mlfly

My 29 gallon tank is 21 days old. ammonia rose to .25 but nitrites and nitrates show 0. I've read two opinions - change water during cycling and don't change. I decided to change the first time today (25%). Ammonia is 0 and Nitrites and Nitrates still 0. Has the cycling finished or is there still more to go? FYI, I have 6 Danios in from the beginning and am waiting to add more when cycling is finished.

Thanks,

Mike

Lucy

Hi Mike welcome to Fish Lore

You'll know when your tank is cycled by the presence of nitrates with 0 for both ammonia and nitrites.

We normally advise changing the water daily to keep the levels of toxic ammonia and nitrites down for the sake of your fish.

It takes longer this way because you're removing the ammonia that the bacteria needs to develop, however, you're doing it for the health of your fish.

soldieroffortune1974

With the fish,during the cycling process you should do water changes of 50% daily. 2 times at 25% is good or 1 50% change,either way works.It will help the fish survive and be healthier,after the cycle is complete.

If there was no fish,then there would be no reason to change the water during the cycling process.Nothing alive to be harmed during the process.That's the reason for doing the water changes, Keeping the living.... well,living.

You have a while longer to go.

ammonia will rise.
ammonia will drop,while nitrites rise.
ammonia will drop,nitrites will drop while nitrates rise.
ammonia will disappear,nitrites will disappear,nitrates will steady.

ammonia 00ppm nitrites 00ppm nitrates (any level) = cycle is complete

mlfly

Thanks for the responses. I'll step up the water changes. It's not easy. Today I flooded the family room and a nosy dog got an unintentional bath so I can see there's some fun to come.

I sort of expected it wasn't done cycling but I am surprised about the frequency of water changes.

Mike

R.E.

Buy a hose...The best investment I made since I bought the tanks and livestock :P...Even though I have a small apartment, carrying the buckets caused me to flood the lviing room multiple times :P

Made me feel like some kind of demented aquarium slave! Hose changed all that :P :O

Lucy

Oh, yikes! I imagine the dog wasn't happy about that. lol

Dozey

Flood the living room floor At this point I could set my fishies free in my living room.

R.E.

can you imagine a tank instead of a floor? The whole ground floor be made into 1 huge tank with a glass top you can walk on :O imagine cycling that and your tank doesn't seem too bad! Best of luck!

Dozey

I'll let you know how it turns out.

soldieroffortune1974

I suggested to my brother in law (he lives in Flint,MI),that we turn his basement into an aquarium,and replace the wood floor with 1.5 inch glass.That would be awesome sitting on the couch watching TV and see the fish swimming underneath.

mlfly

I grew up in Saginaw (42 miles north of Flint) and can tell you the problem with flooding the floor there - someone will try to ice fish or, worse, a couple of locals will start playing hockey.

I changed water again today thanks to suggestions above. No real change except ammonia is .25. Nitrites and Nitrates still appear at 0 but I'll have a real test kit in a couple of days. Fish are doing fine.

Mike

soldieroffortune1974

That's what he said.That his neighbors would turn his living room into a hockey ring

When you get a better test kit,you just might find the strips aren't reading right (they seldom do)

mlfly

An update: I am 2 days from 4 weeks. Ammonia is between .25 and .5, finally, I see Nitrites at .5. Nitrates are 0. Anything I need to do other than water changes? Maybe find a seatbelt for the ride to come?

Mike

Lucy

lol @ the seatbelts.

Just keep up with the daily water changes and use Prime to detox the ammonia.

I agree with SOF, you'll find the liquid kit will probably give you different readings.

Hang in there, cycling takes patience.

fishlover78

it really does take lots of patience to cycle a tank, trust me I know from personal experience. and Lucy as an off topic question, I use prime to detoxify ammonia but does that mean its still available to the bacteria. because from what I understand it doesn't "eliminate" ammonia it just detoxify it? -fishlover78

Lucy

It's a good question and I should have mentioned that yes, the ammonia will still be available to the bacteria.

fishlover78

oh, thanks Lucy! does stress coat do the same thing? I usually use prime put I have a new unopened bottle of stress, its still good too.

Lucy

Stress Coat+ claims to detox the ammonia too. Plain Stress coat, although a good water condition doesn't detoxify the ammonia.

mlfly

Ammonia is up to 1.0. Nitrites and Nitrates still 0. water change and prime today. It's also time for replacing the Bio Bag on a Whisper 30. I did add the bio foam so the biological side shouldn't be harmed by replacing the Bio Bag. Any thoughts?

Lucy

It'll help the cycle to keep any surface that has bacteria growing on it. By replacing the bio bag, you'll be tossing out some good bacteria.
If it has carbon in it, I would suggest just dumping the carbon and not replacing the entire bag.
Carbon expires and can release toxins back into the tank. Many of us choose not to use it except to filter out meds.

mlfly

Lucy - Thank you for the advice. I will do that. So then it only gets changed when damaged or clogged beyond cleaning?

Knock on wood, all 6 danios are still alive after 5 weeks. More a tribute to their hardiness than my fishkeeping abilities, I'm sure.

By the way, my Whisper did not come with Bio-Foam. I hunted it down and added it so that the bacteria would have a "permanent" home. The Bio-Foam isn't going to be replaced until dead.

Lucy

If it gets clogged you should be able to rinse it out in tank water. Replace it when it's falling apart.

Adding bio-foam was a great idea.