polojoanne

day 9 and toda done 25 % water change levels are ammonnia 0.25, nitrite 0, nitrate 15 introduced a plant an did 50 %change 3 days ago are these numbers good ??

Jake the Fish

Your nitrite and nitrate are good but you ammonia could be hazardous to the fish and has to be 0. You could use some Prime which detoxifies ammonia and nitrites.

aquarist48

Hello Polojoanne.

Your tank isn't cycled until you have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and under 20 nitrates. Have patience It may take a while. I suggest daily water changes of 30 to 50%. Add some Prime or Amquel + to detox the ammonia in the tank for 24 hours until it's time for the next water change. After adding the chemical mentioned to detox, wait 24 hours to test again. Any ammount of amonia can be toxic to your fish.

Tetra Safe Start (TSS) is something you may want to look into to help you speed the cycle. Here is a link:
Q & A With Tetra about Tetra SafeStart

Too, I've noticed in your aquarium information that you use pH powder. Altering your pH levels with chemicals is very risky. They are unstable and can even lead to a pH crash if you aren't careful. You'll pH can fluctuate at any given moment when you use the chemicals. Below is a link on pH that will help you. It gives natural ways of altering your pH without the use of chemicals:
Properly Maintaining the pH in a Freshwater Aquarium - Rate My Fish Tank

Best of luck and keep us posted.
Ken

Diggly

Prime is hard to find in the uk and can take a few days to arrive, I would reccomend getting some for the future.

Are there fish in the tank? if so do a 50% water change, you are almost there so hang on!

Nutter

No your tank is not cycled yet. When your tank is fully cycled you will get readings of: Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0 & only Nitrate will have a reading. By introducing plants while you are cycling, they will consume some or all of the ammonia being produced by your fish. If you have only added one small plant this probably won't make much difference. If you add lots of plants though it will effect your cycle greatly. If you intend to have more plants, add them as soon as possible & then continue with your cycling. You may find that the plants consume all of the ammonia & that you don't get a cycle at all until you add lots more fish.

polojoanne

we have bought the uk equivalent called safe water which removes ammonia and nitrite we will put some in now as weve not used any yet , we only used ph powder the first day we got it thought we needed it lol but were learning i think.

we have 2 schwartz corys and 5 neons as we didnt realise we shoud of waited til cycled they are doing great and nice and active we have all fake plants but wanted to add one real one for the tank but not intending on getting any more plants, we did a 50 %change on fri and a 25 % this morning, just added safe water now and will re test tomorrow,

Merged posts.
Ken

aquarist48

Sounds like you're on the right track Polojoanne. Keep us posted.

I've merged two of your posts to save some space. Anytime there is no response to your post, there is an Edit key at the bottom (of every post) that you can use for additional thoughts and or corrections.
Thanks!
Ken

Meenu

You want to be careful with what product you use. Since ammonia (also nitrites) feeds the beneficial bacteria, you shouldn't remove it. You should use a product that will leave it in the tank but detoxify it, making it safe for the fish.

If you can't get Prime or Amelquel plus, try for ammo-lock, or another product that says it detoxifies, not removes, ammonia.

polojoanne

ok thanks doing another test tonight and c whats happening, the safe water were using says it contains good bacteria and converts the ammonia and nitrites so hoping this is ok

croatinpa

Try this, and im a private person not affiliation to anyone or company.

1)fill tank up with tap water,
2)treat with API stress coat or similar then after 24 hrs and keeping tank temp above 75 use:

3) Microbe-lift special blend
4) Nite-out II.

Ammonia consuming bacteria and Nitrite bacteria are Nitrospira and Nitrosonmoanaomana or something like that, lol, they are in the above products.

This will cycle your tanks rapidly without hassel. YOU WILL GET BUBBLES WITH NITE-OUT II but they go away in 2 days.

HOWEVER dont ADD TAP WATER to your tank and then treat it, TREAT IT FIRST then add to your tank.

chlorine or chloramine is bad for your friend the bacteria!

polojoanne

thanks for that croatinpa will try, today we have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and 10 nitrate woohoo gettin there, we have been putting stress coat in the fresh water before adding so done something right lol, will be doing another 25%change in the morning