Cycling with fish was not the plan

I haven't had a tank in over 40 years so it's a learning curve. I tried to gauge from other posts what information might be most useful, but that's something else I'll learn along the way.

My grandson wanted a beta I encouraged him to look into a freshwater tank and find out how to set it up, different fish, environments, etc. I had a 55 gal saltwater tank when I was 16 and even though it was a lot of work – especially on the front end – I loved having the tank in my room.

The end of January we bought a 20 gal tank kit at a big box store, aware that it would limit what fish he could get. His aunt and uncle helped him set up the tank. Placement, gravel, accessories, water, filter, water conditioner and bacteria starter and tested with the API Master kit. Alrighty then, they’re going to go get the fish!

I said it wasn’t that simple and the tank had to be “conditioned” (maybe that’s an obsolete term but, until 4 days ago, I’d never heard of “cycling”) and they needed to look into it.

Fast forward 3 weeks of the empty tank sitting there and Thursday he came home from the pet store with "Fred", a golden panda (orange/black) molly, as well as a second o/b molly, 2 dumbo guppies and an orange platy. Actually not a terrible starter group… if he knew if the tank was ready. By Saturday the tank was cloudy and I asked about the levels, but didn’t know what it meant. He talked to the pet store and Monday we did a water change. We lost a molly on Tuesday and a guppy on Wednesday. Right now, the platy doesn't look good at all, fins are droopy and the only swimming it’s doing is on the surface.

I’m now the overseer of the tank. It’s me, Fred (the molly), a platy and a guppy. Everybody else is on grunt work duty.

Here's the timeline
Thursday - fish added to tank
Saturday - tank is cloudy, same levels as below
Sunday – same
Monday – 25% water change & added water conditioner only for 5 gal and bacteria starter for 20 gal
Tuesday - Replaced the power filter (but not the filter cartridge!) with the same model because I thought it wasn’t moving enough water, however the 2nd filter wasn’t any different. Added bacteria starter.
Wednesday – 40% water change; conditioner for full 20 gal and bacteria starter.

If I'm understanding correctly, so long as the ammonia/nitrites are high, we need to be doing water changes frequently – as often as daily - to protect the tanks occupants. This being week one, it’ll be ‘several’ more weeks. Right now we're syphoning with 5 gal buckets. I'm looking into a tank siphon/ gravel cleaner, but since I only have so many hours in a day, I'll delegate it to my daughter and son-in-law who mistakenly took my hesitation for procrastination.

Questions I have
When I handled the filter Tuesday, it was covered in slime – the consistency of which I can only describe as ‘elephant snot’. Is it supposed to be like that? Or is it because I added bacteria starter? It didn’t look like that in the videos and I don't know I ever saw a description of the highly coveted bacteria. And if it is like that I’m surprised there’s not a whole thread dedicated to it.

How to determine if the cycling is as it should be and how often and what percent for a water change?

Do we add anything other than water conditioner (Prime) when we do the water change and is the dosage always based on the entire tank? I will have the Prime tomorrow (Friday), so going forward should we use that as the conditioner with added benefit of detoxifying - taking some of the stress off the fish?

Should we use a gravel cleaner in 1 or more of the water changes? When we did the water exchanges, a lot of debris kicked up. For sure my grandson was overfeeding, and I mean a lot, especially when considering, at the time, he'd only been feeding them for 4 days. I confirmed he doesn’t know what is a “pinch” of something. He'll figure it out once he starts doing regular cleaning maintenance.

Would it help to use bacteria from an established tank with fish-in cycling? What if it's not fish but crustaceans? A friend of my grandson successfully raises all sorts of crabs/crustaceans.

And fwiw, the tank light stopped working Saturday as well. Things being what they are right now, I don’t know how significant that is to growing the bacteria or not. What I read, for the most part, was in reference to live plants. It’ll be replaced, but is it a priority?

