Fish in new tank cycle

I bought a new 10 gallon starter kit and set it up with about 5 live plants on Friday. I put prime in when I started it. I added fish on Sunday. How long does it take to start seeing levels change during the cycle. I have tested 2 times now and all readings are 0 and PH is 7.6. Am I doing something wrong?

 

How many fish were added? It will take a little bit for the poop to start to produce ammonia. Its only been 4 days. The only test you need now is the ammonia and pH tests. You more than likely won't see Nitrites for a few weeks. Nitrates even longer. Save your juice. Make sure to keep the ammonia under 1ppm for the prime to help. I would keep it under 50. Lots o water changes headed your way!

The pH may drop so you will have to watch for that too. If it gets too low your cycle may stall.

 

Ok thank you! There is 4 in there. I will just keep watching and waiting!

 

Welcome to Fishlore

StarGirl gave you some very good advice.

The main purpose for cycling a tank (growing bacteria) is to remove the ammonia the fish are producing. If your plants are healthy and growing they are going to remove some of the ammonia. This is a good thing. The plants should also have bacteria on them so they will have helped seed this tank.

All of this to say, don't get overly concerned if it takes quite a while for ammonia to show up. As long as ammonia is zero the fish are safe. When it does show up simply keep it as low as possible with water changes. Eventually you will start seeing nitrites. When that happens you may still be seeing some ammonia. Try to keep both as low as possible with water changes.

Keep in mind. Doing partial water changes will not affect the cycling process. The bacteria we are growing isn't free floating in the water so changing some isn't removing any. You will be removing some food for the bacteria and this might slow the cycling process by a few days but when doing a fish in cycle the health of the fish has to come first.

Even if you see no ammonia I highly recommend you go no longer then a week between water changes. Fresh clean water is the very best thing you can give your fish to keep them healthy. Just be sure you add your water conditioner (in this case the Prime) to the fresh water before pouring it in the tank.

 

Welcome to Fishlore

StarGirl gave you some very good advice.

The main purpose for cycling a tank (growing bacteria) is to remove the ammonia the fish are producing. If your plants are healthy and growing they are going to remove some of the ammonia. This is a good thing. The plants should also have bacteria on them so they will have helped seed this tank.

All of this to say, don't get overly concerned if it takes quite a while for ammonia to show up. As long as ammonia is zero the fish are safe. When it does show up simply keep it as low as possible with water changes. Eventually you will start seeing nitrites. When that happens you may still be seeing some ammonia. Try to keep both as low as possible with water changes.

Keep in mind. Doing partial water changes will not affect the cycling process. The bacteria we are growing isn't free floating in the water so changing some isn't removing any. You will be removing some food for the bacteria and this might slow the cycling process by a few days but when doing a fish in cycle the health of the fish has to come first.

Even if you see no ammonia I highly recommend you go no longer then a week between water changes. Fresh clean water is the very best thing you can give your fish to keep them healthy. Just be sure you add your water conditioner (in this case the Prime) to the fresh water before pouring it in the tank.

Thank you! I was just about to ask about water changes.