Stocking Question For A 20G Long

[kahira]

As of today the ammonia reads: 2-4ppm
Nitrites are around 2-5ppm
Nitrates are somewhere in the 5-20ppm (oranges are a bit difficult to tell apart but I'm leaning more towards 5ppm just cus it's still got a yellow-hue)

Is it just me or is this cycling really fast o-o I thought it took about a week for Nitrates to show up? Oh well... I'm not complaining. Go little tank, go!!! -cheers-

 

[eaglesaquarium]

There are lots of variables, no way to be sure how long it will take, but this is going rather quickly. Congrats on that.

 

[kahira]

well i was dumping Seachem Stability in there daily by instruction of the bottle, but that was a week ago soooo hahah I don't know. Last week nothing changed and suddenly now things are popping to life. maybe it takes a bit to 'activate'? I don't know.

 

[AquaPit]

Following your progress! More pics soon!

 

[kahira]

oh dear me I forgot to update. Hehehe.
 

 
Wish all my plants stayed like that.. many have wilted and most I've pinched back so the tank is a bit bare again haha, I'm going to get some Anubias Nana soon but yeah...
 
 
The tank seems to be going good. I definitely have 5+ppm Nitrites and a little bit of Nitrates. The ammonia dropped from ~3ppm to about .50-1ppm over night so I dosed it back up to about 4ppm earlier today. I've revised my stocking list and I'm now for the most part, set in stone. I dropped the dwarf rainbow Idea I had hoped would work but the more I think on it the less it seems smart.
 
So my current stock idea will be:
Harlequin Rasboras x10
Corys x5
Albino long-finned  Bristlenose Pleco x1
and for a center piece fish I'm going to try a Betta.
 
I love this fish, male and female alike so either one matters not to me. I've heard many successful stories with Betta's in community tanks with Harlequins and corys. I will have to figure out a way to diffuse my filter flow though as I feel it might be a bit strong for a betta. It's a 40g internal spraybar that pumps 171g/hr It's on the lowest setting. Any ideas for that? I thought about just putting suran wrap on it but I don't want to risk the fish eating it, and I don't want to eliminate a decent flow because I do want a bit for the live plants.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

You are dosing ammonia too liberally. Be patient and let the cycle work. Do not add ammonia every time it gets low. Let it reach zero, and then add 1ppm every three or four days. If the nitrites get too high, it can stall the cycle. A 50% water change to bring your nitrites down might be helpful. You don't want nitrites over about 16ppm, and since they are now over 5ppm, you won't know exactly how high your reading is without a diluted test.


The tank looks good, and the plants may start to use ammonia. But, regardless, you've got to keep the levels of ammonia down because the plants are also sensitive to it as well, which may be partly why the plants are melting back a bit. As such, I'd suggest not dosing ammonia any higher than 2ppm until your cycle is nearing the end.

 

[kahira]

all the sources I've read is that you want to dose ammonia to about 3-5ppm, 4ppm being the middle ground. When it drops to 1ppm or below, dose it back up to 4ppm. I've spent MONTHS researching fish, the cycle, plants, and such for an aquarium, and everywhere I read, stated that this is the optimum way. It builds a strong bacteria colony and I've had the ammonia at 3-4ppm for 3 weeks with the plants in the tank without any problems other than the usual wilted that plants experience when put in a new environment. My anubias and Sword are actually growing though, there's about 3-5 new sprouts on each of them so the ammonia isn't bothering them clearly .
 
I also never read about needing to do a WC unless you overdose on ammonia, but my filter does need a bit of cleaning because there is plant debris in it so maybe I'll do a small 10-20% WC just to clean it.
 
Not saying your way is wrong. There's probably many ways to do it, but the way I know best... 100%... is the one I described, and it was the one described on every source I've read, so I'll stick with what I know like the back of my hand.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Well, the way you are describing is not the way we have it described here. http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/421488-cycling-your-new-fresh-water-tank-read-this-first/


A few points for you to consider: did any of those sources mention that adding too much ammonia can cause a cycle to stall? Did any of them mention how much nitrite 1ppm will convert to using the different testing methods? Did any of them mention where the danger zone is for the cycle concerning nitrite?