Levels (8:00 pm yesterday)
Ammonia 1.0
PH 7.6
NO2 0
NO3 0
Temp 80 degrees

After doing some more research, I ordered the test kit for GH & KH and Prime.
I’d appreciate any information on how best to proceed, the goal being my grandson learn what is a healthy sustainable tank that’s safe for the fish.

 

Hi there.

A lot of information you provided, thank you! It helps a lot. I think to answer your questions, I'll start with some more general information then go into the specifics.

First, cycling. The definition of what a cycled tank is varies based on who you talk to, which also means the definition of cycling itself varies. It boils down to establishing nitrifiers, which are microorganisms (bacteria and other creatures) that can convert ammonia to nitrite, and then nitrite to nitrate, each less toxic than the last. Nitrate is removed by denitrification (less likely to occur, has to have specific conditions), or by algae/plants, or water changes. To me, cycling means to establish enough nitrifiers to handle a fully stocked tank, though to a lot it also just means establishing enough nitrifiers to handle a slow stocking of the tank.

This process can be quickened by adding nitrifiers via established biomedia or from certain bottled bac products. Not all bottled bac products contain the right type of microorganism however. Can I ask what is the name of the product itself? That can help me determine if you added the right product.

Now, specifics.

Yes, you can take some nitrifiers from an established tank. It does not matter what the live stock is, though preferably the pH should be similar.

Yes, Prime detoxifies ammonia and nitrite, allegedly anyways. The proper way to use it is to dose 1x dosage per 1ppm ammonia/nitrite, up to 5ppm. Every 48 hours. When ammonia/nitrite approaches 5ppm, do a water change to reduce concentrations of ammonia/nitrite. Prime does not make ammonia/nitrite unavailable to the nitrifiers.

The slime and cloudiness are likely from non-nitrifying heterotrophs, likely consuming the organic matter (and some of the ammonia, but not all). They are not normally harmful, though in large numbers can cause oxygen levels to significantly drop and suffocate the fish. On that note, the nitrifiers we want are generally invisible, basically, so no one can actually see them, at least not in our tanks (we can still quite easily see them in a petri dish).

So the way to do the cycle right now is yes, just to do water changes when ammonia/nitrite get too high, and dose Prime.

 

The best fish in cycle advice I can give is feed lightly. A flake or two per fish every other day is plenty at this stage.

 

I haven't had a tank in over 40 years so it's a learning curve. I tried to gauge from other posts what information might be most useful, but that's something else I'll learn along the way.

My grandson wanted a beta I encouraged him to look into a freshwater tank and find out how to set it up, different fish, environments, etc. I had a 55 gal saltwater tank when I was 16 and even though it was a lot of work – especially on the front end – I loved having the tank in my room.

The end of January we bought a 20 gal tank kit at a big box store, aware that it would limit what fish he could get. His aunt and uncle helped him set up the tank. Placement, gravel, accessories, water, filter, water conditioner and bacteria starter and tested with the API Master kit. Alrighty then, they’re going to go get the fish!

I said it wasn’t that simple and the tank had to be “conditioned” (maybe that’s an obsolete term but, until 4 days ago, I’d never heard of “cycling”) and they needed to look into it.

Fast forward 3 weeks of the empty tank sitting there and Thursday he came home from the pet store with "Fred", a golden panda (orange/black) molly, as well as a second o/b molly, 2 dumbo guppies and an orange platy. Actually not a terrible starter group… if he knew if the tank was ready. By Saturday the tank was cloudy and I asked about the levels, but didn’t know what it meant. He talked to the pet store and Monday we did a water change. We lost a molly on Tuesday and a guppy on Wednesday. Right now, the platy doesn't look good at all, fins are droopy and the only swimming it’s doing is on the surface.

I’m now the overseer of the tank. It’s me, Fred (the molly), a platy and a guppy. Everybody else is on grunt work duty.

