New Tank With Fish :(

[troptank]

hello

well it seems with the help of my LFS i'm doing a fish-in cycle

heres the story,

got new 250l tank 9 days ago, set it up,filled with water and put a few real plants in along with plant fertilizer, then i put in nutrafin aqua plus, then put nutrafin cycle in for about 5 days, then last friday took water to LFS (as he said will be ready for fish after a few days) and he said it was fine for "hardy fish" so he sold me 5 x zebra danios, 6 x tiger barbs, 6 x black widow tetras and 2 dalmatian mollies.

so i put them all in last friday along with some marimo moss balls, everything seems fine and the fish seem happy, the water is pretty much clear now also, it was a bit cloudy over the weekend.
i haven't done a water change yet as LFS said i don't need too..

well after now reading the forums i realise i should have done a fishless cycle
so i got a API master test kit to have a look at the levels, what do you guys think about the levels in my pic? when should i do water change?

i just don't want the fishies to suffer

 

[lloyd]

I would do a 50% now because your nitrate readings are very high. Then i would keep up with 20% water changes every day or so. If it was me i would be having words with your LFS. I can see the advice they tried to give you but he has sold you alot of fish just to start with in my opinion

 

[troptank]

thanks lloyd

what is the implication of high nitrate?

 

[lloyd]

high natrate basically means your water is dirty. its dirty becuasen your filter bacteria hasnt been given enough time to grow, so it isnt dealing with waste properly. you would find with a new tank that your ammonia will spike and your nitrite will spike before your nitrate. as your filter bacteria grows ammonia will drop first then nitrite wich is what has happened in your case, however you are still left with high nitrate that is bad for your fish.Ammonia and nitrite are worst for your fish so it is good that they both read low but because you have alot of fish in your new tank and your filter isnt mature enough yet nitrate is very high. to lower it just keeping adding clean water like i said and over time your filter will mature and deal with the waste.

Im not very good at explaining things but if you google the nitrogen cycle in aquariums you should find all the info you need

 

[CezzaXV]

Have you measured your tap water to see what that's like? You're not cycled, so it may just be the unfortunate case that your tap water has high nitrate. It's not ideal but it's not the end of the world.

 

[troptank]

hi
this is my water from the tap.
good or bad? lol

 

[lloyd]

nitrates arent as high as your tank by a long shot so i would start doing water changes to get some clean water into your tank

 

[troptank]

ok will do water change, problem is i wont be able to do it until tomorrow or even the day after as i`m waiting for nutrafin aqua plus to arrive..
on a side note, can i just mix the aquaplus in while im adding the water or does it need diluted in new water for a while first?

 

[XeroTolerance]

can i just mix the aquaplus in while im adding the water or does it need diluted in new water for a while first?

Yeah you can add it right before you change the water. You can either add it to the tank first or the bucket your using to do the water change. I prefer the bucket because Im a little paranoid like that.

 

[troptank]

can i just mix the aquaplus in while im adding the water or does it need diluted in new water for a while first?

Yeah you can add it right before you change the water. You can either add it to the tank first or the bucket your using to do the water change. I prefer the bucket because Im a little paranoid like that.

hehe
nothing wrong with paranoid

so 40% or whatever water out then add aquaplus too tank then new water or add it to the jerry cans i`m using, and make sure water temp is pretty much equal to that of the tank, do i need to add new water fairly slowly or?

 

[lloyd]

if they have to wait 2 days it isnt the end of the world but you really should start adding new water

 

[XeroTolerance]

can i just mix the aquaplus in while im adding the water or does it need diluted in new water for a while first?

Yeah you can add it right before you change the water. You can either add it to the tank first or the bucket your using to do the water change. I prefer the bucket because Im a little paranoid like that.

hehe
nothing wrong with paranoid

so 40% or whatever water out then add aquaplus too tank then new water or add it to the jerry cans i`m using, and make sure water temp is pretty much equal to that of the tank, do i need to add new water fairly slowly or?

This is what I do. First I gravel van and take all my water out. Then I fill up a bucket of water from my tank. I add the dechlorinator to the water and pour it into the tank nice and slowly, because I wouldn't want to disturb my HG and my MW.

 

[troptank]

Thanks guys. Been a great help

 

[Dieses Madchen]

high natrate basically means your water is dirty. its dirty becuasen your filter bacteria hasnt been given enough time to grow, so it isnt dealing with waste properly. you would find with a new tank that your ammonia will spike and your nitrite will spike before your nitrate. as your filter bacteria grows ammonia will drop first then nitrite wich is what has happened in your case, however you are still left with high nitrate that is bad for your fish.Ammonia and nitrite are worst for your fish so it is good that they both read low but because you have alot of fish in your new tank and your filter isnt mature enough yet nitrate is very high. to lower it just keeping adding clean water like i said and over time your filter will mature and deal with the waste.

Im not very good at explaining things but if you google the nitrogen cycle in aquariums you should find all the info you need

Nitrate doesnt indicate that the bacteria hasnt had time to grow. It indicates that there is bacteria converting ammonia to less toxic substances. Nitrates are good. I shows that his filter is doing what it is supposed to. Nitrate should never be zero. If it is, then you can make the claim that his tank isnt cycled. By the looks of the results (Am: 0 Nitrite: 0 and NitrAte: 80+) it looks like it is cycling nicely. I am glad to see that his Ammonia and NITRITES are zero as he only added the fish 9 days ago and he hasnt had a large spike.

 

[XeroTolerance]

Thanks guys. Been a great help

No problem!