sand. Should this be enough for a light planted tank?
What would be the best method to change it out? I was also wondering if i should keep just a little bit of gravel in and mix it with some laterite then pour the sand over it? any opinions?

 

[gdoggy1678]

Allright its been 11 days since i have seen my ammonia drop to zero. Its been dropping to zero every day after adding around 3.5ml of ammonia. Today while testing the nitrite and waited 5 minutes i noticed the color lessens and after 10 minutes its almost complety clear is this normal because the nitrites are off the chart or is this a good sign?

 

[gdoggy1678]

Still been researching my fish and grown really fond of some cichlids, Is it possible to add a German blue ram with this stocking of fish?

Edit: Just noticed these fish are very sensitive to PH and probably wont do to well in my High PH, any opinons? or any other type of single cichlid i can keep that would work with my stocking above?

 

[gdoggy1678]

Allright so i have been adding ammonia for the past 13 days due to it dropping to 0. Today while testing my ammonia i noticed that today it hasn't reached 0 but is around 1ppm. What could be the cause for this? I tried to check for a PH crash it was a little lighter brown on the high PH test and over the blue on the regular PH test. Also my Nitrite reading is still becoming clear after the 5 minutes? ANY help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[gdoggy1678]

Same deal today ammonia has not changed as well as nitrite being unreadable. Im starting to become worried that the cycle has ended itself. Has no one ever seen this type of thing happen? Should i change the water? Im desperately in need of some advice before I potentially ruin the cycle.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

The easy solution when there seems to be a stall in the cycle is to do a 100% water change and clear out all the nitrates. Be sure to refill with dechlorinated water (roughly temp matched for practice purposes).

Dose with ammonia and test in 24 hours. Hopefully you will see it bounce back. Although, the water change sometimes can pause things itself, so it might take an extra day to give you the results you are hoping for.

 

[gdoggy1678]

Thanks eagle your a life saver, Ill see what the results are tomorrow and if there still the same i guess a 100% water change is in charge.

 

[gdoggy1678]

Allright so today my ammonia is still at 1.00ppm for the past 3 days, also my nitrite starts off purple then changes to 0ppm by the end. is it actually 0ppm or does it usually not go from purple to light blue? Im still going to carry out my water change today because of the wired results.