New tank - water test

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Pixie25

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Hi ive just set up a new tank - it is a little 5g.

so heres the story so far, its day 3 of the set up, we filled it up, dechlorinated it put in some stress zyme and some 'nutrafin cycle'.

i have a few questions - firstly, is nutrfin cycle a source of ammonia? it doesnt say on the bottle - only rapidly matures new tanks and boosts ammonia eating bacteria. if not then i will buy some pure ammonia.

i did a water test today and the readings say:
PH 7.6
KH 15
GH 16d
NO2 1
NO3 50

the PH seems good but other than that what am i looking for when trying to cycle a tank? what does everything stand for? sorry for all the seemingly obvious questions but the test strips didnt come with an instruction book (like it should have done).

also, how often does the water in a 5g need to be syphoned? i have noticed that some algae has started to grow on the inside of the glass, should i leave it there or scape it and do a water change? i have looked through the pinned topics but i am still a little confused as to what is a good sign and what is a bad one :/

can any of you knowledgable people help?
 
anyone got any ideas?

i have to go to the store soon so tips about the products im using and if i need different ones will be very much appreciated! particularly - will i need to buy some pure ammonia rather than cycle?
 
I've never used "cycle" so can't really comment. Stress Zyme might help a bit, but again I'm not sure how it works in a brand new tank.

What you really should be adding is ammonia if doing the fishless cycle. It shouldn't take long at all on a 5 gallon - at a guess approx a week to 10 days or so.

Your readings as they currently are, would be toxic to fish if added. Your Nitrite and Ammonia both need to be zero before it's absolutely safe.

NO2 - NitrIte
NO3 - NitrAte
kH - Carbonate Hardness (not important when cycling a tank)
gH - General Hardness (again, not important when cycling a tank)

See more on pH, gH and kH in this article.

What are you planning to put in the tank ?

To understand the Nitrogen Cycle your tank will be going through, have a look at this article.

A bit of algae is common in a brand new tank, but with some water changes and fish this should mostly reduce in time.

I would do a weekly 20% water change and light gravel vac and rinse the filter sponges in the siphoned tank water and check there's no cloggin or gunk build-up on the impellor.

I hope that's not too much info overload and that some of it makes sense ?
 
No thats great thankyou for your help - i will go and buy some pure ammonia later and add some.

i dont think the test strips i have measure ammonia only Nitrites and Nitrates? maybe i should find a better test kit.

I am planning to put 1 cherry barb male and 2 cherry barb females in this tank. i was interested in cherry barbs or some kind of tetras but after talking to people on this site, most of the recommendations where for cherry barbs of that sex ratio, rather than tetras. :)
 
I have used both Cycle and Stress Zyme both are as good as each other. There are mixed opionions on these products but IME they both worked with a little patience.

Pure Ammonia is always a better option if you can get it.
 
well i wasnt able to get any pure ammonia - so will the nutrafin cycle and a few degrading fish flakes left in the tank produce enough ammonia to cycle the tank on its own?

i thought the test strips were not very good as they didnt test for ammonia so i got a masters freshwater testing kit.

here are the readings:
Ammonia 0.25
NitrIte 0.25
NitrAte 15 - 20
PH 7.6

does this mean the tank is cycling properly?
 
If the tank is as young as you suggest, chances are that its not fully cycled yet. Decaying food will spike ammonia levels although it becomes somewhat difficult to control. Since you dont have pure ammonia available you can try to do a cycle with just food so long as you monitor your ammonia daily. Make sure it doesnt get much above 5ppm so that you dont end up killing the very bacteria you are trying to grow. If the ammonia levels do get above 5ppm, stop adding food, and do a 50% waterchange with a vaccuming of the gravel to lower the ammonia levels. Hope that helps
 
yes thats a great help, thank you for that :)

i will add a few fish flakes every few days and monitor the ammonia and nitrites closely. from my understanding so far of the readings i took i think i have a few of each type of bacteria developing and most of the nitrAtes in the water will be from the original tap water.

is this correct?
 
Most likely the case. The nitrAtes are almoast def from tap water (you could prove that by testing tap before adding it to your tank). As far as bacteria cololnies go, its tough to say with just one reading. The higher your numbers get over time you can usually assume an insufficient bacteria amount, and when your numbers drop you can assume a sufficient amount. Btw, what type of filter do you have?
 
i have a rena filstar which came with the tank :)
it has a black filter pad in it and a 'crystal' filter pad which cleans the water (its a bit murky after adding the ferns).
 

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