juloea

i have a new 55 gallon set up - will be consolidating 3 other tanks. i started tank with filter media from an established tank, 1/3 of gravel from established tank and about 10 gallons of water from established tank. tank ran with lots of plants for over a week and i added five zebra danios 5 days ago that are doing GREAT! temp is 76, pH 7.6, 0 nitrites, 0 - 5.0 nitrates and ammonia 0.5...numbers not budging. been like this for two weeks. can i add a few more danios? i have 6 more awaiting their new digs. doesn't appear that cycle has kicked in...or maybe it's all set? not sure! help welcomed!

Lucy

Hi welcome to Fish Lore
Looks like almost an instant cycle but until your ammonia is 0, you'r tank isn't fully cycled.
I wouldn't add anything until yet.
A few daily water changes and allow the bacteria to multiply should help.
Good luck

aquarist48

Hello. I agree with Lucy. I'd wait a bit before you add some more fish, until the ammonia is down to 0. Congrats on the new tank.

harpua2002

Waiting a week before adding fish probably didn't help the cycle, unless you were feeding your biological filter with a source of ammonia while it ran without fish. It definitely would not be safe to add fish yet, and I would suggest changing enough water to get the ammonia level down to .25 or below. Good luck!

juloea

i re-tested ammonia using dropper/chemical test rather than strip...it is zero. i hate those tset strips and have changed all my testing methods to chemical tests - was just trying to use up ammonia strips. anyway, maybe i'll add 2-3 danios over the weekend. eventually i have a total of 6 danios, 5 lemon tetras, small pictus, 2 pygmy catfish, 7 platties, one angelfish, small shark, 2 tiger barbs and a few assorted small zipper loaches and chinese algae eaters. then a friend is taking a few platties and an algae eater and i should be done. thanks for your help.

aquarist48

Hello. As long as your ammonia reads 0 and the rest of your readings are also in line 0 nitrites and 5-10 nitrates I don't see the harm in adding a couple of new fish. I wouldn't add more than 2 or 3 at the most. You don't want to go into a mini cycle. Keep an eye on your readings over the next few days just in case. Too, depending on how many fish you already have in your schools. You don't want to get overstocked either.

harpua2002

Oh cool, I didn't realize you were using test strips. I hate them too! LOL. Still, I'd suggest testing for a couple more days with the liquid kit just to be sure you're ready to go.

Do you already have the CAEs? If not, I'd suggest reconsidering. They tend to stop eating algae as adults, and can get quite aggressive.

ATKINSON

I agree about the CAE

juloea

i think i have been VERY LUCKY with my CAE's...they haven' gotten very big and one got a little agressive but i put him in a big tank with some big goldfish and another CAE and that taught him a lesson! they all get along and he calmed down a lot!

Lucy

Nice catch!