Here's the timeline
Thursday - fish added to tank
Saturday - tank is cloudy, same levels as below
Sunday – same
Monday – 25% water change & added water conditioner only for 5 gal and bacteria starter for 20 gal
Tuesday - Replaced the power filter (but not the filter cartridge!) with the same model because I thought it wasn’t moving enough water, however the 2nd filter wasn’t any different. Added bacteria starter.
Wednesday – 40% water change; conditioner for full 20 gal and bacteria starter.

If I'm understanding correctly, so long as the ammonia/nitrites are high, we need to be doing water changes frequently – as often as daily - to protect the tanks occupants. This being week one, it’ll be ‘several’ more weeks. Right now we're syphoning with 5 gal buckets. I'm looking into a tank siphon/ gravel cleaner, but since I only have so many hours in a day, I'll delegate it to my daughter and son-in-law who mistakenly took my hesitation for procrastination.

Questions I have
When I handled the filter Tuesday, it was covered in slime – the consistency of which I can only describe as ‘elephant snot’. Is it supposed to be like that? Or is it because I added bacteria starter? It didn’t look like that in the videos and I don't know I ever saw a description of the highly coveted bacteria. And if it is like that I’m surprised there’s not a whole thread dedicated to it.

How to determine if the cycling is as it should be and how often and what percent for a water change?

Do we add anything other than water conditioner (Prime) when we do the water change and is the dosage always based on the entire tank? I will have the Prime tomorrow (Friday), so going forward should we use that as the conditioner with added benefit of detoxifying - taking some of the stress off the fish?

Should we use a gravel cleaner in 1 or more of the water changes? When we did the water exchanges, a lot of debris kicked up. For sure my grandson was overfeeding, and I mean a lot, especially when considering, at the time, he'd only been feeding them for 4 days. I confirmed he doesn’t know what is a “pinch” of something. He'll figure it out once he starts doing regular cleaning maintenance.

Would it help to use bacteria from an established tank with fish-in cycling? What if it's not fish but crustaceans? A friend of my grandson successfully raises all sorts of crabs/crustaceans.

And fwiw, the tank light stopped working Saturday as well. Things being what they are right now, I don’t know how significant that is to growing the bacteria or not. What I read, for the most part, was in reference to live plants. It’ll be replaced, but is it a priority?

Levels (8:00 pm yesterday)
Ammonia 1.0
PH 7.6
NO2 0
NO3 0
Temp 80 degrees

After doing some more research, I ordered the test kit for GH & KH and Prime.
I’d appreciate any information on how best to proceed, the goal being my grandson learn what is a healthy sustainable tank that’s safe for the fish.

Welcome to Fishlore!

During a fish-in cycle, test your water parameters daily and change enough water (maybe daily depending on test results) to keep the combined level of ammonia and nitrites at or below 0.50 ppm.

Sorry if I missed what test kit you’re using, but I’d recommend the API Master Test kit.

Seachem Prime is great stuff. I use it myself and recommend using it all the time. But, I DON’T recommend using more than a single dose of Prime. As a matter of fact, Seachem only recommends multiple doses in emergency situations.

So, rather than using more than a single dose of Prime, I’d strongly recommend a water change!

Using filter media or even substrate from an already cycled tank should at least give your tank’s cycle a jump start. Just be certain that the tank you’re transferring from is healthy and disease free.

Finally, about bottled bacteria. . . I’ve used 3 or 4 different brands and I’m not convinced they do much, if anything, to speed up the cycling process.

 

To answer your question regarding how to know if the cycle is progressing, you just have to keep testing. At some point soon you will start to see nitrites, which will show you that the ammonia is being converted by the bacteria into nitrites. After the nitrite stage, you will start to see nitrates, and once both the ammonia and nitrites are always testing at 0ppm, the tank is cycled. Before then, change as much water as you need to in order to keep the combined level of ammonia and nitrite below 0.5ppm.

Oh, also, I would reduce the temperature to 76F. Ammonia is less toxic at lower temperatures because it converts to ammonium (less toxic but deadly once you hit about 5ppm). 80 is on the higher end of the temperature ranges for the fish you've got (especially the platy), so they are likely to be healthier and live longer if you drop the temperature by a few degrees.

