Swagamon

So I have a 55 gal tank that I set up and let sit with the filter (penguin 350) for 6 days before I put in 3 Firemouth Cichlids. I have had them for 9 days.

ammonia 0.25
nitrite 0
nitrate 0
Hardiness 50
alkalinity 300
pH 8.4

I feed some Omega One flakes in the morning and then give Tetra Soft krill pellets. Sometimes I give one cube of frozen Krill. My big cichlid only eats the krill soft pellets. Anyways, I'm wondering how you guys think I'm doing and if I'm past the hardest stage. I was also wondering when it would be okay to switch my blood parrot cichlid from my 30 gal to the 55 gal. I am really new to this and I appreciate any help I can get.

Samantha

Lucy

Hi Sammie, welcome to Fish Lore

Unfortunatly, you're just beginning one of the harder stages of cycling, which can take up to a month.
Here's a basic explanation of the nitrogen cycle:
First your ammonia (from fish waste and left over food) will rise.
In a few weeks bacteria will start to develop and you'll see the nitrite levels rise and the ammonia levels start to drop.
After a few more weeks a different kind of bacteria begins to develop and you'll see the nitrate levels rise and the nitrite levels drop.
Ammonia and nitrites are toxic to your fish.
So until your cycle is complete, you need to keep the levels down with daily (505) water changes.
Using Prime as your water conditioner will detox the ammonia for 24 hrs between water changes.
When you having readings of 0 on both ammonia and nitrites with some nitrates showing, your cycle is done.

I know it's be a lot of work, but it'll be worth it for the health of your fish.

Good luck, oh, and we love pics, so post some soon

Beth1965

Welcome to Fishlore!!!
Beth

agabr123

hi and welcome to fishlore

I wouldn't add your BR parrot to your 55 until you get through the cycle in that tank. You'll need to do 50% daily water changes in the 55 until you get consistent readings of 0ppm ammonia, 0ppm nitrIte, and 5-20ppm nitrAte.

pepetj

Welcome to Fishlore Swagamon.

I hope you don't feel too overwhelm with the Nitrogen Cycle info. When I got here I was fortunate that I read about this strange stuff before I got my tank and fish. I believe most new members (I consider myself a newbie in several areas of fishkeeping) that come to Fishlore face the same situation you are now on.

There are more than one solutions at hand.

One is to do a 50% water change every day (even twice a day if needed be) to keep readings of ammonia down, wait for nitrites to show up and then wait for them to fade away. This is what Lucy means by a month (cycling with fish).

Another one is to get a product such as Tetra's SafeStart (or alike) and add it following directions to your tank to speed things up (these products have autotrophic bacteria). This are usually added only one time to the tank, then you keep with standard partial water changes as needed (e.g. weekly or every other week).

Another would be to use products such as Nutrafin's Cycle or Jungle's Start-Zyme (there are others) and keep adding them with every water change until your cycle is done (these products have heterotrophic bacteria). Some fishkeeper believe it will prevent autotrophic bacteria to grow but at most this might slow a bit their take over of the tank, in my honest opinion. I guess that you will need to keep using these type of products for three or four months, but that's just my guessing.

Pepe
Santo Domingo
PS I believe you are using test strips. I use them too as screening test (quick check). Most fishlorians use liquid reagent test kits. API's Freshwater Master test kit is a tried and true, likely the most used here (pH low range, pH high range, Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates).

I prefer Tetra Laborett test although the Nitrate test must be purchased separately (pH freshwater, pH saltwater, Ammonia (both FW and SW), Nitrites (both FW and SW), GH (FW only) and KH (both FW and SW).

aquarist48

Hello Swagamon and WELCOME to Fish Lore. Hang in there! A little hard work now (water changes) will pay off GREATLY in the long run. Relax and don't get overwhelmed. Good luck. We love pictures around here if you have the time and the means.

Drew 43920

Sounds like a lot of food. The easiest thing in the world is to overfeed your fish. I ditto the other's comments about cycling.

Swagamon

Thank you so much everyone. You have all been very helpful!

harpua2002

Swagamon, I would suggest cutting down on your feeding, in addition to following everyone else's great advice. I would feed no more than once a day, maybe even once every other day. Your fish will act like they are starving, but they aren't. It is going to take a lot of water changes to keep your fish healthy through the cycling process, but if you are willing to put in the effort it can certainly be done.