seadreamer

Finally my 55g tank is completely cycled!!! I am the one who worried excessively because I found out about cycling and added B.Spira 4 days after my 7 t.barbs were put in. For others who have wondered about B.Spira...
After adding, it took only 3 days for the ammonia to drop to 0, but then the nitrite rose to 1ppm and stayed there for the next 20 days. I asked for advice all over the place, including here, and from the company that manufactures the B.Spira. Everyone seemed to be in agreement about this advice: don't worry, the fish will be fine and the nitrite will stay at 1ppm or below. They were right! BTW, I am sure I actually slowed the process because we vacumned half of the gravel after 7 days since that was the first advice I had received. Anyway, all our lovely fish are great and now we are happily anticipating the purchase of a few tankmates. Hmmm... how about a red tailed shark?

MissMTS

Congrats on the cycled tank! I had the same thing happen with biospira in my African Cichlid tank. I was so relieved when the cycle finished so I know how you feel. I think a red tail shark would be a great addition to your tank. Keep us posted and don't forget to post pics!

Shawnie

congrats..its a great feeling isnt it!!!!!!!

COBettaCouple

Congrats on getting the tank cycled.

Peterpiper

Well done! now the fun begins!

Steve113

Forgive my ignorance -

But how do you know when your tank is "fully cycled"
I wasn't aware that it was a process which has a beginning, middle and an end as such...

I thought i't would be a continuous cycle with the intention being to have as little fluctuation in ammonia, nitrate & nitrite as possible.

That said - assuming my tank is "fully cycled" - what should my test readings be? what are the general acceptable levels?

Shawnie

hey steve....read this..it helps soooooooooooooo much ...

http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm

Steve113

Ah, Gotcha, thanks..

I do remember reading this a long time ago and I thought I'd taken it all in. I get it now.

So, My tank is showing no nitrites and a little nitrate.

my tank is therefore cycled?

(recently I've had a bit of a positive ammonia reading - but I think I can explain this:

I rinsed my filter (in aquarium water ofcourse) - but I think I rinsed it a little too vigourously, and too often as I was doing a lot of water changes due to recent Ich infestation.

Also I overfed for the past couple of days as I was trying to get some of my lazy fish to eat something!

I'm hoping this ammonia reading will dissappear in the next few days though.

Thanks.

Shawnie

Hey steve...you can do water changes, just dont rinse the filter each time..although it looks nasty some times, it dont mean its not doing its job...over feeding can make ammonia appear...and sometimes lazy fish just need a day or two of not feeding to wake them bad boys up...but if ammonia returns at all, that could be why they dont want to eat ....most of the time for ich, just turning up the temp to 82-84 for a cple weeks and water changes of 25% every other day, will fix that...hope some of this helps...goodluck!

Steve113

yeah my temp has been high for about 2.5 weeks now
Can't see any ich.

Also the tank was medicated so those bad boys are probably toasted.
.
gonna give it another few days to clear up my ammonia spike then think about re thinking my layout/stock.

chickadee

Medication in a newly cycled tank can also upset the applecart so to speak. This is one reason why I usually prefer the temperature only method to treat Ich and some of the other problems if possible.

We also do not suggest doing testing while cycling with Bio-spira as it can drive you crazy with "why are the reading not going down?" It is okay to have the cycle happen the way it does with the product but for some reason usually people think an instant cycle means that there should never be any ammonia, nitrites, or nitrate. BUT the cycle could not happen without them. They have to be present at some point or the cycle would never happen. The trick is to have them present in less than serious proportions which is exactly what happens with this product.

Rose