Messed up nitrogen cycle and when to test your water?

I have been daily changing 20ltrs of the water from the aquarium. test before i do the water change but id it worth testing after i have done the water change? or wait till the next morning?

according to my tests things seem to have been getting better but still new to cycling the water just tested and had 0.25ppm ammonia so defiantly need to change the water today, i did have a day where i got 0ppm ammonia but still changed the water was that right to do?

Also should i still need to test the nitrite and nitrate if the ammonia needs a water change any way.

Thanks

 

Try watching this video
Theres a part in the video where she explains your concern very well and she has a systematic way of doing it. Sure helped me a lot

 

before my 20lr water change my water test results for the aquarium water are,
PH 8.2
AMMONIA 0.25 PPM
NITRITE 0 PPM
NITRATE 10 PPM

Am about to do a 20ltr water change have some ph down i think is that worth using to lower the ph a bit.

Try watching this video
Theres a part in the video where she explains your concern very well and she has a systematic way of doing it. Sure helped me a lot

thanks shall watch it now.

sorry not watched that vid yet will watch in a min tho.
test results for today
ph 8.2
ammonia 0.25ppm
nitrite 0.0ppm
nitrate 0.20 ppm

will watch the vid then do a 20 ltr water change with api quick start to try and help.
Rusty

 

I've found that cycling a tank relies on two major things. Good filtration and patience. Make sure your aquarium has a good filtration system. In my 10 gal I have the Fluval 10-30 Hang on Back filter. It's great. Secondly, you have to wait the cycle out. Sounds like you have a stocked aquarium so you'll need to change the water when your levels get too high. Keep an eye on it everyday and do water changes when necessary.

The teachings in the video we're great. You'll need to think about your entire aquarium as a pet not just a container for fish. Here's a terrible analogy -- If your tank is like a dog, you'll need to change the water like a dog needs to go out to the bathroom. You wouldn't send your dog out if they didn't need to pee! So if your tank doesn't need the change let it alone, but pay attention to the cues it'sgiving you aka water parameters, plant and fish behavior.

 

Thanks yeah stupidly i added fish before cycled before i use a CianoCF80 Filter which came with my tank and stupidly ordered all the spare parts and filter parts so cant afford another filter tho also running the filter that came with the fish for now(looks horrible). currently testing and changing 20Ltr's every day using api quick start every water change.

I'm still confused to what a cycled tank would like using the api fresh water test quit so don't know What I'm after? so if anyone could show me what a good tank looks like with the api test filters as not sure when my tank is cycled or not

 

before my 20lr water change my water test results for the aquarium water are,
PH 8.2
AMMONIA 0.25 PPM
NITRITE 0 PPM
NITRATE 10 PPM

Am about to do a 20ltr water change have some ph down i think is that worth using to lower the ph a bit.

What type of fish are you keeping? I have really hard, alkaline water with a lot of calcium and I can keep most fish unless it’s a really soft water species. PH stability matters more than having the perfect number. When you use ph down, it’s a guessing game, a lot of extra testing, and can take some practice to see how much you need for your water. If you are keeping a soft water species, I personally would rather load the tank up with driftwood and lava rock to lower the ph than using chemicals. It keeps your parameters way more stable.

 

What type of fish are you keeping? I have really hard, alkaline water with a lot of calcium and I can keep most fish unless it’s a really soft water species. PH stability matters more than having the perfect number. When you use ph down, it’s a guessing game, a lot of extra testing, and can take some practice to see how much you need for your water. If you are keeping a soft water species, I personally would rather load the tank up with driftwood and lava rock to lower the ph than using chemicals. It keeps your parameters way more stable.

I am keeping guppies i think that the ph has gone up as the water has high ph levels but the have been stable recently i have ph down for plants could use this or is my ph expectable, there is 2 bits of wood and may order more but skint at the moment.

thanks

 

I am keeping guppies i think that the ph has gone up as the water has high ph levels but the have been stable recently i have ph down for plants could use this or is my ph expectable, there is 2 bits of wood and may order more but skint at the moment.

thanks

That should be fine for your guppies. My guppy tank runs at an 8.1.

Just a thought but is your tap water that high or is it just in the aquarium? I don’t know if you have rocks in your tank but most rocks will raise your ph also. There are types such as slate that don’t change ph and lava rock lowers it. Like I said though, Ph isn’t really that big of a problem unless you’re keeping wild caught or really sensitive fish.

 

• My water is at 8.2 also. I would strongly recommend leaving it alone. Stable pH is almost always better for the fish than having it fluctuate while chasing the ideal level.
• 0.25 ppm of ammonia is within the margin of error with the liquid test kits. I don't believe I'd ever tell someone not to do a water change, but I wouldn't worry about it hurting the fish unless is shows 0.50 ppm or higher. It sounds to me like you're in pretty good shape.

