Am I Going Through A Silent Cycle?

HI all!

I decided to get back into fishkeeping. Here is the set up:

-20 gallon tall tank
-seachem fluorite substrate
-fluval plant LED 3.0 (gradual sunrise from 9am - noon, 80% light from noon to 6, gradual sunset from 6pm-8pm. Blue light at 1% until sunrise)
-aquaclear 50 with standard foam at the bottom, polishing pad, bio media.
-Top fin 20 silentstream modified with just polyfill and more bio media.
-100w heater

Plants:
x 2 anubias nana
x 1 rosetta sword
x 1 el Nino firm
X 1 anubias congensis
x 1 alternanthera reineckiI (I could be wrong on this one)
x 1 driftwood

Fish:
6 tiger barbs at the moment to cycle with

Planning to add 2 red wag platy, 2 sunburst platy, 2 mollies, and a bristlenose pleco in the future. Maybe a dwarf gourami or two but I'm not sure about this yet. Thoughts on the stocking?

When I first set the tank up I used tetra aquasafe to treat the water, ran for 24 hours then added TSS. A few hours later I added the tiger barbs. They are doing great with no issues.

I have been testing the water basically everyday after adding the fish and TSS (been a little OCD, making sure my tank isn't crashing, and making sure I catch anything off right away). I am using the API freshwater master kit.

Today is day 8 and my parameters are:
PH - 7.2
Ammonia - about .25ppm it's been like this everyday so far with no drops or spikes which I find really odd.

Nitrite have been zero from the get go which I find odd as well.

Nitrates have been slowly rising. I'm at about 20ppm at the moment.

My question is did my tank cycle or did I go through a silent cycle? What should I be expecting?

Also a couple of my plants looked a little rough, so I added a couple root tabs near some of the plants in the tank and dosed 1.5ml of flourish and 2ml of excel last night. This morning the struggling plants that started looking slightly yellow are starting to perk up.

Was it ok to use the root tabs, flourish, and excel last night? Should I expect anything out of the ordinary from this?

Thank you!

 

Sometimes using Safestart you won’t see nitrites rise and drop. Almost ready for partial water change. Not sure about the excel or flourish effects on cycling. Looks like almost cycled.

 

Sometimes using Safestart you won’t see nitrites rise and drop. Almost ready for partial water change. Not sure about the excel or flourish effects on cycling. Looks like almost cycled.

When would you recommend the water change and how much? 10% 20%?

 

It looks to me like the TSS is working perfectly. As Donthemon said. When using TSS it isn't unusual to skip the nitrite spike.

At this point I would just let the TSS finish its work. I've never used bottled bacteria but it seems to be one of the more reliable ones when used correctly.

As long as your ammonia and PH stay where they are I would hold off on doing a water change just now. If the nitrates go up above 40 or your PH starts dropping it will be time to do one.

 

I am going through a new tank cycle as well using API quick start and find it very frustrating. I have low ammonia, and 5 to 10ppm nitrates and my nitrites are always, always 0ppm. Did I say Always!

 

It looks to me like the TSS is working perfectly. As Donthemon said. When using TSS it isn't unusual to skip the nitrite spike.

At this point I would just let the TSS finish its work. I've never used bottled bacteria but it seems to be one of the more reliable ones when used correctly.

As long as your ammonia and PH stay where they are I would hold off on doing a water change just now. If the nitrates go up above 40 or your PH starts dropping it will be time to do one.

Great info! I really appreciate it! So when I eventually do a water change, I have both prime and Tetra Aquasafe. Based on the info on my original post does it matter which one I use during the water change?

I am going through a new tank cycle as well using API quick start and find it very frustrating. I have low ammonia, and 5 to 10ppm nitrates and my nitrites are always, always 0ppm. Did I say Always!

I thought I was going nuts! After researching the forum all week I finally decided to join and ask the wonderful community here!

 

I have also ordered Dr Tim's bottle of bacteria and some ammonia. I have been reading it is the only actual live bacteria that sustains the cycle once started. I do have a lone cherry shrimp(the lfs sold me 3 saying my tank had cycled). I had 3 but 2 died in less than 12 hours. Checked my tank again and sure enough, ammonia at 0.25ppm. They gave me credit for the shrimp. I plan to take the 3rd one back and just do the Dr Tim's ammonia thing. Must be a tuff cherry shrimp

 

Great info! I really appreciate it! So when I eventually do a water change, I have both prime and Tetra Aquasafe. Based on the info on my original post does it matter which one I use during the water change?

They are both essentially the same, but Prime is cheaper per volume of water treated.
I would also drop the Mollies off your stocking list and just stick with the platys and BN.

 

It's going to be a while before you can add fish, and that should be done slowly 1-2 fish at at a time and then wait because it's going to change your bioload and it needs to build up again each time you add fish especially in new tanks. You might be a little overstocked, consider the total length of the fish full grown... an thumb rule is an inch per gallon.
Welcome back to fish keeping!

 

Great info! I really appreciate it! So when I eventually do a water change, I have both prime and Tetra Aquasafe. Based on the info on my original post does it matter which one I use during the water change?

I would use the Prime. AquaSafe was the only thing I ever used until I discovered Prime. It is first and foremost a water conditioner but it goes one step farther and detoxed low ammonia levels. On top of that it takes so very little of it it is very cost effective.

Instead of letting your AquaSafe go to waste you might want to go ahead and use it once your tank finishes its cycle and you no longer register any ammonia. I am thinking the original AS I used for years only removed chlorine and heavy metals. The newer AS+ removes both chlorine and chloramines. It seems more and more water companies are now adding chloramines so make sure what you have is the Plus.

thought I was going nuts! After researching the forum all week I finally decided to join and ask the wonderful community here!

And we a very happy that you did.

 

an thumb rule is an inch per gallon.

This "rule" has been debunked for some time because it doesn't take in numerous variables like temperament and bioload.

 

This "rule" has been debunked for some time because it doesn't take in numerous variables like temperament and bioload.

Keeps my fish alive!

 

I would just stick with a bigger school of tiger barbs and the bn and skip the plate and molly they may get beat up by the barbs if the school is too small and they wander off

 

Side note. Is it just me or is the ammonia and nitrate hard to read on the API master kit? I have a very difficult time reading the nitrate because 10 - 20 ppm looks identical. Ammonia is sometimes hard to read as well.