 

Hi,
Welcome to fishlore!
I agree to lower the temperature to about 76 to keep the water safer. At your PH of 7.6 keep the ammonia and nitrites below .75. Your nitrites can be a bit higher at your ph but I’d say just aim to keep them below 1.0 while cycling. You can dose prime for the full tank every 48 hours or so but I agree with the above, you only ever want to dose 5x in an emergency situation and don’t want to let your ammonia and nitrites get that high.

Yes, it would definitely be helpful to have some cycled media from the other tank you mentioned.

Highly recommend siphoning out all that fish food as it will add to the ammonia source in the tank. Tell your grandson that a fish’s stomach is about the size of it’s eye, so they need very little food.

I’d rinse the “elephant snot” off, that is bio-film and probably built up so fast from the food and the bottled bacteria you bought. Now that you’re left with 3 fish it should be pretty easy to keep the parameters safe while cycling with the fish in. Rinse the filter well in the old tank water.

Don’t worry about the light for now. The growing bacteria colonies are more touchy about PH and temperature.

Yes, Prime detoxifies ammonia and nitrite, allegedly anyways. The proper way to use it is to dose 1x dosage per 1ppm ammonia/nitrite, up to 5ppm. Every 48 hours. When ammonia/nitrite approaches 5ppm, do a water change to reduce concentrations of ammonia/nitrite. Prime does not make ammonia/nitrite unavailable to the nitrifiers.

So the way to do the cycle right now is yes, just to do water changes when ammonia/nitrite get too high, and dose Prime.

Prime should only be dosed like that in an emergency, best to keep ammonia and nitrite below 1.0 generally when cycling with fish-in.

 

Great advice from all the awesome fishlore peeps. from what I understand, you don't want to overdose Prime because it detoxifies ammonia and nitrite by bonding them with oxygen in the water. So, too much bonding takes an undesirable amount of oxygen out of the water. As was said, that's one of the reasons to do a water change keeping combined ammonia and nitrites below 1.

 

Great advice from all the awesome fishlore peeps. from what I understand, you don't want to overdose Prime because it detoxifies ammonia and nitrite by bonding them with oxygen in the water. So, too much bonding takes an undesirable amount of oxygen out of the water. As was said, that's one of the reasons to do a water change keeping combined ammonia and nitrites below 1.

This has been discussed, debated and even tested. . .
Can dechlorinators deplete oxygen? | Water Supplements Forum | 453252

While Seachem warns against overdosing Prime (https://seachem.zendesk.com/hc/en-u...FAQ-Is-it-possible-to-overdose-Seachem-Prime-), I think the conclusion has been that it would take a massive overdose to significantly reduce oxygen levels. Given Seachem’s warning, however, overdosing to any extent should be avoided IMO.

All that said, all (or most) of us chose to keep fish as pets. If we’re unwilling to do water changes or would prefer to use chemicals in lieu of water changes, maybe fish keeping wasn’t the right choice?

applejax The last paragraph above wasn’t directed at you or your post. Just me sharing my perspective/opinion about using more than a single dose of Prime in order to avoid water changes.

 

Prime should only be dosed like that in an emergency

I disagree. Prime is safe to be used in situations like this, no need for it to be reserved only for emergencies.

Great advice from all the awesome fishlore peeps. from what I understand, you don't want to overdose Prime because it detoxifies ammonia and nitrite by bonding them with oxygen in the water. So, too much bonding takes an undesirable amount of oxygen out of the water. As was said, that's one of the reasons to do a water change keeping combined ammonia and nitrites below 1.

This is correct, however it has to be at more than 5x dosage for this to be a danger. Hence why it is safe to dose 5x dosage, and also to let ammonia/nitrite go higher than 1ppm.

 

I disagree. Prime is safe to be used in situations like this, no need for it to be reserved only for emergencies.

This is correct, however it has to be at more than 5x dosage for this to be a danger. Hence why it is safe to dose 5x dosage, and also to let ammonia/nitrite go higher than 1ppm.

