20 Gallon Tank Fish In Cycle Finishing??

Been cycling my planted 20 gallon tank with 2 balloon mollies. My readings are 0.25-0.50 ammonia, 0.25 Nitrite and 20 Nitrate.

Am I nearing the end of my cycle? And should i feed my (greedy) mollies less in the process?

 

Been cycling my planted 20 gallon tank with 2 balloon mollies. My readings are 0.25-0.50 ammonia, 0.25 Nitrite and 20 Nitrate.

Am I nearing the end of my cycle? And should i feed my (greedy) mollies less in the process?

It is cycling, but I would do a 50% water change immediately to get the ammonia and nitrite levels down so that your fish aren't stressed.

 

Been cycling my planted 20 gallon tank with 2 balloon mollies. My readings are 0.25-0.50 ammonia, 0.25 Nitrite and 20 Nitrate.

Am I nearing the end of my cycle? And should i feed my (greedy) mollies less in the process?

Before we can answer that question we need to know more about it.

If this tank has been up and running for a month or more with fish in it then I would say yes, you are nearing the end of the cycle. If it has just been a couple of weeks the cycle may just be starting.

I see you have Prime. As long as you keep the numbers where they are or lower the Prime is going to help protect your fish. Go ahead and feed your fish their normal amount at least once a day.

How often are you doing water changes? How much do you change each time?

It is cycling, but I would do a 50% water change immediately to get the ammonia and nitrite levels down so that your fish aren't stressed.

We really need more information before recommending doing this. The OP is using Prime. When fish in cycling we will see these kinds of numbers. The water change may very well be needed but until we know more we are just shooting in the dark.

 

Before we can answer that question we need to know more about it.

If this tank has been up and running for a month or more with fish in it then I would say yes, you are nearing the end of the cycle. If it has just been a couple of weeks the cycle may just be starting.

I see you have Prime. As long as you keep the numbers where they are or lower the Prime is going to help protect your fish. Go ahead and feed your fish their normal amount at least once a day.

How often are you doing water changes? How much do you change each time?

We really need more information before recommending doing this. The OP is using Prime. When fish in cycling we will see these kinds of numbers. The water change may very well be needed but until we know more we are just shooting in the dark.

Thanks for the reply, It's been a week of cycling using seeded media and I also used fritzzyme in the middle of the week as for water changes, I been doing 50% water change every 2 days.

 

Thanks for the reply, It's been a week of cycling using seeded media and I also used fritzzyme in the middle of the week as for water changes, I been doing 50% water change every 2 days.

Although others might disagree with me, I think that doing 50% water changes every two days is unnecessary and potentially harmful to the cycle. For a tank to be fully cycled, beneficial bacteria have to grow on every possible surface within the aquarium. However, the bacteria only spread from one place to another through the water column. Thus, by doing 50% water changes that often, you are reducing the concentration of bacteria in the water column., so they do not spread as rapidly.

You indicated that you are using FritzZyme which contains nitrifying bacteria. You did not indicate whether you are using a water conditioner such as Fritz Complete to remove chlorine and chloramine in your tap water. If you are not, your water changes may be killing the very bacteria you are trying to grow.

Have you tested your tap water to see if it is treated with chloramine.? If it does contain chloramine as mine does, every time you do a water change, you will be adding ammonia to the tank. Water conditioners will break the chloramine bond to release chlorine and ammonia. the water conditioner will break down the chlorine to chloride ion, but it cannot remove the ammonia from the water. For that you need something like zeolite ammonia absorbent. Test your tap water for ammonia to find out if that is a potential concern.

Do not get me wrong, water changes are a necessary part of fishkeeping and it is absolutely necessary to do one if the ammonia or nitrate levels get high enough to harm the mollies. However, you want the bacteria within the seeded media to spread throughout the tank, so give them a chance to do so.

Although using seeded media is a great way to start off the cycling process, it will still take several weeks for your tank to become fully cycled. A week of cycling time is not enough time to do that. Be patient, it will get there. Continue to monitor pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels each day. Do water changes if it looks like the mollies are being stressed by the ammonia or nitrite in the tank. Otherwise, just keep testing and observing. If you see a spike in ammonia, do a water change, and cut back on feeding, but do not stop completely. Feed what they can consume in a couple of minutes once a day with no leftovers.

Do not add any more fish to the tank until ammonia and nitrite levels are at zero for at least 2-3 consecutive days. That is likely to take a month or more. Be patient.

