Almost Fully Cycled? (Fish-In Cycle)

[6tetrasnewbie]

Hey all,

I've been researching here and following the advice from multiple threads for the fish-in cycle, especially Mattgirl's posts.
Here are the dates and water parameters within the last several weeks.
I believe I'm close to being cycled, right?
10g Tank
6 Glofish Tetras
No plants (this will change soon)

DATE	pH	NH3	NO2	NO3	Notes
3/21/2024	7.6	0	0	0
3/23/2024	7.8	0.25	0	0
3/25/2024	-	0.5	0	0
3/26/2024	-	1.00	-	-	15% H20 change
3/27/2024	-	1.00	0	-	15% H20 change
3/28/2024	7.40	1.00	0.00	0.00	15% H20 change
3/29/2024	-	1.00	0.00	0.00	Added Prime
3/30/2024	7.60	1.00	0.00	0-5.0
3/30/2024	-	1.00	0.00	-
3/31/2024	-	1.00	0.00	-
4/1/2024	-	1.00	0.25	-	50% H20 change
4/2/2024	-	1.00	0.25	0.00	Added Prime
4/3/2024	-	1.00	0.50	0-5.0	25% H20 change
4/4/2024	-	0.50	2.00	5.00	Added Prime & Stability
4/5/2024	Testing later today	0.25	2.00	Testing later today	50% H20 change, Prime and Stability

 

[StarGirl]

You are getting close. What I would do with a fish in cycle is larger WCs every day I see any spikes in ammonia and nitrite just to keep my fish safe. Keep them as low as I can. Once the ammonia and nitrite stay zero after a WC you should be good.

Adding Prime without a WC is useless IMO. It may or may not help, jury is still out on that one. I just treat it as dechlor. The Stability you could have been adding since day 1. Its a bio booster which some say work and some say snake oil. I dont know enough about it myself, but if you bought it and use it, it wont hurt anything to use it up. You shouldnt need to add anything besides dechlor or ferts each WC like the bottle says. Dont super clean everything all at once and your system should be stable enough by itself.

 

[6tetrasnewbie]

You are getting close. What I would do with a fish in cycle is larger WCs every day I see any spikes in ammonia and nitrite just to keep my fish safe. Keep them as low as I can. Once the ammonia and nitrite stay zero after a WC you should be good.

Adding Prime without a WC is useless IMO. It may or may not help, jury is still out on that one. I just treat it as dechlor. The Stability you could have been adding since day 1. Its a bio booster which some say work and some say snake oil. I dont know enough about it myself, but if you bought it and use it, it wont hurt anything to use it up. You shouldnt need to add anything besides dechlor or ferts each WC like the bottle says. Dont super clean everything all at once and your system should be stable enough by itself.

Thanks for the advice! I just did a 75-80% H20 change. I had a Top Fin BB bottle that I bought with the tank so I used all that first before I started using Stability. I’ll continue to use Stability and Prime with my WC.
Haven’t cleaned anything in the tank yet (even the gravel) because tank is still cycling. But once cycled I’m going to clean that bad boy!
Thanks again!

 

[StarGirl]

Just dont clean everything all at once. As in dont clean anything else when you rinse the filter media, scrape glass one at a time during WCs. Stuff like that, space it out. Thats where you will lose a new cycle. IMO stability is only needed when cycling.

 

[SparkyJones]

Looks good. You'll be done in under 30 days I think.

 

[6tetrasnewbie]

Just dont clean everything all at once. As in dont clean anything else when you rinse the filter media, scrape glass one at a time during WCs. Stuff like that, space it out. Thats where you will lose a new cycle. IMO stability is only needed when cycling.

Got it! Thanks for the tips

Looks good. You'll be done in under 30 days I think.

Thanks! Hopefully (fingers crossed)!

 

[Kwikfab]

Disregard!

Just saw this is fish-in.

 

[6tetrasnewbie]

Disregard!

Just saw this is fish-in.

No worries! Good luck to you,even though you probably don't need it since you're not a green newbie like me

Just dont clean everything all at once. As in dont clean anything else when you rinse the filter media, scrape glass one at a time during WCs. Stuff like that, space it out. Thats where you will lose a new cycle. IMO stability is only needed when cycling.

Here are my water parameters today:

DATE	pH	NH3	NO2	NO3	Notes
4/8/2024	7.00	0.00	2.00	5.00

Also, I tested my tap water and it has 0.5ppm Ammonia. So I've been adding this amount to the ammonia/nitrite results to determine how much prime to dose.

I'm assuming to continue daily PWC until nitrates rise and nitrites fall to 0?

 

[6tetrasnewbie]

I believe I’m almost cycled!
The following has been my water parameters the past 3 days:

4/12,4/13,4/14
NH3: 0
NO2: 0.5
NO3: 10.0

 

[SparkyJones]

I believe I’m almost cycled!
The following has been my water parameters the past 3 days:

4/12,4/13,4/14
NH3: 0
NO2: 0.5
NO3: 10.0

It's basically done, just need the last of the nitrites to convert over to nitrates.
0.5 nitrites isn't gonna hurt anything though it will eventually drop off, just don't do anything extreme for the first couple months so the nitrifying bacteria has time to really get established until then it can be precarious if you do too much at once with the filter.

 

[6tetrasnewbie]

It's basically done, just need the last of the nitrites to convert over to nitrates.
0.5 nitrites isn't gonna hurt anything though it will eventually drop off, just don't do anything extreme for the first couple months so the nitrifying bacteria has time to really get established until then it can be precarious if you do too much at once with the filter.

Right on thanks for the tips! Looking forward to finally have a cycled tank.
I’m looking to add some floaters soon for a low light easy tank.
I definitely appreciate this forum!