Dasha

Hi guys,

So I've had the tank set up for 3 weeks and today I did a first reading with my brand new master test kit. Here are the results:

pH 7.6
ammonia 0
nitrite 1.0-1.5
nitrate 40

What say you, aquarium gurus, how close might I be to the end of the cycling process? My LFS has a few fish on sale that I want...

BTW, what's safe nitrite levels for hardy fish?

sgould

It is hard to say absolutely with only 1 reading. It appears that you are well past the ammonia phase of the cycle and are experiencing the 2nd part...the nitrite spike. You will need to take some additional readings over the next few days to see if the levels are still rising, holding steady, or on the way down. I would guess you could have another week or 2 to go, but unfortunately cycle durations are pretty unpredictable.

0morrokh

You're definately towards the end of the cycle, but the nitrite can sometimes take a while to go away. It could be 2 weeks or it could be 2 days, hard to say.

You need to have 0 nitrites before adding fish. Nitrates need to be 20 or less and should ideally be 10 or lower (which means you'll need to do a huge water change before adding fish--I'd recommend ~90% to get the nitrate levels as low as possible).

Dasha

ummm... 4 red-eyed tetras have sort of already found a home in there. They seem to be doing great, I couldn't even tell there was an amonia spike based on the fish behavior.

What levels on nitrites are tolerated by hardy fish?

Dasha

sgould

Anytime they are 1.0 or higher, do a 50% water change.