W/C frequency at this point.

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knifegill

knifegill

Peacock Bass
MFK Member
Sep 19, 2005
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Oscar Tummy
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So my 80g is up to .25 ppm on the ammonia.
I'm cycling it with a baby GT and a danio.
Starting over, keeping it away from other tanks to reduce parasite risk. Parasites are satan.


Shall I stay the course or increase water changes?

30% water change per week. With a small spoonful of salt per 5g added to new water.
It's been two weeks now. That's about right for the ammonia, isn't it?
It's probably on its way down for all I know.
I suppose I should watch the nitrites, too huh?

I checked my nitrites. .25 ppm also. Good sign, right?
 
your ammonia and nitrites should be 0 always increase water changes to 30% every 2 to 3 days , how long has it been cycling and what kind of filtration does it have currently
 
So my 80g is up to .25 ppm on the ammonia.
I'm cycling it with a baby GT and a danio.
Starting over, keeping it away from other tanks to reduce parasite risk. Parasites are satan.


Shall I stay the course or increase water changes?

30% water change per week. With a small spoonful of salt per 5g added to new water.
It's been two weeks now. That's about right for the ammonia, isn't it?
It's probably on its way down for all I know.
I suppose I should watch the nitrites, too huh?

I checked my nitrites. .25 ppm also. Good sign, right?
Click to expand...

It has the biggest aquaclear HOB and a penguin bio-wheel of comparable dimensions.

It would be unreasonable to expect 0's at this point.
If I increase water changes, I'll delay completion of the cycle and lengthen toxic times for the fish. What to do, huh?
 
Gator;2531989; said:
If you have other tanks use some filter media from the other filters to seed the new one. It will shorten your cycle time a lot if yo use enough media.
Click to expand...

If all my bettas didn't die of dropsy and/or I could identify the random freakish things that happen to my guppies sometimes, I might consider it. But my goal is to have one. One fish with no diseases. Would it be so much to ask? I do nothing but perfect maintenance. No live foods. No contaminants of any sort. AND THEY DIE. Why? Why, indeed.

I realize I'm getting simple answers because I've asked an apparently simple question. But what I'm looking for is experience. Someone who knows what the fish can tolerate during a cycle.

Now, since my nitrites are already up, I'd hate to slow things down by removing the very fuel for the process. But where do we draw the line? Ammonia should be zero. Well, gosh! That's just to be expected for a brand new tank, now isn't it! I would've cycled fishlessly except that I already had the fish in parasite treatment in a 20g uncycled. So I upgraded him. Now for the advice, guys. How destructive is .25 ppm? Tolerable for another week or two while it finishes the cycle?
 
IMO without water changes your fish will be permanently damaged or die soon. If you access to "seeded" material(sponges,bio media) from a healthy disease-free tank I would add it to your HOB's and do a decent sized water change. Even after your tank is cycled you will need to stock the tank slow. A small GT and danio isn't much bio-load to build your beneficial bacteria colony on. If you stock lightly and keep up with wc's as needed your tank will cycle and the waterchanges will keep your fish healthy. You would just have watch overfeeding and do wc's as nessecary...possibly daily.
 
1)Any amount of unionized Ammonia (NH3) is dangerous, however once the levels reach 2 ppm, the fish are in grave danger.
2)Nitrites levels as low as 1 ppm can be lethal to some fish. Nitrite usually begins rising by the end of the first week after introducing fish
3)once it gets over 20ppm nitrates water change is absolutely necessary.



i think is what you were looking for
data pulled from
http://www.indodragon.com/forum/f4/nitrogen-cycle-aquarium-cycle-2735/
 
knifegill;2532014; said:
If all my bettas didn't die of dropsy and/or I could identify the random freakish things that happen to my guppies sometimes, I might consider it. But my goal is to have one. One fish with no diseases. Would it be so much to ask? I do nothing but perfect maintenance. No live foods. No contaminants of any sort. AND THEY DIE. Why? Why, indeed.

I realize I'm getting simple answers because I've asked an apparently simple question. But what I'm looking for is experience. Someone who knows what the fish can tolerate during a cycle.

Now, since my nitrites are already up, I'd hate to slow things down by removing the very fuel for the process. But where do we draw the line? Ammonia should be zero. Well, gosh! That's just to be expected for a brand new tank, now isn't it! I would've cycled fishlessly except that I already had the fish in parasite treatment in a 20g uncycled. So I upgraded him. Now for the advice, guys. How destructive is .25 ppm? Tolerable for another week or two while it finishes the cycle?
Click to expand...

Wow so many things I'd like to say... First off with sarcastic responses like this its not going to be long before people stop giving you advise of any kind. Second if you have all these problems with so many fish maybe you shouldn't be going to the same LFS that keeps selling you diseased fish. And as a rule of thumb Fish dont tolerate Ammonia and nitrite for very long asking what a tolerable level is is crazy because prolonged exposure will kill any fish over a long period of time, so go buy some Aquamel or Prime to deal with the ammonia and nitrites you have now. Last thing the whole "I do nothing but perfect maintenance" means nothing if you don't know how to cycle a tank.
 
Gator;2533051; said:
Second if you have all these problems with so many fish maybe you shouldn't be going to the same LFS that keeps selling you diseased fish.
Click to expand...

I strongly agree with this if they're all from the same source. If you have the setup available and don't want to risk destroying a stable tank, use a quarantine tank for new fish.

And yes ideally ammo should be 0, at this point just dose with Amquel or Prime and continue with your weekly change to keep up the BB growth. Any amount of exposure over time will cause damage.
 
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