What Should My 20 Gallon Tropical Tanks Ph, Nitrite, Nitrate Levels B

[fishboy123]

?

 

[Fishy friend2]

It depends. Are you in a cycle, there are no specific levels a tank should be at

 

[soybean]

Ammonia and nitrite should be 0, nitrate varies depending on your tap water and whether or not you have plants etc but a cycled tank will always give a reading. Ph will be whatever it is, there is no 'should be' for ph unless you're keeping fish that require very specific conditions. Ideally not too high. Neutral is a good target.

 

[fishboy123]

My tank is done its cycle. I put some Stress Zyme by Api and some Nutrafin Cycle in for 3 days and now my water has been tested and okay. I have 6 Zebra Danios, A male betta, and 4 mollies (2 orange and 2 black)
I know my water is a little hard and that mollies love that. My ph is 7.0/7.5 and my nitrate is almost zero while my nitrite is 0.

 

[Fishy friend2]

Your tank is probably not cycled because you do not have any readings that indicate that you have no beneficial bacteria, and the fact that you added that many fish in such a short amount of time. Makes us think that you will soon have an ammonia spike

 

[soybean]

My tank is done its cycle. I put some Stress Zyme by Api and some Nutrafin Cycle in for 3 days and now my water has been tested and okay. I have 6 Zebra Danios, A male betta, and 4 mollies (2 orange and 2 black)
I know my water is a little hard and that mollies love that. My ph is 7.0/7.5 and my nitrate is almost zero while my nitrite is 0.

I'm afraid that isn't how you cycle a tank. Not even close. Yet another example of lack of knowledge from a fish shop.

Cycling involves adding a source of ammonia and testing daily until you reach the point where bacteria are converting the ammonia into nitrite, which is when you start getting a nitrite reading, and then more bacteria turn the nitrite into nitrate. There is a link to the beginners resource centre in my sig which explains it fully.

So you are now likely in a 'fish in' cycle and risk exposing your fish to dangerous levels of ammonia without daily large water changes.

All the information is in that link, I hope you read it and take it on board.

 

[fishboy123]

hm. My LFS store suggested it. What can i do to help reduce the ammonia spike?

 

[Fishy friend2]

Take the fish back and don't listen to the LFS ever again, as they just want your money and usually dont know what there talking about, or do daily large water changes and monitor the ammonia, nitrates, and nitrites daily. Honestly your better off just taking most if the fish back and finishing your cycle correctly

 

[soybean]

Like I just said, daily water changes. Everything is in that link and if you search the forum for cycling you will find many, many posts on it.

The first thing you need to do is buy a LIQUID test kit, the API master test kit for freshwater is around £20 on eBay and a good all rounder for beginners. It will be essential.

 

[fishboy123]

Awesome info! thanks so much! I will take your advice and invest in a liquid water kit

 

[Fishy friend2]

A you going to return the fish and do a real Fishless cycles? I hope, it will save you a lot of time and stress

 

[soybean]

I posted this in your other thread but I'm saying it again here incase you missed it:

Honestly fishboy, I think the best course of action would be to return the mollies and danios and turn this into a betta tank with a few small rasboras or tetras. The mollies are going to get too big and boisterous for that size tank and bug the heck out of the betta, danios prefer cooler temps whereas bettas like it really warm, danios like lots of current and room to swim, bettas don't like current, danios can nip, mollies and danios are fast feeders and the betta stands little chance of getting much, mollies like harder water and some even prefer brackish (slightly salty) conditions which doesnt suit danios or bettas... Do you see where I'm coming from with this? It's possible for you to have a good tank you enjoy, twenty gallons is a decent size to work with, but the fish you have right now just do not work together

 

[fishboy123]

I'm going to move the fish to my sisters 10 gallon for now till i finish my cycle.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Dare I ask what is already in your sister's 10 gallon? Adding 6 Zebra Danios (that need a 4-foot tank at <20C with lots of current), a Betta (that hates current and prefers ~26C) and 4 Mollies (which need at least hard alkaline water, ideally brakish and could reach ~12cm) is likely to play havok with your sister's tank (ammonia and nitrite spikes, aggression through cramped conditions etc.). The Danios willy never be suitable for your tank setup and the Mollies will get too big and pushy at some point.


Ideally the fish need to be returned to the store, but if you are dead set on keeping them, it would be safer for the fish to have everything in the larger tank as there will be more water to dilute toxins. Move over your sister's filter too, putting no more than 50% of her cycled media in your new filter and putting some of your new media back into her's. Run the filters together for about six weeks, checking for ammonia/nitrites twice daily (morning/evening) and do at least 50% water changes (you may need to almost completely change the water in the early days when the bacteria colony is playing catchup bigtime) any time they reach 0.25mg/l.

 

[snake007]

I think this Danio's needs a 4ft thing is silly, yes I agree their active but come on so are tetras and Rasboras, they would love a 4ft tank so why with Danios its a must to have 4ft of space and Rasboras don't?
Most fish are very active, Neons are very fast, why is their minimum tank size 10 gallons?
IMO Danios need at least 2.5ft+
Most small fish would enjoy 4ft of space so why is it only Danios must have it?