Forced_Induction

I have had my tank cycling for about 3 weeks now with 6 Zebra danios. I know its not the best way, but i have nowhere else to put them. I asked about the inital cycle in an earlier thread, and it eas recommended to take the carbon out of the filter, and do daily water changes to keep the ammonia levels down. so for the last 10 days or so, I have been doing almost daily water changes and everything was going ok until about 5 days ago.

I missed testing one day, so i dont know if it just happened, or if it was a gradual change over 2 days, but this is what happened.

Initial test readings: amm: 1.2, nitrItes: 0.3, nitrAtes: 10. That test was taken Jan 4.

Test results after: amm 1.2+, nitrItes 0, nitrAtes 5. this was on the 6th of january.

Now, im not getting any nitrAtes or nitrItes at all, just high ammonia readings. And ive noticed some green algae growing. Its not much, just a few spots here and there.

I dont get it, if the tank was cycled, i should have no ammonia or nitrites, and be getting something for nitrates, but thats not the case.

Can anyone help please?

Nick G

It sounds as if your tank isn't done cycling yet. What sort of test are you using?

Shawnie

for some reason, your cycle has begun again...when you took out the carbon, did you leave the filter media in there or change that out also? some algae issues could be from overfeeding or some kind of natural sunlight getting into the tank..on the nitrate bottle, do you really bang that #2 bottle to mix up the crystals? and also, whats the expiration date on your test kit? the lot # on the bottles you read the last four numbers and thats the month and year they expire...cycleing with fish stinks as you have found out.took me 9 weeks of daily water changes in a 75 gal...i dont miss those days for sure..goodluck and I hope things get back on track soon for you!

Dozey

If it's an API test kit the last four numbers are the month and year of manufacture. The kits are good for 3 years from that date.

jdhef

What test kit are you using. If you are using test strips, you could be getting inaccurate readings.

It seems to me that you are still in the ammonia phase of your cycle, since the ammonia has been holding steady at 1.2. Your ammonia should drop as the nitrites beginning to rise, so you may have had a bad reading on the nitrites when you were showing .3.

As far as nitrates, did you ever test your tap water for nitrates? I have nitrates in my tap water, so it is possible the nitrates came from you tap and not converted nitrites.

3 weeks cycling with fish doing daily water changes, seems about right for the ammonia phase of the cycle. I would suspect that your ammonia should start falling in the next few days.

Forced_Induction

The thing is that at one point, i had higher nitrate and nitrite readings. i had nitrates at 10, and nitrites at .3. Im using Hagen test kits, and the lot numbers are just a letter followed by 2 numbers (eg: A75).

When i removed the carbon, i put the same filter element back in. Also, in the beginning, i didnt know i was supposed to do regular water changes, so for about a week and a half or so, i didnt change the water at all. My ammonia never went above 1.2, and now its getting dangerously close to going above that.

AlyeskaGirl

Do 25% water changes daily if needed to keep it down.....

Shawnie

well I respectfully disagree and have called on that but maybe we talked to two different people because I just got a kit today with that has 0510

jdhef

My thinking (FWIW) was that you were possibly using test strips instead of a liquid test kit, and got an erroneous nitrite reading of .3.

My thinking on nitrates was that maybe you have nitrates in your tap water, and they fluctuate. So by doing water changes, your tank's nitrates would be fluctuating. Or if using test strips, maybe you were getting erroneous readings for nitrates also.

Forced_Induction

The test kit i have is the liquid type taken in a test tube. I have tested our tap water, and it has no ammonia or nitrites, and <5 nitrates. Enough nitrates to change the color a bit, but not enough to show as 5.