I Wanted To Make Sure I'm Doing This Right...

I'll try and make this long story as short as possible.

"Kept" fish when I was younger (when I say kept I mean my parents kept them and I fed them) so I had a very basic understanding of fish keeping but recently I've gotten into a lot of fish keeping videos on youtube and really wanted to put all my newly renewed education to use.

I used to own a betta and she lasted for almost 2 years (which I consider pretty **** good for being bought from a questionable location and being looked after by a 10 year old) so I thought that this would be a good place to start. So I plan on having a betta, along with a few shrimp and snails for now. Nothing too dramatic.

I have a 19L nano tank that I've bought and I'm currently working on a fishless cycle. All I have at the moment in the tank is some substrate, a piece of mangrove wood, and a small decoration.

So far things look about right? (this is where I'm hoping for confirmation) The water is slightly green but quite clear for not making any water changes yet (it's been about 2 weeks into the cycle now). I have some algae growing (it seems to only want to grow on one particular piece of gravel from my substrate which is strange but it looks like it's migrating, albeit slowly) and there's some white, stringy stuff growing off my wood which also seems to be normal from what I've read.

I've been adding shrimp food pellets about every 4 days (I've been a little erratic with which days I do it on so at first I was doing it every other day and now I'm taking longer time between adding food).

Since the first few days my Nitrates (NO3) have been hovering around 10-25 mg/L and my Nitrites (NO2) have stayed consistently at 0. Today it seems as though my first sign of Nitrites have shown up, bumping my test up to what looks like .5 mg/L.

Basically I'm just curious if all this sounds good so far, and what I want to be looking for going forward. From my understanding, the Nitrites should spike and then go back down to 0, correct? This is going to be a live plant tank so I was hoping to go out shopping for some plants this weekend, if it's acceptable to add them in before the Nitrites are leveled out. Is this a good idea or should I continue to wait it out? Also, should I be starting some water changes, or is it better in a fishless cycle to just leave the water to do it's thing?

 

Welcome to Fishlore!

It sounds like you've got the right idea going so far. Can I ask what testing kit you use? And if you're using any bacterial additives? Also, just some background info; ammonia levels past 4ppm will stall your cycle so make sure you're dosage is below that, and then yes, you'll see a spike in nitrites. If your ammonia is over 4ppm, I'd do a water change to drop that down a bit. Once your ammonia and nitrites hold at 0 for a few days and you're seeing nitrates, I'd say you're cycled.

In regards to plants, I have planted whilst cycling a tank before with no issues so plant away!

 

You want ammonia and nitrite at 0, and nitrate anywhere between 5-20. Once it goes above 20, you do your water changes (once established).

You can put plant in any time.

One note on the wood. Make sure it has no sharp bits that can tear fins. (I just sanded mine down so the sharp bits were smooth).

Sounds like you're on the right track.

 

The test I'm using is a cheap JBL Easy Test 6 in 1 strips. Mostly I bought it in the first place just to make sure that my tap water didn't need to be conditioned (it doesn't) and to track the nitrates and nitrites. I planned on getting an ammonia test once I got paid so I'll definitely do that now to make sure those levels are on track as well.

Thanks both!

also, absolutely zero additives, forgot to say. Just our swedish tap water and some decomposing shrimp food.

 

For conditioning tap water, does your test shows chlorine and chloramites? Those are main things that's you need conditioning for.

 

I was mostly concerned about conditioning for chlorine and checking my water's natural pH level, so my test shows both those. Our tap water is good on both for bettas (0 chlorine and a consistant 7pH)

 

The test I'm using is a cheap JBL Easy Test 6 in 1 strips. Mostly I bought it in the first place just to make sure that my tap water didn't need to be conditioned (it doesn't) and to track the nitrates and nitrites. I planned on getting an ammonia test once I got paid so I'll definitely do that now to make sure those levels are on track as well.

Thanks both!

If possible, I'd invest in a liquid test kit (like the API kit). It's more cost efficient in the long run and the results are far more accurate. You'll need the accuracy to make sure your tank is 100% cycled so you avoid any problems when adding fish. Just make sure your treating your tap water appropriately since it isn't just chlorine that's harmful to fish. Getting something like Prime to treat your tap water with is great because it also detoxifies ammonia and nitrites for 24 hours and removes heavy metals from the water too. You don't NEED bacterial additives but I find that it helps speed things along; patience is not a strong point of mine lol.

 

Agreed. The test strips were always a temporary thing since patience is not my strong suit either and I couldn't afford a more accurate test kit at the time (actually setting up happened very spur of the moment after being unable to help myself any longer ).

A lot of water conditioners thrown around online are hard to come by here in sweden, but I'll keep my eye open for something similar if we have anything. As far as I can tell from testing with the strips, our water is basically perfect for freshwater tanks, thoughs (it's hard to believe, I know. Coming from Canada and remembering how much we had to condition for perviously... but we have REALLY good water here!)

 

Agreed. The test strips were always a temporary thing since patience is not my strong suit either and I couldn't afford a more accurate test kit at the time (actually setting up happened very spur of the moment after being unable to help myself any longer ).

A lot of water conditioners thrown around online are hard to come by here in sweden, but I'll keep my eye open for something similar if we have anything. As far as I can tell from testing with the strips, our water is basically perfect for freshwater tanks, thoughs (it's hard to believe, I know. Coming from Canada and remembering how much we had to condition for perviously... but we have REALLY good water here!)

Glad to hear you've got such good water, I'm embarrassed to even discuss the water quality where I live lol. Hope you can get your real test kit soon, I can't imagine living without mine!!

 

Glad to hear you've got such good water, I'm embarrassed to even discuss the water quality where I live lol. Hope you can get your real test kit soon, I can't imagine living without mine!!

I know! To be fair, I guess we're in the top ten cleanest water in the world?

I remember all those little bottles of conditioners from when I was younger with our old tanks. Chlorine and Fluoride were always our problems in eastern Canada x.x