Directly from Seachem’s website. . . “To detoxify nitrite in an emergency, up to 5 times normal dose may be used.”
https://seachem.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/115000125454-Info-Seachem-Prime-dosing-

I‘ll continue to assume that Seachem knows more about their product than I/we do and that they have a reason for using the phrase ”in an emergency “. And I’ll continue to believe that simply wanting to avoid a water change would likely fall outside of Seachem’s definition of an emergency.

 

I disagree. Prime is safe to be used in situations like this, no need for it to be reserved only for emergencies.

This is correct, however it has to be at more than 5x dosage for this to be a danger. Hence why it is safe to dose 5x dosage, and also to let ammonia/nitrite go higher than 1ppm.

People come here looking to take care of their fish responsibly. Advising anyone to let ammonia and/or nitrite combinations reach 5ppm while cycling with fish-in is not just bad advice but teaches irresponsible fish keeping habits. You give great advice on fishless cycling, it would be great to see that also on fish-in cycling and having them do more water changes.

 

People come here looking to take care of their fish responsibly. Advising anyone to let ammonia and/or nitrite combinations reach 5ppm while cycling with fish-in is not just bad advice but teaches irresponsible fish keeping habits. You give great advice on fishless cycling, it would be great to see that also on fish-in cycling and having them do more water changes.

I still disagree. When I first joined the hobby I wished others gave me the entirety of information rather than bits and pieces in fear of someone being new. It made it hard to trust others later on when they keep on asserting information that was wrong. And that's lucky that I am someone who actually go around checking for accuracy of information. Worse is when advice, with all good intent, leads to spread of misinformation, which is very unfortunate.

We will just have to agree to disagree on this, because here my perception is very different from yours, and it's not about facts that there can be evidence for or against, but the way we believe the hobby should work.

 

I still disagree. When I first joined the hobby I wished others gave me the entirety of information rather than bits and pieces in fear of someone being new. It made it hard to trust others later on when they keep on asserting information that was wrong. And that's lucky that I am someone who actually go around checking for accuracy of information. Worse is when advice, with all good intent, leads to spread of misinformation, which is very unfortunate.

We will just have to agree to disagree on this, because here my perception is very different from yours, and it's not about facts that there can be evidence for or against, but the way we believe the hobby should work.

Please correct me if I’ve misinterpreted your post.

You give the entirety of information. Everyone else, including Seachem, Dr. Tim, Tetra and probably a few others I’ve missed, give bits and pieces and/or wrong information?

 

Wow, what a wonderful community! Thank you all so much for the helpful responses!

Hi there.

A lot of information you provided, thank you! It helps a lot. I think to answer your questions, I'll start with some more general information then go into the specifics.

First, cycling. The definition of what a cycled tank is varies based on who you talk to, which also means the definition of cycling itself varies. It boils down to establishing nitrifiers, which are microorganisms (bacteria and other creatures) that can convert ammonia to nitrite, and then nitrite to nitrate, each less toxic than the last. Nitrate is removed by denitrification (less likely to occur, has to have specific conditions), or by algae/plants, or water changes. To me, cycling means to establish enough nitrifiers to handle a fully stocked tank, though to a lot it also just means establishing enough nitrifiers to handle a slow stocking of the tank.

This process can be quickened by adding nitrifiers via established biomedia or from certain bottled bac products. Not all bottled bac products contain the right type of microorganism however. Can I ask what is the name of the product itself? That can help me determine if you added the right product.

Now, specifics.

Yes, you can take some nitrifiers from an established tank. It does not matter what the live stock is, though preferably the pH should be similar.

Yes, Prime detoxifies ammonia and nitrite, allegedly anyways. The proper way to use it is to dose 1x dosage per 1ppm ammonia/nitrite, up to 5ppm. Every 48 hours. When ammonia/nitrite approaches 5ppm, do a water change to reduce concentrations of ammonia/nitrite. Prime does not make ammonia/nitrite unavailable to the nitrifiers.