 

That should be fine for your guppies. My guppy tank runs at an 8.1.

Thanks now its more my tap water i think it will stay at 8.2 it has been stable for 3 days now.

Just a thought but is your tap water that high or is it just in the aquarium? I don’t know if you have rocks in your tank but most rocks will raise your ph also. There are types such as slate that don’t change ph and lava rock lowers it. Like I said though, Ph isn’t really that big of a problem unless you’re keeping wild caught or really sensitive fish.

Thanks, I think the tap water is 8.2 no stones in the thank.

• My water is at 8.2 also. I would strongly recommend leaving it alone. Stable pH is almost always better for the fish than having it fluctuate while chasing the ideal level.
• 0.25 ppm of ammonia is within the margin of error with the liquid test kits. I don't believe I'd ever tell someone not to do a water change, but I wouldn't worry about it hurting the fish unless is shows 0.50 ppm or higher. It sounds to me like you're in pretty good shape.

Thanks will keep up the daily tests made a excel spread sheet of the test results to keep track but cut the water changes out to weekly unless i get .50ppm or hirer ammonia. i might slow the feeding a little as well for a few days.

might take the second filter the one which came with the tank out tho take filter medium out and put it in mine and see how it goes

I did a 20ltr change of the aquarium again to day and decided to do another water change to see what its like after a change.
Ph 8.2
Ammonia 0ppm
nitrite 0.25ppm
nitrate 5/10ppm

will check tomorrow and see if the ammonia has risen or not and if i have to water change or not or the full amount or try a 10tr change if needed

 

I did a 20ltr change of the aquarium again to day and decided to do another water change to see what its like after a change.
Ph 8.2
Ammonia 0ppm
nitrite 0.25ppm
nitrate 5/10ppm

will check tomorrow and see if the ammonia has risen or not and if i have to water change or not or the full amount or try a 10tr change if needed

Is this the first time you have registered nitrites? If so then they may continue to go up and will need to be kept down with water changes. There is no need to do a water change on the days you don't get an ammonia reading unless the nitrites spike higher than the .25 you are seeing. You really don't need to test the nitrates daily. Right now the ammonia and nitrites are the most important tests. I wouldn't try to change the pH. As others have said, a stable pH is much better than a specific number.

You may want to run all the tests on your source water. Knowing the parametes of your source water will let you know if ammonia, nitrites or nitrates are coming from there or if they are being produced by the cycling process. If you have no nitrates in your source water then I have to think this cycle is moving forward just as it should.

What you are looking for is 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and some nitrates. When you register 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites for several days in a row you will know your cycle is done.

If you don't already have and use Seachem Prime you may want to consider getting a bottle of it. It is first and foremost a concentrated water conditioner but goes one step farther and detoxes low levels of ammonia. As long as the ammonia plus nitrites are less than one you can add prime to the tank that day instead of doing a water change. If the total amount gets up to one or above do a water change to get them back down below one and again add prime to detox the small amount left in the tank.

If you don't have or can't get Prime just try to keep both ammonia and nitrites below one with water changes.

 

might take the second filter the one which came with the tank out tho take filter medium out and put it in mine and see how it goes

It sounds like you're getting there since you're seeing nitrites and nitrates. Now you just need to wait until the numbers stay stable. Maybe another week of checking everyday? I wouldn't change out filters until its cycled and thats only if you can move filter media to the other filter. If not, you can either put the filter media for the other filter in the filter you have running now and cycle it while you're cycling your tank or you might be able to run both filters on your tank for awhile to seed your other filter. I did that on my 29 gallon with a Aqueon 10 while I was trying to seed a new 60 gallon sponge filter for the tank.

Is this the first time you have registered nitrites? If so then they may continue to go up and will need to be kept down with water changes. There is no need to do a water change on the days you don't get an ammonia reading unless the nitrites spike higher than the .25 you are seeing. You really don't need to test the nitrates daily. Right now the ammonia and nitrites are the most important tests. I wouldn't try to change the pH. As others have said, a stable pH is much better than a specific number.

You may want to run all the tests on your source water. Knowing the parametes of your source water will let you know if ammonia, nitrites or nitrates are coming from there or if they are being produced by the cycling process. If you have no nitrates in your source water then I have to think this cycle is moving forward just as it should.

What you are looking for is 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and some nitrates. When you register 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites for several days in a row you will know your cycle is done.

