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Do you have plants in the tank? The plants could be taking up the nitrates as quick as its being produced, so the levels are kept low.
Hi everyone. My tank has been cycling for 2 weeks. Made the mistake of buying fish first then finding out about the nitrogen cycle. Need some advice. Ammonia has been at 0 for a few days. Nitrite has been falling, reaching 0 yesterday. But nitrate is 0 too. Shouldn't nitrate be rising when nitrite falls? Is my tank cycling well or has something gone wrong? Thanks.
Do you have plants in the tank? The plants could be taking up the nitrates as quick as its being produced, so the levels are kept low.
Thanks, Urban Aquaria. No, I don't have any plants. Only sand and rocks. Tested again today with same readings. Wondering if this has happened to anyone? There was 2 days when nitrate was 5.0 with high nitrite. But now nitrite fell to 0, so does nitrate.Originally Posted by Urban Aquaria
Thats strange... usually nitrates are removed by either plants or water changes.
Are you using any special bio-media or chemical filtration like Seachem De*nitrate or Seachem Purigen? Those could also reduce and remove nitrates too.
Btw, what test kits are you using? The drop reagent + test tube type, or test strip type?
Thanks for responding. Appreciate the help. I'm using the liquid testing kit. Earlier when ammonia and nitrites were high, I did 50% water change daily. Since nitrite fell to 0, I've stopped the water changes. No, I am not using any special stuff, only stress coat when I change water. Using sump, looks normal with mats, ceramic and some long rods which I think is bacteria house. I'm confused and worried as I'm not sure if my tank is considered cycled or if it is still dangerous for the fish. Have been testing water daily. Had cycled for only 15 days although I added a few pebbles from another tank. Today, ammonia 0- 0.25 ( not sure, always find it hard to differentiate the colours accurately), nitrite 0 and nitrate 10-20 (again not very sure as colour quite similar). Is the tank cycled?
I guess it could just be some fluctuations in the test readings... once you find that ammonia and nitrites are consistently 0 for a few days, then it means the cycle is more or less done and stable. If the nitrates are climbing higher, then do water changes to reduce it. If the nitrates are staying relatively low, like 10-20ppm, then it would be fine to add the fishes in stages.
Just curious, what ammonia source are you using to cycle the tank? Aquasoil method or fish food/ammonia drops method?
Thanks Urban Aquaria, today ammonia is 0-0.25ppm again with nitrite at 0ppm and nitrate at 10-20ppm. The ammonia and nitrite readings are quite stable, almost the same for 6 days, just that nitrate is weird. Actually, I had fish in tank so my ammonia source is fish. That's why I did 50% daily water change, to ensure that fish survives. Fish shop uncle said that the fish can be added on the same day of tank setup so we added them in. Then read about nitrogen cycle. Panicked then as i realised that it was really bad for the fishes, not to mention that I had overstocked the tank as the fish shop person said that must buy many cichlids as they fare better when overstocked. So far, I had one casualty. Very very glad that the ammonia and nitrite has stabilised though. Just wondering if such parameters are considered fluctuations?
If you are still detecting some ammonia levels, then the cycle is still progressing... usually it takes around 4-6 weeks for a new tank to cycle and stabilize anyways so in the meantime just do regular water changes to help keep the levels under control. Since you are using stress coat to treat the change water, that treatment also works to de-toxify ammonia so even though you may see some residual ammonia readings, most of it could be rendered non-toxic for a period of time after the water change, so water changes will definitely help.
I'm assuming you are keeping an african cichlid tank? The LFS person recommending overstocking is correct, as that method helps to diffuse aggression amongst those types of fishes. I guess he is from the more "traditional" school of aquarium keeping whereby fishes are part of the tank cycling process (and it help to sell fishes quicker too!).
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