 

All great advice above. A couple things I'll add from my own recent fish in cycle that I thought was complete:

Check your tap for nitrates. My tap is baseline 5-10ppm nitrate so you may not have as much (or any) nitrates as you think from your cycle

Constantly test. I was (and still am) consistently zero ammonia. My nitrites got to .5 for a week or two and then went to zero for over a week. I celebrated. However, the past few days my nitrites have gone back to .25-.5 so I'm back to every other day water changes.

 

Thanks for the reply, It's been a week of cycling using seeded media and I also used fritzzyme in the middle of the week as for water changes, I been doing 50% water change every 2 days.

I agree with RayClem about the water changes at this point. The numbers you are seeing should not be detrimental to your fish. Folks that know me know that I am a huge proponent of big water changes but even they have their time and place.

By using the seeded media you have jump started the cycle in this tank. How much depends on a few factors. Such as, the bio-load in the tank you took the media from and how long it had been running in the cycled tank. If the media has been running in a well stocked, well established tank for no less than a month there should have been enough bacteria on it to give this tank a good head start on the cycle.

I will recommend you hold off on the water changes and only do one once a week unless you see ammonia and/or nitrites start to spike higher.

 

I agree with RayClem about the water changes at this point. The numbers you are seeing should not be detrimental to your fish. Folks that know me know that I am a huge proponent of big water changes but even they have their time and place.

By using the seeded media you have jump started the cycle in this tank. How much depends on a few factors. Such as, the bio-load in the tank you took the media from and how long it had been running in the cycled tank. If the media has been running in a well stocked, well established tank for no less than a month there should have been enough bacteria on it to give this tank a good head start on the cycle.

I will recommend you hold off on the water changes and only do one once a week unless you see ammonia and/or nitrites start to spike higher.

Although others might disagree with me, I think that doing 50% water changes every two days is unnecessary and potentially harmful to the cycle. For a tank to be fully cycled, beneficial bacteria have to grow on every possible surface within the aquarium. However, the bacteria only spread from one place to another through the water column. Thus, by doing 50% water changes that often, you are reducing the concentration of bacteria in the water column., so they do not spread as rapidly.

You indicated that you are using FritzZyme which contains nitrifying bacteria. You did not indicate whether you are using a water conditioner such as Fritz Complete to remove chlorine and chloramine in your tap water. If you are not, your water changes may be killing the very bacteria you are trying to grow.

Have you tested your tap water to see if it is treated with chloramine.? If it does contain chloramine as mine does, every time you do a water change, you will be adding ammonia to the tank. Water conditioners will break the chloramine bond to release chlorine and ammonia. the water conditioner will break down the chlorine to chloride ion, but it cannot remove the ammonia from the water. For that you need something like zeolite ammonia absorbent. Test your tap water for ammonia to find out if that is a potential concern.

Do not get me wrong, water changes are a necessary part of fishkeeping and it is absolutely necessary to do one if the ammonia or nitrate levels get high enough to harm the mollies. However, you want the bacteria within the seeded media to spread throughout the tank, so give them a chance to do so.

Although using seeded media is a great way to start off the cycling process, it will still take several weeks for your tank to become fully cycled. A week of cycling time is not enough time to do that. Be patient, it will get there. Continue to monitor pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels each day. Do water changes if it looks like the mollies are being stressed by the ammonia or nitrite in the tank. Otherwise, just keep testing and observing. If you see a spike in ammonia, do a water change, and cut back on feeding, but do not stop completely. Feed what they can consume in a couple of minutes once a day with no leftovers.

Do not add any more fish to the tank until ammonia and nitrite levels are at zero for at least 2-3 consecutive days. That is likely to take a month or more. Be patient.

Thanks guys, I fasted them for a day and did a 50% water change yesterday.

Fed them today and just did a test and it's looking cycled? Will probably do more tests tomorrow and day after to confirm it.

Thanks again

 

Thanks guys, I fasted them for a day and did a 50% water change yesterday.

Fed them today and just did a test and it's looking cycled? Will probably do more tests tomorrow and day after to confirm it.

Thanks again

Congratulations!!!! This is great news.

 

Thanks guys, I fasted them for a day and did a 50% water change yesterday.

Fed them today and just did a test and it's looking cycled? Will probably do more tests tomorrow and day after to confirm it.

Thanks again
View attachment 742612

It looks like you still have some nitrites that you need to eliminate, but you are getting close.