If you don't already have and use Seachem Prime you may want to consider getting a bottle of it. It is first and foremost a concentrated water conditioner but goes one step farther and detoxes low levels of ammonia. As long as the ammonia plus nitrites are less than one you can add prime to the tank that day instead of doing a water change. If the total amount gets up to one or above do a water change to get them back down below one and again add prime to detox the small amount left in the tank.

If you don't have or can't get Prime just try to keep both ammonia and nitrites below one with water changes.

Does Prime work like that for you?! I'm jealous! I haven't had any luck with using Prime to lower ammonia levels. I love Prime and use it as my water conditioner but maybe its the high ph? I don't know. AmLock works for me but not Prime.

 

Does Prime work like that for you?! I'm jealous! I haven't had any luck with using Prime to lower ammonia levels. I love Prime and use it as my water conditioner but maybe its the high ph? I don't know. AmLock works for me but not Prime.

Prime doesn't remove the ammonia. If it is there it will still show up in the test tube but it will be in a safer form.

 

Is this the first time you have registered nitrites? If so then they may continue to go up and will need to be kept down with water changes. There is no need to do a water change on the days you don't get an ammonia reading unless the nitrites spike higher than the .25 you are seeing. You really don't need to test the nitrates daily. Right now the ammonia and nitrites are the most important tests. I wouldn't try to change the pH. As others have said, a stable pH is much better than a specific number.

You may want to run all the tests on your source water. Knowing the parametes of your source water will let you know if ammonia, nitrites or nitrates are coming from there or if they are being produced by the cycling process. If you have no nitrates in your source water then I have to think this cycle is moving forward just as it should.

What you are looking for is 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and some nitrates. When you register 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites for several days in a row you will know your cycle is done.

If you don't already have and use Seachem Prime you may want to consider getting a bottle of it. It is first and foremost a concentrated water conditioner but goes one step farther and detoxes low levels of ammonia. As long as the ammonia plus nitrites are less than one you can add prime to the tank that day instead of doing a water change. If the total amount gets up to one or above do a water change to get them back down below one and again add prime to detox the small amount left in the tank.

If you don't have or can't get Prime just try to keep both ammonia and nitrites below one with water changes.

I think ive had them before, that's a good idea i will test my tap water to see what the starting water is at.
todays test is,

PH 8.2
AMMONIA 0/0.25PPM
NITRITE 0PPM
NITRATE 5/10 PPM

I am happy with these results so not going to water change today i have received my plant led light for my tank and the Bio-bact cartridge part for my filter which is meant to help with the nitrogen cycle.

 

I think ive had them before, that's a good idea i will test my tap water to see what the starting water.
todays test has is,

PH 8.2
AMMONIA 0/0.25PPM
NITRITE 0PPM
NITRATE 5/10 PPM

I am happy with these results so not going to water change today i have received my plant led light for my tank and the Bio-bact cartridge part for my filter which is meant to help with the nitrogen cycle.

These test results are telling me that this tank, if not fully cycled, is very close. I would hold off on the water changes for at least a week. Of course should the ammonia spike up close to one you will want to get it down. The cartridge may help but at this point I don't know that it is needed.

I read up on what it is and from what I see it is simply a filter cartridge with a fancy name. It isn't going to help speed up the cycling process. It is just a place for bacteria to grow on. In my humble opinion you would be better served by putting sponge material in place of the replaceable cartridge. Should you decide to go ahead and use the cartridge I will recommend you cut a slit in the fiber and remove the carbon before putting it in your filter. It is the cheap carbon they put in these cartridges that cause them to clog up so quickly.

 

the bits i ordered and added the biocartrige to the filter

did have a vid but cant work out how to get it onto my pc

 

did have a vid but cant work out how to get it onto my pc

You can't post videos here directly. You'd need to upload it to YouTube or a similar site, then post a link to it.

 

I love the looks of this tank. You done good I am thinking most of what you just received is various filter media. It looks like you have a good variety and all should work well for bacteria growing surface.

 

You can't post videos here directly. You'd need to upload it to YouTube or a similar site, then post a link to it.

Thanks will see if can do it later but happy with how the tank is looking atm.

I love the looks of this tank. You done good I am thinking most of what you just received is various filter media. It looks like you have a good variety and all should work well for bacteria growing surface.

thanks they are the cartridges for the filter I am running so thought I would get some replacements one I would only use if there is a algae bloom but thought I would add the bio one which is ment to help with the nitrogen cycle

 

So the tank has been cycling well for a few days so i decided to add some more fish to add some variety and get some more fish to breed from, the amino did rise slightly i could of let it go and sure the good bacteria would of sorted but decided to do a 20ltr water change tested again today and everything is within good range and seems to be cycling well.

 

a quick video showing feeding time, excuse the noise had to have the air con on in the room at the moment.

 

Very nice! That tank is beautiful!