The slime and cloudiness are likely from non-nitrifying heterotrophs, likely consuming the organic matter (and some of the ammonia, but not all). They are not normally harmful, though in large numbers can cause oxygen levels to significantly drop and suffocate the fish. On that note, the nitrifiers we want are generally invisible, basically, so no one can actually see them, at least not in our tanks (we can still quite easily see them in a petri dish).

So the way to do the cycle right now is yes, just to do water changes when ammonia/nitrite get too high, and dose Prime.

Azedenkae - Thank you so much for the succinct explanation of cycling a tank and the insight that it could mean different things to people helps clear up a lot of confusion from what I read on other sites. I try not to fall into "confirmation bias" and vet a site and the information, not just take the first thing I see as fact. But without some understanding to filter what I was reading, it seemed inconsistent, if not oppositional. I appreciate your not giving it to me in "bits and pieces". I may not understand the info given to me all at once, but at least I have what I need to work it out, not missing a key piece. And the bacteria product came with the tank kit - Top Fin readistart nitrifying bacteria starter. I mistakenly thought it would help produce the bacteria necessary for the tanks homeostasis and from your explanation I now understand that it isn't necessary and I need to be patient.

To answer your question regarding how to know if the cycle is progressing, you just have to keep testing. At some point soon you will start to see nitrites, which will show you that the ammonia is being converted by the bacteria into nitrites. After the nitrite stage, you will start to see nitrates, and once both the ammonia and nitrites are always testing at 0ppm, the tank is cycled. Before then, change as much water as you need to in order to keep the combined level of ammonia and nitrite below 0.5ppm.

Oh, also, I would reduce the temperature to 76F. Ammonia is less toxic at lower temperatures because it converts to ammonium (less toxic but deadly once you hit about 5ppm). 80 is on the higher end of the temperature ranges for the fish you've got (especially the platy), so they are likely to be healthier and live longer if you drop the temperature by a few degrees.

nj278 - We've got the temp down to 76 (as measured on my Taylor thermometer probe - the tank thermometer appears to be reading 2 degrees lower so I don't know that I trust it yet). The ammonia has been consistent at 1.00 ppm, no nitrite yet. At least I won't panic when it does show up and I'll know it's part of the process. My understanding is until there is a level of nitrites, the ammonia is not going to be zero, is that correct?

Hi,
Welcome to fishlore!
I agree to lower the temperature to about 76 to keep the water safer. At your PH of 7.6 keep the ammonia and nitrites below .75. Your nitrites can be a bit higher at your ph but I’d say just aim to keep them below 1.0 while cycling. You can dose prime for the full tank every 48 hours or so but I agree with the above, you only ever want to dose 5x in an emergency situation and don’t want to let your ammonia and nitrites get that high.

Yes, it would definitely be helpful to have some cycled media from the other tank you mentioned.

Highly recommend siphoning out all that fish food as it will add to the ammonia source in the tank. Tell your grandson that a fish’s stomach is about the size of it’s eye, so they need very little food.

I’d rinse the “elephant snot” off, that is bio-film and probably built up so fast from the food and the bottled bacteria you bought. Now that you’re left with 3 fish it should be pretty easy to keep the parameters safe while cycling with the fish in. Rinse the filter well in the old tank water.

Don’t worry about the light for now. The growing bacteria colonies are more touchy about PH and temperature.

CindiL - I told my grandson a fish's stomach is the size of it's eye, and he laughed about giving them a smorgasbord and causing obesity. We're going to clean the tank on Monday so he gets in the routine of monthly cleaning right off the bat. I rinsed the slime off the filter and it's running much better - thank you as that was driving me crazy! I was adding bacteria "starter" and I'm guessing that was a big factor in the snottiness.

Welcome to Fishlore!

During a fish-in cycle, test your water parameters daily and change enough water (maybe daily depending on test results) to keep the combined level of ammonia and nitrites at or below 0.50 ppm.