The reason I said what I said regarding the ammonia and plants is that some plants are more sensitive than others. Why risk it?


I've read all those other fish less cycling methods. They are the 'old way' of doing it. They will work, but they will take longer and run a much higher risk of stalling. I wish you well with it. God speed.

 

[kahira]

 
did any of those sources mention that adding too much ammonia can cause a cycle to stall?

They stated that if you add too much (over 4ppm) to do a WC to bring it down. Not to mention my other research has led me to that answer as well, not just from cycling threads.
 

 
Did any of them mention how much nitrite 1ppm will convert to using the different testing methods?

Not that I remember.
 

 
Did any of them mention where the danger zone is for the cycle concerning nitrite?

As far as the cycling threads themselves? I do not remember, but other research that I did on my own time has led me to that knowledge.
 
Though... I feel that I forgot to mention this in my thread after I started posting results. I don't dose to 4ppm EVERY day (though now its more like 3ppm since I don't want to overdose so I end up undercutting a bit in worry). Only when it drops below 1ppm which usually happens (now) every other day, or every 2 days, so its not like I'm just dumping ammonia in the tank every day and spiking it to 4ppm (or 3 in this case).

 

[eaglesaquarium]

3ppm ammonia additions will turn into 8 ppm nitrite, which is roughly half of the max before you impact the development of the nitrite bacs.
 
So, if you are adding 3ppm every other day, then after 4 days, you will have hit the danger zone, unless you are getting the nitrite bacs to process some of that, or the plants are using a good portion of the ammonia.  However, anubias and java fern are not known as plants that use a great deal.
 
 
I wish you the best in the cycle, and hope that it continues well.  Personally, I wouldn't continue to dose ammonia without knowing how much nitrite is in the tank though.  I'd do a diluted test to determine how much nitrite is actually in the tank currently.

 

[kahira]

Well it finally happened. I tested this morning and Nitrites were still there, though for the past 2 days it has been slower to change to purple. What I mean is, when I hit the spike the first time, the tube changed purple IMMEDIATELY after adding the drops, before even inverting. The past two days it had been taking a few seconds to change, and really just stayed a dark blue until I inverted the tube.
 
Tested this morning, still had nitrites. Tested just now at.... 11pm... and I now have 0 Amm, 0 Nitrites, and a whooooole lot of Nitrates as it should be. My friend is taking me to the store Friday to get the fish since it's too cold now to bike home (I only live a few city blocks away from Petsmart) Montana just hit a bad cold spell so I figured I'd play it safe.
 
These were the readings. I took the Nitrite test twice cus the first time I was like "Wha-what? Did I miscount the drops?" so I took in a second time, counting carefully and turned out the same. Clearly there are no more Nitrites.

 
So Friday after I get home I'll do a 90% WC, clean my filter (its full of tannis and random pieces of plant fluff) and go get my fish <3
 
Ganna dose my take up with ammonia as a test tonight and then test tomorrow when I get home and hopefully it'll zero-out. Soooo took me... 4-5 weeks total to cycle? Yup.

 

[hobby5]

Congrats I would recommend not to clean your filter, as this is the place were supposedly all your benificial bacteria are growing. If the flow rate is significantly reduced. Then clean it in superficially in tank water (no contact to tap water!).
 
Why do you want to do a 90% WC?
 
So what fish are you planning to buy?

 

[kahira]

im doing a 90% WC to bring those nitrates down since they're 160ppm+
 
and my fish are ganna be:
Harlequin Ras'.
BN Pleco
Betta (female hopefully to name it Tiger Festival... it's an inside thing between my friend and I from a game and has more meaning to it then u think)
Corys (hopin petsmart will have pandas)
 

 

[hobby5]

Damn those nitrates are really high. Did you test your tap water for nitrates too? Good look in finding some beautiful fish!

 

[kahira]

they're suppose to be high at the end of the cycle are they not? and I think I have about 5ppm in my tap. it's hard to tell cus its just such a slim change. but i haven't done a WC since the day i started my cycle. and I have live plants in there too.