Testing Water: Fish-In Cycle

[FishFanatic04]

OH geez. Could you maybe show them some of the articles on the forum about cycling? I would love if my kids get serious about a hobby when they are older. Especially about something with a full ecosystem in a box. That's what fish tanks are. There becomes an entire ecological system once your tank matures. IT's really very neat.


The media probably saved you a few weeks off your cycle, even if it wasn't an instant fix. MY petsmart has nitrites in the water because they replace their media too much and throw away everything. All of their filter wool has their good bacteria on it and they toss it out I don't know if petco does the same thing, but that could be why your media was only half helpful.

 

[4seasons]

OK I get the whole conserve water deal. But most parents that like to save the planet by saving water also don't want to see animals suffer. Send them here and have them read the fish in cycle thread in the beginner section. Simple version is fish make ammonia, ammonia is poison to fish. 4 weeks later bacteria grow that make ammonia into nitrite. Nitrite is poison to fish. 4 weeks later bacteria grow that make nitrite into nitrate. Nitrate is poison to fish but only in large doses. 2 months of daily large water changes minimum or piles of dead fish. Can't be simplified much more than that.

P.S. Even in the high price water areas, tap water plus declorinator is less than a penny per gallon. It is not like you have to have designer water that cost $10 a bottle to keep fish. I water my garden for $200 all summer long. You would have to have a huge tank (like 1000 gallon) to ever come close to that doing water changes on your fish tank.

 

[FishFanatic04]

The good point above is that if you explain the full situation, then your parents will understand that once the cycle is over, you only have to change the water once a week-10 days. But poisoning fish in the beginning can shorten their lifespan and cause more problems like fish diseases.


It gets a lot less serious once your tank is established.

 

[slimeneo]

I've explained to them the cycle and everything as simple as I could to them, but my dad claims that theres more water to dilute the poop and ammonia that it doesn't matter. I'm not going to argue with them about it, I'll just try to do the water changes.... discreetly.....

Anyway, last night I added more water in to fill up the tank. Before it wasn't filled up (my mom thought the fish would jump) so I thought adding more water could help the nitrite level go down. It did! This morning I tested .25 nitrite, 0 ammonia but oddly nitrates decreased to 5ppm.

 

[jimmies]

maybe you could do it like a prisoner digging a tunnel for his breakout....

put some water in your pocket....go to the garden and release it.....then take a glass of water up to your room - should only take you 100 trips. Your garden plants will be nicely watered and your parents won't worry about you not drinking 2 litres a day

 

[FishFanatic04]

That's good. more water volume is always a good thing, I think.

 

[slimeneo]

maybe you could do it like a prisoner digging a tunnel for his breakout....

put some water in your pocket....go to the garden and release it.....then take a glass of water up to your room - should only take you 100 trips. Your garden plants will be nicely watered and your parents won't worry about you not drinking 2 litres a day

hahahhaha, that's brilliant!

 

[FishFanatic04]

 

[Ruskull]

I've explained to them the cycle and everything as simple as I could to them, but my dad claims that theres more water to dilute the poop and ammonia that it doesn't matter. I'm not going to argue with them about it, I'll just try to do the water changes.... discreetly.....

Anyway, last night I added more water in to fill up the tank. Before it wasn't filled up (my mom thought the fish would jump) so I thought adding more water could help the nitrite level go down. It did! This morning I tested .25 nitrite, 0 ammonia but oddly nitrates decreased to 5ppm.

Nitrates are a good thing in this case! That means you have a small colony of bacteria started for breaking the nitrite down to nitrate. That's great news & it means you're well on your way to having a fully cyled tank that only requires small weekly water changes. Good luck!

 

[slimeneo]

I've explained to them the cycle and everything as simple as I could to them, but my dad claims that theres more water to dilute the poop and ammonia that it doesn't matter. I'm not going to argue with them about it, I'll just try to do the water changes.... discreetly.....

Anyway, last night I added more water in to fill up the tank. Before it wasn't filled up (my mom thought the fish would jump) so I thought adding more water could help the nitrite level go down. It did! This morning I tested .25 nitrite, 0 ammonia but oddly nitrates decreased to 5ppm.

Nitrates are a good thing in this case! That means you have a small colony of bacteria started for breaking the nitrite down to nitrate. That's great news & it means you're well on your way to having a fully cyled tank that only requires small weekly water changes. Good luck!

Thanks! I just tested and..
ammonia 0
nitrite 0-.25 (it's a little purple but definitely bluish)
nitrate 5

 

[Ruskull]

Great news, keep up the testing to be sure & change water when you can get away with it. .25 ppm nitrite is still deadly to fish, so another 50% water change would do wonders. You very well may have your nitrite converting bacteria working and growing.

 

[slimeneo]

Great news, keep up the testing to be sure & change water when you can get away with it. .25 ppm nitrite is still deadly to fish, so another 50% water change would do wonders. You very well may have your nitrite converting bacteria working and growing.

Yay, thanks! Yeah I'll definitely try to do a water change.... when my parents aren't around.

 

[HM Dragon Devil]

Hi. I recently completed a fish-in cycle on a 30l aquarium, it took around 6 weeks to fully cycle, which involved religious water changes every 2-3 days depending on the water parameters. Tell your parents it's imperative to keep both ammonia and nitrite levels at 0 because even small amounts are highly toxic to fish. Maybe you could try getting them involved when you're testing the water for example.

Dean.

 

[slimeneo]

Hi. I recently completed a fish-in cycle on a 30l aquarium, it took around 6 weeks to fully cycle, which involved religious water changes every 2-3 days depending on the water parameters. Tell your parents it's imperative to keep both ammonia and nitrite levels at 0 because even small amounts are highly toxic to fish. Maybe you could try getting them involved when you're testing the water for example.

Dean.

I have, and they don't think it's that serious because when the nitrite levels were .5-1, I told them it was lethal to fish, and they said, well why aren't they dead?

It's okay, I think I'm almost there anyway

 

[HM Dragon Devil]

Hi. I recently completed a fish-in cycle on a 30l aquarium, it took around 6 weeks to fully cycle, which involved religious water changes every 2-3 days depending on the water parameters. Tell your parents it's imperative to keep both ammonia and nitrite levels at 0 because even small amounts are highly toxic to fish. Maybe you could try getting them involved when you're testing the water for example.

Dean.

I have, and they don't think it's that serious because when the nitrite levels were .5-1, I told them it was lethal to fish, and they said, well why aren't they dead?

It's okay, I think I'm almost there anyway

Simple answer to why they're not dead yet is a stroke of luck. And some fish are hardier than others, but this doesn't mean they will be healthy fish, they may contract a disease that will shorten their life span etc.

Anyways i hope everything works out for you,
Dean.