Sorry if I missed what test kit you’re using, but I’d recommend the API Master Test kit.

Seachem Prime is great stuff. I use it myself and recommend using it all the time. But, I DON’T recommend using more than a single dose of Prime. As a matter of fact, Seachem only recommends multiple doses in emergency situations.

So, rather than using more than a single dose of Prime, I’d strongly recommend a water change!

Using filter media or even substrate from an already cycled tank should at least give your tank’s cycle a jump start. Just be certain that the tank you’re transferring from is healthy and disease free.

Finally, about bottled bacteria. . . I’ve used 3 or 4 different brands and I’m not convinced they do much, if anything, to speed up the cycling process.

We are using the API Master. I got the Prime because our tap water has chloramine, I know this from my plants. From what I found, Prime handles chloramine better than other conditioners. I couldn't agree with you more - the motto in our home is "do what is right, not what is easy". I've made it very clear to my grandson that we'll do what is necessary for Fred (the molly) and his companions, I don't care how many buckets of water he has to carry. He brought them into our home and we're responsible for them. Besides, I really like Fred, we hit it off on day one...

Great advice from all the awesome fishlore peeps. from what I understand, you don't want to overdose Prime because it detoxifies ammonia and nitrite by bonding them with oxygen in the water. So, too much bonding takes an undesirable amount of oxygen out of the water. As was said, that's one of the reasons to do a water change keeping combined ammonia and nitrites below 1.

Thank you, applejax, that's really important information and a reminder how crucial it is to be aware of any potential impact on an ecosystem.

So, we have the temp at 76, cleaned the 'snot' off the filter, feeding once a day at 2 flakes per fish. The levels haven't changed, so we're doing water changes every other day alternating 25% & 40% using Prime as the conditioner and making sure the temp is the same, anticipating the changes in levels as the tank cycles, learning the fish's activities to use as a barometer for how it's going. Next week is setting up a housekeeping routine - "vacuuming" all the leftover food and learn what needs to be done to clean and maintain a healthy tank.

Again, thanks to all for your help and insights. I was thrown into this and in a panic, but now I feel better that we're doing our best for Fred (the molly), Zsa Zsa (the guppy) and the little guy (a molly - his name hasn't come to me yet). I don't necessarily name every fish in the tank lol. For now, it gives me a feeling of connectedness and will help my grandson to recognize they too are living beings and we're responsible for them.

Fred is certainly doing his part in establishing his personhood as he is brave and very curious - he checks out the siphon every time and kind of hangs in the vicinity when it's in the tank. After we add the water and take out the siphon, he gets a little crazy and zings all over for couple of minutes. He's a total tank guy, and likes to lay at the front of the tank then zip off. Zsa Zsa is shy but she'll come out to see what all the fuss is about - just a little at first, then a little more till she's in the middle of the tank; always on the left, she doesn't do the right side of the tank. The little guy likes the current created by the hose when we're adding water. I think he'll like a bubbler and I want to get Zsa Zsa some guppy friends. Eventually, we'll get a sturdier hood, introduce the cats, and set up a bench so they can watch the activity. All in good time...

 

My understanding is until there is a level of nitrites, the ammonia is not going to be zero, is that correct?

Maybe.

Because you used bottled bacteria, you might not see nitrites at all. I’ve cycled several tanks using bottled bacteria without ever seeing nitrites. Or you might see ammonia and nitrites at the same time.

Unless you use filter media, substrate, whatever from an established and already cycled tank, the cycling process typically takes 4 - 6 weeks. You’ll know your tank is cycled when ammonia and nitrites are zero with some level of nitrates.

About water changes. . . As I said in one of the posts above, test your water parameters daily and change enough water (maybe daily depending on test results) to keep the combined level of ammonia and nitrites at or below 0.50 ppm. Use a single dose (based on the entire volume of your tank) of Prime at each water change and be sure to match the temperature of the water you’re adding to the tank water temperature.

Good luck to you and your grandson. You sound like an awesome Pap!