Did a WC today and cleaned all my filter pads. I’ll wait 24 to 48 hours and test the water again. Fingers crossed that the tank will stabilize and will be ready for fish.
New/used tank cycling?
- Thread starter ADawson23
- Start date
Okay so just checked the water. The nitrates have come down some, the nitrites are 0 and ammonia is .25 maybe less. I tested the water coming out of my faucet and it is a match to my tanks ammonia levels. What are my options here?
2 ways to be sure about cycle.
1. get pure ammonia. Dropper it in while testing the water. Pick a color on the chart that isn’t max. Repeat test in 15 mins or so, if it returns to normal and your nitrates go up congrats you have a cycle.
2. get some cheap fish like danios(15-20), feed them, repeat tests above, although you shouldn’t be able to get the ammonia levels to rise this way. If you see ammonia rise with just small fish then you don’t have a cycle. Butif you’re careful with feeding and wc they’ll get your cycle going for ya.
Can try products like Stability but ymmv
1. get pure ammonia. Dropper it in while testing the water. Pick a color on the chart that isn’t max. Repeat test in 15 mins or so, if it returns to normal and your nitrates go up congrats you have a cycle.
2. get some cheap fish like danios(15-20), feed them, repeat tests above, although you shouldn’t be able to get the ammonia levels to rise this way. If you see ammonia rise with just small fish then you don’t have a cycle. Butif you’re careful with feeding and wc they’ll get your cycle going for ya.
Can try products like Stability but ymmv
I had a decent amount of ammonia and nitrite and my nitrates spiked like crazy. So I did a 50% water change. After the WC the ammonia dropped the nitrites disappeared and the nitrates went down. I wanna say that the tank has cycled. I believe that the ammonia reading from today is due to the WC yesterday.
