Am I good?

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gregkarr09

gregkarr09

Candiru
MFK Member
Feb 14, 2009
686
45
46
Los Angeles, California
Ok guys so....I decided to get my old tank (that housed a flowerhorn 7 months ago) back up and running...It's gorgeous... planted and decorated with rocks with hiding places. I started it 7 days ago and have been checking the water parameters. Up until today the water checked out beautiful. But I only waited 1 full day before I started to add fish (tetra's). now 7 days later there are 5 Angels, 8 Glowlight tetra's 4 Bloodfin tetra's, and 1 baby Bristlenose pleco... I checked the water today and PH is between 7.2 - 7.5... Water is soft, no chlorine, but the Nitrate and Nitrite are beginning to show up, nitrate is in the safe zone but creeping to stress zone and Nitrite is in the caution to stress zone...Is this ok? Should I have waited longer before adding the fish? I am afraid the biological bacteria that converts ammonia and Nitrates hasn't built up yet and the Nitrate and Nitrite levels are about to go through the roof...Any advice would be appreciated....
 
Yep, too quick. But nice job on actually checking the parameters!

Do you have Prime available? Right now, you should do a water change...30%-50%. You're going to have to do this for awhile since you'll also be starving your growing BB colony. Keep a close eye on things and keep lots of Prime on hand!

Good luck!
 
I agree with the above.
I get impatient and cycle tanks with fish in them too. It usually works out, you just have to keep an eye on nitrites, I don't sweat nitrates too much unless it gets really high.
 
Do you have any cycled filters from another tank that you could use for a while?
 
Beneficial Bacteria. They tend to form in a colony on surfaces versus free floating in the water.
 
You're welcome. No, you're going to have to monitor your water parameters. When any one of the 3 critical becomes too high, you're going to have to do a water change to keep them under control.

DustyBZoo had a good idea...if you have other filters running, you could squeeze out media into your new tank.

Good luck...
 
ok so I did a 30% water change and added prime and seaschem stability....Hopefully this wil keep my fish alive. 2 out of 5 of my angels are showing signs of stress and the nitrite is still 2ppm. will I be alright? Seaschem stability is bacteria that is supposed to fight nitrite and nitrate
 
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