mitch

First i would like to thank everyone for all the advice and the knowledge that i have gained from this site. Ok now the question,

Now that the tank 55 gal is cycled 0-0-0. I still have brown tint in the water from my driftwood. How much and how often can i change the water with out messing up the balance by messing up the bacterica

kacie

Um, why do you think your tank has cycled?

Lucy

1 week is not near enough to cycle a tank unless you've seeded it with used filter media or decorations from a cycled tank or used Tetra SafeStart.

You're tank will be cycled when your readings are 0 for ammonia and nitrites with 5-10 nitrites.

What test kit are you using?

mitch

when i started the tank everything was 0 then the A went to 8 then dropped NO2 went up and came back down but the NO3 never went up yet. i thought my plants are using it that up for now. (tank is about 3 wks now)

Lucy

Oh, I see, yes, planted tanks can have 0 nitrates.

You can just go to weekly maintenance.
Change about 25% of the water, vacuum the gravel every week or two.
Rinse the filter media in used tank water only when it gets gunked up.